Friendly’s
Formerly known as Frontier Adjusters
Bottom line
- Total investment $1.1M – $2.7M including a $30K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 54/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 28 loans (below the industry average).
- System growing at 95.8% CAGR over 3 years with 95 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 Friendly’s unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
5%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Overview
About
Franchisees operate casual dining restaurants (ice cream parlor/diner hybrid) serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner to families. Day-to-day operations include managing staff across front-of-house (servers, hosts) and back-of-house (kitchen, prep), inventory procurement, food cost management, and ice cream production/service, while maintaining brand standards and local marketing.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
This franchisor did not disclose financial performance representations in Item 19, or our extractor could not parse them.
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 9 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
Friendly's presents elevated risk due to a contracting unit base, opaque unit economics, material litigation history, and undisclosed profitability—making it difficult to validate ROI justification for $1.1M–$2.7M investment.
Score breakdown · what drove the 54 / 100 rating
- 01MEDSignificant unit contraction: 95 units represents declining system with only 9.3% YoY growth, suggesting maturity or decline phase
- 02MINORNo financial disclosure: Franchisor does not disclose Item 19 (average unit volumes or net income), making ROI analysis impossible
- 03MEDHigh initial investment ($1.1M–$2.7M) paired with undisclosed profitability creates asymmetric risk
- 04HIGHLitigation history including asset/lease disputes with franchisees and SEC judgment against CEO raises governance concerns
- 05HIGHGoing concern status is False, indicating potential balance sheet or operational sustainability issues
- 06MINOR6% royalty on net sales with high capex requirements typical of casual dining creates margin pressure in low-AUV environments
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
48 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Friendly’s · FDD (2025) PDF