Bottom line
- Total investment $625K – $2.0M including a $45K franchise fee, 5.5% ongoing royalty.
- No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 52/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 11 loans (below the industry average).
- Auditor disclosed a going-concern note — flagged doubt about the franchisor's ability to continue operations. Verify against the latest FDD.
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 Fuddruckers unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
7%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Overview
About
Franchisees operate premium fast-casual burger restaurants featuring customizable toppings, hand-rolled patties, and craft beverages. Day-to-day operations include food prep, customer service, inventory management, and adherence to brand standards. Franchisees must manage labor, rent, utilities, and marketing while remitting 5.5% of gross sales in royalties to the franchisor.
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 · 27 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
Fuddruckers presents caution-level risk due to opaque unit economics, minimal system size, and lack of transparent profitability data despite significant capital requirements.
Score breakdown · what drove the 52 / 100 rating
- 01MINORNo Item 19 (Average Unit Volume) disclosure—cannot assess unit economics or ROI
- 02MINOROnly 50 units system-wide with unknown growth trajectory suggests stagnation or contraction
- 03MEDHigh investment range ($625K–$2.014M) with no disclosed average net income creates visibility gap on profitability
- 04MED5.5% royalty + undisclosed operating costs may compress margins in competitive burger category
- 05MINOR20-year term is unusually long for QSR; limits franchisee flexibility if concept underperforms
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
71 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Fuddruckers · FDD (2026) PDF