Dakota London
Formerly known as DKL
Bottom line
- Total investment $372K – $523K including a $50K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.1M/year (median $999K). Estimated payback in 1.7 years.
- Rated CAUTION with a risk score of 73/100.
- Emerging franchise — only 2 years of franchising with 3 units. Early-stage systems carry higher risk but may offer better territory availability.
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 DAKOTA LONDON unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
46%
In Yale's "attractive" band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 DAKOTA LONDON units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
33.5%
4.25× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
2.42×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$5.9M
on $15.5M purchase
Total debt
$9.7M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Dakota London franchisees operate fashion or lifestyle retail locations, likely focused on apparel, accessories, or home goods sales. Day-to-day activities typically include inventory management, customer service, visual merchandising, staff supervision, and local marketing to drive sales toward the $1.1M annual revenue benchmark.
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 · 14 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
Dakota London presents HIGH RISK due to going concern status, minimal unit base, lack of financial substantiation, and questionable unit economics that may not support the claimed profitability.
Score breakdown · what drove the 73 / 100 rating
- 01HIGHGoing Concern status indicates the franchisor may have solvency or operational viability issues
- 02MINOROnly 3 units in system with unknown growth trajectory suggests stagnation or failure to scale
- 03MEDNo Item 19 (Financial Performance Representations) disclosed — cannot validate $261,963 avg net income claim
- 04MINORHigh initial investment ($372k-$523k) relative to only 3 franchise locations indicates unproven model
- 05MINOR7% royalty on $1.1M avg revenue = $77.5k annually, representing 30% of claimed net income — sustainability unclear
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
14 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
DAKOTA LONDON · FDD (2025) PDF