Dogs & Cream Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $279K – $799K
- Disclosed sales
- $342K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Dogs & Cream is a fast-casual franchise serving made-to-order hot dogs and ice cream treats. Franchisees run the restaurants, managing food prep, staffing, and counter service.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Dogs & Cream franchise requires a total initial investment of $279K – $799K, including a $40K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $342K[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: D (Below average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: medium - issued 12 to 24 months ago; a newer filing is likely on file
Evidence: partial✓ Investment (Item 7)✓ Item 19 status✓ Units and owners (Item 20)✗ SBA loan coverage✓ Litigation (Item 3)✓ Financial statements (Item 21)✓ Franchisor identityhow this is scored5 of 6 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $279K – $799K
- 43rd pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $342K
- Company-owned only1 outlet
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 12th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 2
- 9th pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Quick-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Quick-Service Restaurants median · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- COSTTotal investment $279K – $799K including a $40K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $342K/year (company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance), with an estimated 5% cash-on-cash return.
- RISKVerdict D (Below average), verdict score 35/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHFlat: no net change in franchised outlets in the latest year (0 opened, 0 closed) (Item 20).
- FLAGRevenue data based on only 1 outlet. Treat as directional, not definitive. Ask franchisees directly for current unit economics.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- CSG Hospitality, LLC
- CEO title
- Owner
- Eric Robinson
- Incorporated in
- WI
- HQ
- 5801 Washington Avenue, Racine, WI 53406
- Auditor
- Ellsworth + Stout, LLC (Ellsworth Stout, CPAs and Consultants)
- Audited financials
Independent franchisee associations
- Franchise Advisory Council (FAC)
Franchisee-led councils or alliances disclosed in Item 20. Indicates operator voice.
Overview
About
- CEO
- Eric Robinson
- Headquarters
- WI
- Founded
- 2019
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 1
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 11% above the typical quick-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2025 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $40K | $40K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $20K | $40K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $219K | $719K |
| Total initial investment | $279K | $799K |
Source: Dogs & Cream 2025 FDD, Items 5 and 7[2]. “Equipment, build-out, other” is computed as total minus disclosed line items above.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $279K – $799K
- Middle of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $20K – $40K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $40K – $40K
- Middle of category vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- Set by a formula · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 8.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
- Payback period
- 21.0 yrs
- From FDD / Item 19
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $285 |
| Training fee | $500 |
| Transfer fee | $20K |
| Renewal fee | $20K |
| Inventory (initial) | $8K – $12K |
| Total fee load | 8.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 65% below the quick-service restaurants norm.
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
Based on a single outlet - not a system average
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
Single-unit · not modelled
Returns at a glance
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit, and the operating costs that turn one into the other are in no filing. We publish no modelled return for Dogs & Cream until someone supplies them — yours, in the models below.
—
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
Total invested capital · disclosed
$569K
Item 7 initial investment plus working capital, as filed — the one figure here that needs no assumption.
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
FDD-reported earnings
The FDD reports $26K as Net Income. This is a disclosed figure, not our estimate — we publish no modelled profit for Dogs & Cream.
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit, read against the 30–60% reference band · Yale SOM, Post-MBA Path Exhibit 2 (2023). Below that band a passive index fund likely outperforms; above it the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses, and it is the top line only — gross sales are not profit. No FDD discloses the operating costs that turn one into the other, so those fields start empty and nothing is modelled until you supply them from your own lease quote, labor market and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Dogs & Cream unit return on the cash you put in?
Illustrative category typicals — not sourced to any filing, survey or sample. Replace them with figures from franchisee validation calls before you rely on the output.
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Your modelled return on total invested capital, before any debt financing.
—
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
A 25-unit return is built on a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in Model A above and this model runs on that figure, or take the whole scenario to the full ROI workbench, where the portfolio and LBO models accept your own per-unit economics directly.
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2025 FDD
Financial Performance
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
Based on a single outlet - not a system average
- Avg gross sales
- $342K
- Per unit, per year
- Avg net income
- $26K
- Cash-on-cash
- 4.8%
- Based on Net Income / investment midpoint
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- gross sales
- Sample size
- 1 outlet
- vs category median 19 · small
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- Disclosed in the 2025 filing, covering 2024
- Transparency
- 8 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 781 Quick-Service Restaurants brands
Revenue is only 0.6x the investment. This means each unit may take 5+ years to recoup the initial outlay at typical margins.
