Elmer’s Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner® / Egg N’ Joe® / Elmer’s Kitchen
Bottom line
- Total investment $1.1M – $4.7M including a $40K franchise fee, 4.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $2.8M/year.
- Rated CAUTION with a risk score of 75/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 8 loans (below the industry average).
- System contracting at -41.7% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven (consolidation) or franchisee-driven (economics).
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 Elmer’s Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner® / Egg N’ Joe® / Elmer’s Kitchen unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
16%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Elmer’s Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner® / Egg N’ Joe® / Elmer’s Kitchen units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
25.7%
3.14× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
3.24×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$16.3M
on $30.4M purchase
Total debt
$14.1M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Franchisees operate casual full-service dining establishments serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a focus on comfort food. Day-to-day operations include managing kitchen and front-of-house staff, inventory procurement, food preparation oversight, customer service, and local marketing within their assigned 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 · 5 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
Elmer's is a collapsing franchise system with severe unit attrition, going concern status, and no profitability transparency—extreme caution warranted.
Score breakdown · what drove the 75 / 100 rating
- 01MEDSevere unit decline of 46.2% year-over-year (25 units remaining) indicates systemic franchisee failure or franchisor distress
- 02HIGHGoing Concern status = franchisor financial viability questioned; risk of system collapse and loss of support
- 03MINORNo Item 19 (net income disclosure) combined with average revenue of $2.77M raises transparency concerns about actual profitability
- 04MINORUnprotected territory creates direct competition risk between franchisees and cannibalization of sales
- 05MINORHigh investment ceiling ($4.67M) with declining unit count suggests poor ROI and lengthy payback periods for new franchisees
- 06MINOR4% royalty on gross sales (not net) means fees continue even during unprofitable months
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
20 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Elmer’s Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner® / Egg N’ Joe® / Elmer’s Kitchen · FDD (2025) PDF