Bottom line
- Total investment $582K – $1.4M including a $35K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $2.0M/year (median $1.8M).
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 52/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 5 loans (below the industry average).
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 Cowboy Chicken unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
31%
In Yale's "attractive" band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Cowboy Chicken units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
30.9%
3.84× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
2.61×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$7.7M
on $18.1M purchase
Total debt
$10.4M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Franchisees operate fast-casual chicken restaurants serving flame-grilled or fried chicken sandwiches and sides with Southwestern branding. Day-to-day operations include food preparation, inventory management, staffing, and customer service in a QSR format with dine-in, carry-out, and likely delivery options.
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 · 4 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
Cowboy Chicken presents meaningful caution due to lack of profitability disclosure, small unit count, and franchisor financial concerns, despite reasonable unit growth and protected territory.
Score breakdown · what drove the 52 / 100 rating
- 01MEDNet income not disclosed in FDD — unable to validate profitability claims or ROI timeline
- 02MEDOnly 18 units systemwide with modest 10% YoY growth suggests limited scale and market validation
- 03MEDHigh investment range ($581K–$1.4M) against undisclosed net income creates opaque risk-reward profile
- 04HIGHGoing Concern status is False — indicates potential financial or operational stress at franchisor level
- 05MINORAverage revenue of $2.01M is solid but insufficient to offset concerns without corresponding margin data
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
10 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Cowboy Chicken · FDD (2024) PDF