Bottom line
- Total investment $627K – $2.3M including a $45K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $708K/year (median $682K). Estimated payback in 5.9 years.
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 56/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 64 loans (below the industry average).
- System growing at 37.0% CAGR over 3 years with 75 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 Escapology unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
7%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Escapology units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$1.1M
on $5.7M purchase
Total debt
$4.5M
SBA $2.8M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Escapology franchisees operate escape room entertainment venues where customers solve puzzles and riddles to 'escape' locked rooms within a time limit. Day-to-day operations include managing game room bookings, staffing game masters, maintaining puzzle equipment, conducting safety briefings, processing customer payments, cleaning between sessions, and marketing to corporate team-building and leisure customers.
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 · 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
Escapology presents caution-level risk due to regulatory violations, lack of financial disclosure documentation, high capital requirements relative to stated earnings, and a small growing system with unverified performance claims.
Score breakdown · what drove the 56 / 100 rating
- 01MINORCalifornia regulatory violation in 2023 involving material disclosure failures and record-keeping deficiencies, indicating compliance issues
- 02MINORHigh initial investment range ($626.5K–$2.3M) relative to average net income ($248K), creating 2.5–9.3 year payback period with substantial capital risk
- 03HIGHNo Item 19 financial performance representations (Going Concern: False), preventing validation of claimed average revenue/net income figures across franchisees
- 04HIGHUnit growth of 21.2% YoY is positive but system remains small (75 units), raising questions about scalability and franchisor operational capacity post-litigation
- 05MINOR6% royalty on gross sales compounds pressure on lower-performing locations; unclear if $707.7K average revenue is representative or includes outliers
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
18 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Escapology · FDD (2026) PDF