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $342K/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 0.6x. Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 8.0% (near the Quick-Service Restaurants median).
Disclosure
Transparency score 8/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence. Sample size of 1 outlet — treat as directional only.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Quick-Service Restaurants medians
How Dogs & Cream Compares
Category median of published Quick-Service Restaurants brands that report the figure; the middle half spans the 25th to 75th percentile and n counts the brands behind it. Medians are used because a few very large systems pull an average far from the typical brand. Revenue is disclosed gross sales, not profit.
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 2
- Opened
- 0
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- N/A
- Company-owned
- 2
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 0%
- vs corporate-owned
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Projected new
- 2
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
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)
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
What could kill this investment?
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Extremely nascent franchise system with only 2 units, unverified financials, franchisor stability concerns, and thin unit-level margins create significant execution and support risk.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation is required to be disclosed in this item.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Ellsworth + Stout, LLC (Ellsworth Stout, CPAs and Consultants)
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Audited financial statements of the franchisor, CSG Hospitality, LLC (the only entity in the exhibit; no parent/guarantor), audited by Ellsworth + Stout, CPAs (Las Vegas, NV), report dated March 12, 2025. Statements are for the year ended December 31, 2024 (most recent) and the period May 8, 2019 (inception) to December 31, 2023; figures shown in whole dollars (not in thousands). CSG Hospitality is a shell/start-up franchisor with de minimis activity: Total Assets = Cash = $5, no liabilities, Member's Equity = $5 (single $5 member contribution at inception). Revenue, operating expenses, and net income are all $0 (shown as dashes) in both periods. The FDD notes the franchisor has not been in business three years and cannot include all required financial statements. Note: the franchisor's most recent (2026) FDD includes no Item 19 financial performance representation ('We do not make any representations about a franchisee's future financial performance or the past financial performance of company-owned or franchised outlets'); the average gross sales figure above reflects the 2025 FDD, the last filing to disclose Item 19 data.
ⓘ These are the parent company's consolidated financials (the parent guarantees the franchisor), not this brand's standalone results — the figure reflects the whole corporate group, not this brand alone.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: No
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 35 / 100 verdict
- 01MINOROnly 2 operating units — critically small franchise system with zero visibility into growth trajectory or scalability
- 02MINORWide investment range ($278.8K–$799.3K) suggests high variability in unit economics; unclear what drives $520K difference
- 03MINORNet profit margin only 8.97% ($31.5K on $351K revenue) is thin for a food/beverage concept, leaving little buffer for underperformance
- 04MINORRoyalty floor of $1,500/month ($18K annually) represents 5.1% of average net income — leaves minimal cash flow for franchisee reinvestment or contingencies
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 8.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory radius | 3 mi |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 25 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 22 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Racine County, Wisconsin |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Wisconsin |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation is required to be disclosed in this item.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 40 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 80 hrs
- Training location
- Racine, Wisconsin
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 4 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- Franchisee proposes site; Franchisor must approve
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Sky Tab
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Sky Tab
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Dogs & Cream franchise?
The total investment to open a Dogs & Cream franchise ranges from $279K – $799K, with an initial franchise fee of $40K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Dogs & Cream franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Dogs & Cream FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $342K. Important context: Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance; Based on a single outlet - not a system average. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Dogs & Cream?
Dogs & Cream is franchised by CSG Hospitality, LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Dogs & Cream FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the Dogs & Cream FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Dogs & Cream's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Dogs & Cream (fewer than 10 loans on file). Charge-off rates are one way to gauge franchise risk, but not all franchise loans go through the SBA program. We recommend reviewing turnover and closure data in the FDD and speaking with current franchisees.
How many Dogs & Cream franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Dogs & Cream has 2 total units in the United States.
Is Dogs & Cream a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Dogs & Cream as a D-grade franchise with a verdict score of 35 out of 100 (higher is better). The grade is a deterministic score built from six weighted dimensions — financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency — then calibrated against SBA loan charge-off rates and FDD age. Transparency is one of the six, so a filing that discloses less scores lower on that dimension than one that discloses more. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
Are you the franchisor?
If you represent Dogs & Cream, you can request corrections or provide updated information.
Other Quick-Service Restaurants franchises
Compare similar franchise opportunities in the Quick-Service Restaurants category
Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.