Bottom line
- Total investment $352K – $652K including a $45K franchise fee, 4.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.7M/year (median $1.5M).
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 41/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 127 loans (below the industry average).
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 Fleet Feet unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
105%
Above typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Fleet Feet units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
23.8%
2.90× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
3.65×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$26.3M
on $44.7M purchase
Total debt
$18.4M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Fleet Feet franchisees operate specialty running shoe retail stores, providing personalized gait analysis, shoe fitting services, and community running event sponsorships. Day-to-day operations include managing inventory of premium running brands, training staff on biomechanics, processing transactions, and cultivating local runner communities through events and group runs.
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 · 22 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
Fleet Feet presents moderate-to-cautionary risk due to lack of profitability disclosure, anemic unit growth, and capital-intensive model without clear ROI visibility.
Score breakdown · what drove the 41 / 100 rating
- 01MEDNet income not disclosed in FDD Item 19 — cannot validate profitability or ROI against $352k-$651.5k investment
- 02MINORMinimal unit growth of 2.6% YoY suggests market saturation or franchisee satisfaction issues in 283-unit system
- 03MEDHigh investment range ($299.5k spread) with no disclosed average net income creates uncertainty on payback period
- 04MINORRoyalty burden of 4% on $1.67M avg revenue ($66.9k annually) plus operating costs may compress margins significantly
- 05MINOR20-year term is unusually long and locks franchisees into potential declining retail/running shoe market trends
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
91 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Fleet Feet · FDD (2026) PDF