Bottom line
- Total investment $934K – $1.3M including a $25K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.2M/year (median $1.1M). Estimated payback in 5.9 years.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 54/100.
- System growing at 16.8% CAGR over 3 years with 194 total units — strong expansion trajectory.
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 COBS Bread unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
9%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 COBS Bread units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$245K
on $1.2M purchase
Total debt
$978K
SBA $0.6M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
COBS Bread franchisees operate neighborhood bakeries that produce fresh bread, pastries, and baked goods daily. Day-to-day operations include dough preparation, baking, staffing counter and production teams, managing inventory, and retail customer service in a typically 1,000–1,500 sq ft storefront.
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 · 19 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
COBS Bread presents moderate-to-cautious risk: solid fundamentals with protected territory and no litigation, but lack of Item 19 disclosure, slow growth rate, and high capital requirements relative to profits warrant deep validation of financial claims.
Score breakdown · what drove the 54 / 100 rating
- 01MEDNo Item 19 financial performance representation disclosed — cannot independently verify claimed $1.22M average revenue or $186.9K net income
- 02MINORModest unit growth of 6.8% YoY suggests slowing expansion momentum in a mature 194-unit system
- 03MEDHigh initial investment ($934K–$1.27M) relative to disclosed net income ($186.9K) yields only 15–20% annual return before accounting for owner labor
- 04MINOR7% royalty on net sales is standard but compounds pressure on thin margins if actual performance lags averages
- 05MINORBakery category faces structural headwinds (commodity pricing, rising labor costs, changing bread consumption trends)
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
88 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
COBS Bread · FDD (2025) PDF