Bottom line
- Total investment $130K – $814K including a $40K franchise fee, 2.0% ongoing royalty.
- No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 47/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 27 loans (below the industry average).
- System contracting at -10.2% 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 Culligan unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
26%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Overview
About
Culligan franchisees operate water treatment and delivery businesses, serving residential and commercial customers with bottled water sales, water cooler rentals, and point-of-use filtration systems. Day-to-day operations include customer acquisition and retention, water delivery logistics, equipment maintenance and installation, billing/invoicing, and local marketing.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
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
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 13 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
Culligan presents moderate-to-caution risk due to documented unit decline, absence of earnings transparency (no Item 19), substantial capital requirements, and a contracting franchise network in a mature water treatment market.
Score breakdown · what drove the 47 / 100 rating
- 01MINORSystem contraction: 553 units declining 3.8% YoY indicates shrinking franchise network and potential market saturation or franchisee attrition issues
- 02MINORNo Item 19 financial disclosure: Absence of average revenue and net income data prevents validation of profit claims and creates opacity around actual franchisee earnings
- 03MEDHigh investment ceiling: $813,515 maximum investment creates significant capital exposure with unclear ROI benchmarks due to missing financial performance data
- 04MEDLong commitment term: 20.6-year franchise agreement locks franchisees into declining system with limited exit flexibility
- 05MINORModest royalty structure masks true profitability risk: 2% of prior month's revenues provides minimal incentive alignment and suggests thin franchisor margins may limit support resources
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
82 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Culligan · FDD (2025) PDF