FranchiseVerdict
Dog Haus logo
FV-00769·STRONGExcellent86

Dog Haus

Food & Beverage - Full ServiceFranchising since 2013Website
Investment
$100K – $1.4M
6th pct Full Service
Avg revenue
$1.7M
36th pct Full Service
Royalty
6.0%
54th pct Full Service
Units
59
75th pct Full Service
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $100K – $1.4M including a $40K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $1.7M/year.
  • Rated STRONG with a risk score of 47/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 39 loans (below the industry average).
  • System growing at 20.4% CAGR over 3 years with 59 total units — strong expansion trajectory.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Dog Haus Worldwide, LLC
Incorporated in
California
HQ
22 Central Court, Pasadena, California 91105
Auditor
Baker Tilly US, LLP
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$6.9M
vs $7.1M 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 Dog Haus unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $1,684,300
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: $100K–$1.4M
Working capital
$
FDD reports $15K–$45K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

32%

In Yale's "attractive" band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$253K
EBITDA margin
15.0%
Total invested
$794K
Payback
38 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.

Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing

What would 25 Dog Haus units return on equity?

Edit assumptions

Equity IRR · 5-yr

36.9%

4.80× MOIC

Year-1 DSCR

2.24×

EBITDA ÷ debt service

Equity required

$4.4M

on $13.5M purchase

Total debt

$9.0M

SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note

SBA 7(a) request ($6.7M) exceeds the $5M program cap. Excess capped automatically; backfill via conventional or equity.

Overview

About

Dog Haus franchisees operate fast-casual restaurants specializing in premium hot dogs, sausages, and related comfort foods. Day-to-day operations involve food prep, customer service at counter or drive-thru, inventory management, and staff scheduling in a QSR environment similar to Wienerschnitzel or Portillo's competitors.

CEO
Michael Montagano
Founded
2018
FDD year
2025
States available
12

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$100K – $1.4M
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$15K – $45K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$40K
Royalty
6.0%
Gross Sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
2.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
8.0%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$1.7M
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
Item 19 type
Gross Sales
Sample size
43 units
vs category median 15 · large
Range (low → high)
$592K$3.1M
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
3 / 5
vs category median 4 / 5 · below
Revenue rank36th
vs Food & Beverage - Full Service peers
Investment cost rank6th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank54th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank75th
vs Food & Beverage - Full Service peers
Risk score rank10th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
59
Opened
7
Last reporting year
Closed
5
Turnover rate
8.5%
Company-owned
0
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
100%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+3.5%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+20.4%
Compounded over last 3 years
2023
59+2
Franchised units
2024
57
Franchised units
2025
49
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 25 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).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 25 states
Not registered

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.

Total loans
39
Loan volume
Avg loan
Default rate
0.0%
vs <3% typical · system-wide
5-yr default

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

47
Risk · 0-100
STRONG47 / 100

Dog Haus presents moderate-to-cautionary risk: small unit count with weak growth, opaque profitability metrics, and wide investment variance mask true earnings potential despite reasonable franchise fees and protected territories.

Score breakdown · what drove the 47 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDNo Item 19 (Average Unit Volume) disclosed — inability to validate $1.68M revenue claim or assess true profitability
  2. 02MEDSlow unit growth of 3.5% YoY with only 59 units suggests limited brand momentum and market traction
  3. 03MINORWide investment range ($99K-$1.43M) indicates inconsistent unit economics or high variability in build-out costs
  4. 04MEDNet income not disclosed — franchisees cannot assess actual take-home earnings or ROI timeline
  5. 05MINOR6% royalty on gross sales is above average for QSR and compounds burden if net margins are thin

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
10 years
Renewal term
10 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
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
102 hrs
POS system
Toast POS System
Operating tech stack

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

89 numbers

Locked
(773) 935-••••
IL
(213) 576-••••
CA
(719) 488-••••
CO

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Dog Haus · FDD (2025) PDF

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