FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2025 filing
Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh litigation history
What Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh disclosed about lawsuits, arbitrations and bankruptcy in the 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document. Item 3 lists the material legal actions a franchisor must report; Item 4 covers bankruptcy. This is the franchisor's own disclosure, not a court record, and not legal advice.
Items 3 & 4 at a glance
What the filing discloses
- Cases disclosed
- 0
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest disclosed settlement
- N/A
- Bankruptcy (Item 4)
- Disclosed
- Franchisor, parent, predecessor or officer
- Filing year
- 2025
- Disclosures cover the prior ten years
Extracted from the 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 3: litigation
No current litigation for Garbanzo Franchising Co., LLC. Predecessor had one arbitration/action (Topper/GARBOCA, LLC) settled with $50,000 + $30,000 payments.
Disclosed in the 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 4: bankruptcy
Predecessor Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill Franchising, LLC filed Chapter 11 on August 12, 2020 in the Eastern District of Missouri (Case No. 20-43964-399). Current franchisor acquired predecessor's assets December 21, 2020. Case closed February 19, 2021.
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Prior litigation and arbitration with founder David Topper over development obligations and unit closures suggests franchisor-franchisee relationship strain
- Going Concern status marked as 'False' may indicate financial stability questions or recent restructuring not fully disclosed
The verdict grade is FranchiseVerdict's editorial assessment across SBA loan performance, unit growth, revenue and disclosure signals. It is not investment advice.
Before you weigh a lawsuit
How to read Item 3
A franchisor must disclose pending actions and any material civil action involving the franchise relationship, plus convictions or civil judgments for fraud, unfair or deceptive practices, or franchise-law violations, going back ten years. A case the franchisor brought against a franchisee counts too. Item 3 does not include every dispute: settled claims below the materiality line and matters resolved in private arbitration can be absent.
Questions worth asking current and former franchisees, using the contact list in Item 20:
- Were you, or anyone you know in the system, party to a dispute with the franchisor?
- Was it resolved by settlement, arbitration or a court, and on what terms?
- Has the number of disputes gone up or down since you signed?