El Fresco Mexican Grill
Bottom line
- Total investment $354K – $606K including a $30K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.0M/year.
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 63/100.
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 El Fresco Mexican Grill unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
34%
In Yale's "attractive" band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 El Fresco Mexican Grill units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
48.3%
7.17× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.91×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$2.2M
on $10.2M purchase
Total debt
$8.1M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Franchisees operate casual Mexican quick-service or full-service restaurant locations, managing daily food preparation, customer service, inventory, staffing, and marketing. Operations involve managing kitchen staff, handling POS systems, maintaining food safety standards, and driving local customer acquisition in a protected territory.
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
El Fresco presents a HIGH-CAUTION profile: a micro-franchise system with unproven unit economics, no profitability disclosure, questionable corporate financial health, and no demonstrated growth, making investor returns highly speculative.
Score breakdown · what drove the 63 / 100 rating
- 01MINOROnly 4 existing units with unknown/stalled growth trajectory raises sustainability questions
- 02MINORNo net income disclosure (Item 19) prevents accurate ROI assessment and suggests weak or inconsistent profitability
- 03HIGHGoing Concern status is FALSE, indicating potential financial viability concerns at corporate level
- 04MEDHigh investment range ($353k-$605k) against only 4 units suggests limited franchisor track record and unproven unit economics
- 05MINOR5% royalty on $1M average revenue ($50k annually) may be insufficient to support franchisor operations with only 4 units
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
16 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
El Fresco Mexican Grill · FDD (2026) PDF