FranchiseVerdict
Fuego Cravings logo
FV-01017·MODERATEExcellent91

Fuego Cravings

Food & Beverage - Full ServiceFranchising since 2024Website
Investment
$145K – $324K
12th pct Full Service
Avg revenue
$993K
18th pct Full Service
Royalty
5.0%
15th pct Full Service
Units
7
33rd pct Full Service
SBA default

Bottom line

  • Total investment $145K – $324K including a $35K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $993K/year (median $916K).
  • Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 60/100.
  • Emerging franchise — only 2 years of franchising with 7 units. Early-stage systems carry higher risk but may offer better territory availability.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Fuego Cravings Franchising, LLC
Incorporated in
California
HQ
7252 Archibald Avenue, #1242, Rancho Cucamonga, California 91701
Auditor
Roos & McNabb CPA's PC
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$110K
Most recent fiscal year

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 Fuego Cravings unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $992,711
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: generic
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $145K–$324K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $60K–$72K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

53%

In Yale's "attractive" band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$159K
EBITDA margin
16.0%
Total invested
$300K
Payback
23 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing

What would 25 Fuego Cravings units return on equity?

Edit assumptions

Equity IRR · 5-yr

49.9%

7.57× MOIC

Year-1 DSCR

1.88×

EBITDA ÷ debt service

Equity required

$1.8M

on $8.9M purchase

Total debt

$7.1M

SBA $4.5M + senior + seller note

Overview

About

Fuego Cravings franchisees operate food service concepts (likely Latin/flame-grilled cuisine based on brand name) involving daily food preparation, customer service, POS operations, inventory management, and staff scheduling. Day-to-day activities include managing kitchen operations, coordinating with suppliers, handling cash/credit transactions, and maintaining food safety compliance.

CEO
Francisco Zapien
Founded
2023
FDD year
2025
States available
1

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$145K – $324K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$60K – $72K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$35K
Royalty
5.0%
Gross Sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
2.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
7.0%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$993K
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
$916K
Item 19 type
Company Owned Outlets
Sample size
3 units
vs category median 15 · small
Range (low → high)
$898K$1.2M
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
7 / 5
vs category median 4 / 5 · above
Revenue rank18th
vs Food & Beverage - Full Service peers
Investment cost rank12th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank15th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank33th
vs Food & Beverage - Full Service peers
Risk score rank40th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
7
Opened
4
Last reporting year
Closed
0
Turnover rate
0.0%
Company-owned
3
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
57%
vs corporate-owned
2023
4+4
Franchised units
2024
0
Franchised units
2025
0
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 12 · 1 state reported

The Territory Map

FDD Item 12 reports the state count, but the specific list isn't in our current data. The map will appear once we re-extract from the FDD or enough franchisee contacts are available.

1

states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

No SBA loan data available for this brand.

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

60
Risk · 0-100
MODERATE60 / 100

Fuego Cravings is a micro-franchise with unproven profitability metrics, undisclosed going concern status, and insufficient franchisee density to validate the business model.

Score breakdown · what drove the 60 / 100 rating

  1. 01HIGHGoing Concern status is FALSE — franchisor may have financial viability issues
  2. 02MEDNet Income not disclosed in Item 19 — cannot assess actual profitability or ROI
  3. 03MINOROnly 7 units system-wide — extremely small franchise network suggests weak growth/appeal
  4. 04MINORNo unit growth data provided — unclear if system is stable, growing, or declining
  5. 05MINORHigh investment range ($145K–$323K) against only 7 units raises scalability questions
  6. 06MINOR5% royalty on $992K avg revenue = $49.6K annual fee burden with unknown net income

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Radius
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
5 years
Renewal term
5 years
Online sales rights
Granted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
California

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
89 hrs
On-the-job training
270 hrs
POS system
SnackPass
Operating tech stack

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

5 numbers

Locked
(323) 346-••••
CA
(951) 990-••••
CA
(626) 543-••••
CA

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Fuego Cravings · FDD (2025) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above