Cicis Pizza Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Cicis Pizza is a franchise known for its all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta, and dessert buffet, plus a to-go model. Franchisees run high-volume restaurants managing buffet production, service, and staffing.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Cicis Pizza franchise requires a total initial investment of $695K – $1.0M, including a $15K – $30K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $1.3M[2]. SBA 7(a) loans show a 24.1% charge-off rate across 438 loans[1]. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified · figures per the 2025 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $695K – $1.0M
- 42nd pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $1.3M
- 15th pct Service Resta…
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 7th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 270
- 47th pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- 24.1%
- % of SBA 7(a) loans not repaid · median varies by category
Quick verdict · Full-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Full-Service Restaurants avg · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- Total investment $695K – $1.0M including a $15K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.3M/year (median $1.3M), with an estimated 13% cash-on-cash return (based on Controllable Profit).
- Verdict B (Above average), verdict score 53/100 (higher is better). SBA loan charge-off rate of 24.1% across 438 loans (well above the 16% franchise average, based on all SBA 7(a) franchise lending, 2010–2025).
- Bankruptcy history disclosed in the FDD. Review Item 4 for details before proceeding.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- On Smile LLC
- Parent company
- CiCi Acquisition Company, LLC
- Ultimate parent
- Sunil D. Dharod Revocable Trust
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- Sunil Dharod
- Incorporated in
- DE
- HQ
- 13355 Noel Road, Suite 1645, Dallas, TX 75240
- Auditor
- RSM US LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $42.5M
- vs $41.4M prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Independent franchisee associations
- Franchise Advisory Council (FAC)
Franchisee-led councils or alliances disclosed in Item 20. Indicates operator voice.
Affiliated brands
- JMC Restaurant Distribution
- Yes Caps
- CiCi Services
Other brands the franchisor or its parent operates (Item 1).
Overview
About
- CEO
- Sunil Dharod
- Headquarters
- TX
- Founded
- 2021
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 22
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 8% below the typical full-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown25 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee (Buffet Restaurant)not refundable | $30K | $30K | |
| Leasehold Improvements (Buffet Restaurant) | $325K | $349K | |
| Equipment and Supplies for Game Room (Buffet Restaurant) | $80K | $250K | |
| Impact Fees (Buffet Restaurant) | $0 | $20K | |
| Equipment, Furniture and Fixtures (Buffet Restaurant) | $164K | $217K | |
| Signage and Graphics (Buffet Restaurant) | $11K | $20K | |
| Insurance (Buffet Restaurant) | $500 | $2K | |
| Business Licenses (Buffet Restaurant) | $1K | $4K | |
| Opening Inventory/Supplies (Buffet Restaurant) | $28K | $34K | |
| Promotional Expenses (Buffet Restaurant) | $10K | $15K | |
| Training Costs (Buffet Restaurant) | $11K | $36K | |
| Deposits and other Pre-Opening Costs (Buffet Restaurant) | $9K | $17K | |
| Additional Funds - 3 months (Buffet Restaurant) | $25K | $45K | |
| Initial Franchise Fee (To Go Restaurant)not refundable | $15K | $15K | |
| Leasehold Improvements (To Go Restaurant) | $77K | $184K | |
| Impact Fees (To Go Restaurant) | $0 | $5K | |
| Equipment, Furniture and Fixtures (To Go Restaurant) | $88K | $114K | |
| Signage and Graphics (To Go Restaurant) | $5K | $10K | |
| Insurance (To Go Restaurant) | $375 | $2K | |
| Business Licenses (To Go Restaurant) | $1K | $3K | |
| Total initial investment | $937K | $1.5M |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. Total is the sum of line-item lows / highs — actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $695K – $1.0M
- Middle of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $25K – $45K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $15K – $30K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- tiered · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 5.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 10.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
- Payback period
- 4.0 yrs
- From FDD / Item 19
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $100 |
| Training fee | $3K |
| Transfer fee | $8K |
| Renewal fee | $8K |
| Inventory (initial) | $28K – $34K |
| Total fee load | 10.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 13% below the full-service restaurants norm.
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
Single-unit · estimated
Returns at a glance
Indicative numbers using FDD Item 7 / Item 19 inputs and category-benchmarked cost ratios. Full single-unit, 25-unit portfolio, and LBO models (with every input editable to stress-test your own scenario) live on the financials page.
Store EBITDA · annual
$106K
8.0% margin
Unlevered ROIC
12%
EBITDA / total invested capital
Payback
8.5 yrs
cash-on-cash, unlevered
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $1.3M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $1.3M
- Avg controllable profit
- $159K
- Reported as Controllable Profit in FDD Item 19
- Cash-on-cash
- 12.8%
- Based on Controllable Profit / investment midpoint
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- income_statement
- Sample size
- 240 units
- vs category median 16 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $643K→$3.2M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2025
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Transparency
- 10 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 1273 Full-Service Restaurants brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $1.3M/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 1.5x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 10.0% — above the Full-Service Restaurants average of 7.6%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 10/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Multi-unit rate
Only 12% of franchisees own multiple units. Could indicate challenging economics or a young system where operators haven't had time to expand.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Full-Service Restaurants averages
How Cicis Pizza Compares
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 270
- Opened
- 0
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 4
- Terminated
- 4
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 1
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 5.6%
- Company-owned
- 19
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 93%
- vs corporate-owned
- Multi-unit owners
- 11.8%
3-year detail · Item 20
- Opened (3yr)
- 2
- Closed (3yr)
- 11
- Terminated (3yr)
- 1
- Non-renewed (3yr)
- 2
- Transfers (3yr)
- 29
- Reacquired (3yr)
- 7
- Franchisor bought back
- Termination rate
- 66.7%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 17 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator. Not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
Available to sell in · Item 12
- California
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- New York
- North Dakota
- Rhode Island
- South Dakota
- Virginia
- Washington
- Wisconsin
States where the franchisor is registered to sell new franchises (FDD registration filings).
