Dave’s Hot Chicken
Bottom line
- Total investment $620K – $2.0M including a $40K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 44/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 10 loans (below the industry average).
- System growing at 563.6% CAGR over 3 years with 169 total units — strong expansion trajectory.
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 Dave’s Hot Chicken unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
7%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Overview
About
Franchisees operate quick-service chicken restaurants featuring Nashville-style hot chicken sandwiches and sides. Day-to-day operations include food preparation, inventory management, point-of-sale transactions, staff scheduling, and quality control across breakfast-to-dinner service models, with growing delivery/third-party platform integration.
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 · 16 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
Aggressive growth-stage franchise with material financial transparency gaps, undefined unit economics, and expansion velocity that outpaces typical market maturation.
Score breakdown · what drove the 44 / 100 rating
- 01MEDNo Item 19 (Average Unit Volume) disclosed — impossible to assess ROI or payback period against $619,800–$1,963,000 investment range
- 02MINORExtremely wide investment range ($1,343,200 spread) suggests highly variable unit economics or undefined buildout standards
- 03MINORRapid expansion (87.2% YoY growth) at 169 units creates saturation risk and may indicate franchisee cannibalization in key markets
- 04MED6% royalty on undisclosed revenues provides no transparency on actual franchisee profitability or franchisor sustainability
- 05MEDHigh initial investment with no disclosed average net income creates severe visibility gap for ROI analysis
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
62 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Dave’s Hot Chicken · FDD (2024) PDF