Cleavers Philadelphia
Bottom line
- Total investment $428K – $770K including a $40K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $4.8M/year.
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 67/100.
- Emerging franchise — only 2 years of franchising with 1 units. Early-stage systems carry higher risk but may offer better territory availability.
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 Cleavers Philadelphia unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
131%
Above typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Cleavers Philadelphia units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
23.5%
2.87× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
3.73×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$28.9M
on $48.5M purchase
Total debt
$19.5M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Cleavers Philadelphia franchisees operate a butcher shop or specialty meat retail business, managing inventory procurement, meat cutting/preparation, customer service, and point-of-sale operations. Daily operations include managing fresh product quality, handling supplier relationships, staffing meat counter personnel, and driving local customer acquisition through a protected territory.
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 · 16 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.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Single-unit franchise system with going concern issues, undisclosed profitability, and unverifiable revenue claims presents extreme execution risk.
Score breakdown · what drove the 67 / 100 rating
- 01HIGHGoing Concern status indicates franchisor financial distress or viability uncertainty
- 02MINOROnly 1 unit operating makes system validation impossible; no comparable performance data or franchisee network
- 03MEDNet Income not disclosed prevents ROI calculation; with $427K–$769K investment and 5% royalties, profitability timeline is unclear
- 04MINORAverage Revenue of $4.8M appears inflated or unverified (likely franchisor data, not franchisee average); single unit cannot substantiate this claim
- 05MINORFranchise Fee ($40K) is reasonable, but total investment range suggests high overhead with unproven unit economics
- 06MINOR10-year term locks franchisee into relationship with a franchisor showing financial instability signals
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
17 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Cleavers Philadelphia · FDD (2025) PDF