Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill
Formerly known as CVM (Commercial Vehicle Maintenance)
Bottom line
- Total investment $660K – $1.3M including a $30K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $2.1M/year (median $1.9M).
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 55/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 13 loans (below the industry average).
- System contracting at -14.0% 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 Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
30%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
32.2%
4.04× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
2.51×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$6.7M
on $16.7M purchase
Total debt
$10.0M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Franchisees operate quick-service Mexican grill restaurants featuring customizable bowls, burritos, and tacos. Day-to-day operations include food preparation, inventory management, staff scheduling, and customer service in a fast-casual format with average unit volumes around $2.08M annually.
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 · 30 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
Costa Vida shows meaningful caution signals: contracting unit base (-12.5% YoY), opaque profitability metrics, and high capital requirements that cannot be validated against actual franchisee earnings.
Score breakdown · what drove the 55 / 100 rating
- 01MEDUnit count declined 12.5% YoY (91 units) indicating system contraction and potential franchisee struggles
- 02MEDNet income not disclosed in Item 19 — unable to validate actual profitability despite $2.08M avg revenue
- 03MEDHigh capital requirement ($659.5K–$1.3M) combined with undisclosed margins creates ROI uncertainty
- 04HIGHNo going concern statement is positive, but lack of financial transparency raises questions about system health
- 05MINOR6% royalty on weekly sales is standard but only sustainable if net margins support it
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
84 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill · FDD (2024) PDF