Bottom line
- Total investment $242K – $1.0M including a $30K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.4M/year (median $1.4M). Estimated payback in 4.0 years.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 50/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 25 loans (below the industry average).
- System contracting at -5.3% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven (consolidation) or franchisee-driven (economics).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Yale framework · single-unit ROIC
Returns Analysis
Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.
The model · Yale framework
What would one Cicis Pizza unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
27%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Cicis Pizza units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$1.7M
on $8.4M purchase
Total debt
$6.7M
SBA $4.2M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Cicis Pizza franchisees operate casual dining establishments featuring all-you-can-eat pizza buffets (and salad/dessert bars) for dine-in service, or fast-casual 'To Go' pickup/delivery models. Daily operations include managing kitchen pizza production, buffet line service, inventory management, labor scheduling, and customer service for a high-volume, lower-margin dining format.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
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 phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
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.
Score breakdown · what drove the 50 / 100 rating
- 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
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
Item 20
Franchisee Contacts
Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.
Franchisee contacts
100 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Cicis Pizza · FDD (2025) PDF