FranchiseVerdict
FV-00656·CAUTIONStandard76

Crazy Otto’s Diner

Food & Beverage - Full ServiceFranchising since 2008
Investment
$563K – $760K
71st pct Full Service
Avg revenue
57th pct Full Service
Royalty
4.0%
6th pct Full Service
Units
5
26th pct Full Service
SBA default

Bottom line

  • Total investment $563K – $760K including a $25K franchise fee, 4.0% ongoing royalty.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated CAUTION with a risk score of 72/100.
  • No Item 19 financial performance representation. Without franchisor-disclosed revenue data, you'll need to gather unit economics directly from existing franchisees.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
ENGINE NO.9, INC.
Incorporated in
California
HQ
41008 43rd Street West, Palmdale, CA 93551
Auditor
JHK CPAs, AC.
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$85K
vs $130K prior year

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 Crazy Otto’s Diner unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
Item 19 not disclosed — typing your own estimate
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: generic
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $563K–$760K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $7K–$112K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

19%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$139K
EBITDA margin
18.5%
Total invested
$722K
Payback
62 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Overview

About

Crazy Otto's Diner franchisees operate classic American diner establishments serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner with dine-in and outside vendor/catering revenue streams. Daily operations include food preparation, customer service, inventory management, and compliance with franchisor operational standards while remitting 4% of dine-in and 2% of outside vendor sales as royalties.

CEO
Jin Hur
Founded
2008
FDD year
2025
States available
1

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$563K – $760K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$7K – $112K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$25K
Royalty
4.0%
Gross Sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
0.5%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
4.5%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

This franchisor did not disclose financial performance representations in Item 19, or our extractor could not parse them.

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
5
Opened
0
Last reporting year
Closed
0
Turnover rate
0.0%
Company-owned
2
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
60%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+0.0%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
-50.0%
Compounded over last 3 years
2023
1±0
Franchised units
2024
1
Franchised units
2025
2
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 12 · 1 state reported

The Territory Map

FDD Item 12 reports the state count, but the specific list isn't in our current data. The map will appear once we re-extract from the FDD or enough franchisee contacts are available.

1

states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)

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

72
Risk · 0-100
CAUTION72 / 100

Financially distressed franchisor with minimal system scale, no performance disclosure, and unclear path to profitability makes this a high-risk investment.

Score breakdown · what drove the 72 / 100 rating

  1. 01HIGHGoing Concern status indicates franchisor financial distress or operational uncertainty
  2. 02MINOROnly 5 units systemwide suggests minimal scale, market validation failure, or recent contraction
  3. 03MEDNo Item 19 (average unit revenue/profitability) disclosed — prevents ROI assessment on $563k-$760k investment
  4. 04MINORHigh investment-to-unit ratio ($112k-$152k per existing unit) with no financial performance data to justify spend
  5. 05MINORRoyalty structure (4% dine-in + 2% outside vendor) lacks transparency on actual cost burden without revenue disclosure
  6. 06MINOR5-year term is relatively short; typically indicates franchisor uncertainty or struggling brand repositioning
  7. 07MEDNo disclosed growth trajectory or expansion plans despite small unit count

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Radius
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
5 years
Renewal term
20 years
Online sales rights
Granted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
No
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
California

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
40 hrs
On-the-job training
120 hrs

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

5 numbers

Locked
(661) 299-••••
Big Omelette, Inc
CA
(661) 291-••••
Engine No
CA
(661) 940-••••
Harlow Ventures, Inc.
CA

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Crazy Otto’s Diner · FDD (2025) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above