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 438
- Loan volume
- $131.8M
- Median loan
- $237K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- 24.1%
- rates vary by category · see methodology
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- 75.5%
- 5-yr charge-off
- N/A
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 85
- Defaults
- 97
- Typical loan rate
- 5.9%
- avg rate to borrowers
- vs industry
- N/A
- NAICS 7222
- Jobs supported
- 7,233
- 6.6 per loan
- Lender concentration
- 25%
- top lender's share
Borrower mix: 0% went to startups / new businesses, 100% to established operators
Vintage analysis
Cicis Pizza charge-off rate by loan vintage
Top lenders financing Cicis Pizza franchisees
Showing 3 of 85 lenders. The full breakdown — every lender, state distribution, interest rates & risk ratings — is in the SBA Lending Report below.
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
A 24.1% charge-off rate means roughly 1 in 4 franchisees failed to repay their SBA loan. Investigate what changed.
What could kill this investment?
SBA loans charge off at 24.1% — 50% above the 16.0% national norm, i.e. higher lender-observed risk.
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Declining unit count, multiple active litigations, weak profitability margins, and absence of financial disclosures create a HIGH RISK profile unsuitable for most franchisees.
Litigation (Item 3)
GCP Cici's/Dharod consolidated family ownership dispute (currently scheduled for July 2025 trial); Sutherland/Palumbo commercial lease suit (settled Sep 2022); 2 suits by CiCi Enterprises against franchisees for outstanding payments; 1 suit against franchisee to enforce post-termination obligations
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
Disclosed in last 7 years
Affiliates including CAC, CiCi Enterprises, JMC, CiCi Services filed voluntary Ch. 11 petition Jan 25, 2021 in N.D. Texas. Pre-packaged plan approved March 3, 2021; CiCi Enterprises emerged March 10, 2021. Cases closed by August 30, 2024.
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · RSM US LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 53 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORSystem contracted 3.8% YoY (270 units) indicating declining franchise health and potential unit closures
- 02HIGHMultiple active litigations including co-ownership disputes (Gala/Dharod), franchisee payment recovery suits (Bixby, Bankole), and post-termination enforcement actions suggesting franchisor-franchisee conflict and collection issues
- 03MINORNet income of $158,533 on $1.4M revenue (11.3% margin) is modest for pizza/buffet concept with high operational complexity and labor costs
- 04MINORWide investment range ($242K-$1M+) with unclear variables; high end represents 4x low end, suggesting inconsistent unit economics or location-dependent performance
- 05MEDNo Item 19 financial performance representations disclosed, preventing validation of stated average revenue figures or profitability benchmarks
- 06HIGHLitigation pattern reveals systemic issues: co-ownership conflicts suggest internal franchisor instability, while franchisee payment suits indicate cash flow problems across system
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 10.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | protected |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 10 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 5 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 18 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 4 |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Arbitration location | Texas (litigation only) |
| Jury trial waiver | No |
| Governing law | TX |
| Litigation count | 5 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
GCP Cici's/Dharod consolidated family ownership dispute (currently scheduled for July 2025 trial); Sutherland/Palumbo commercial lease suit (settled Sep 2022); 2 suits by CiCi Enterprises against franchisees for outstanding payments; 1 suit against franchisee to enforce post-termination obligations
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 23 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 277 hrs
- Training location
- Dallas/Ft. Worth Area, TX
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 9 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- franchisee with franchisor approval
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Cicis Approved POS System
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Cicis Approved POS System
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
100 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
Cicis Pizza · FDD (2025) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Cicis Pizza franchise?
The total investment to open a Cicis Pizza franchise ranges from $695K – $1.0M, with an initial franchise fee of $15K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Cicis Pizza franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Cicis Pizza FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $1.3M. The median is $1.3M. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
What is Cicis Pizza's franchise failure rate?
Based on SBA 7(a) loan data, Cicis Pizza has a charge-off rate of 24.1% across 438 loans, meaning 24.1% of franchise loans were charged off. Charge-off rates are one proxy for franchise risk, though they do not capture all closures. This data comes from FOIA-sourced SBA lending records.
How many Cicis Pizza franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Cicis Pizza has 270 total units in the United States, including 251 franchised units and 19 company-owned units.
Is Cicis Pizza a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Cicis Pizza as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 53 out of 100 (higher is better), based on our analysis of investment costs, revenue data, SBA loan performance, and growth trends. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
Are you the franchisor?
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Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.