Gold Dust PizzaFranchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Gold Dust Pizza franchise requires a total initial investment of $279K – $936K, including a $30K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $2.0M[2]. Verdict grade: A. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified June 18, 2026 · figures per the 2025 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $279K – $936K
- 54th pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $2.0M
- 53rd pct Service Resta…
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 13th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 5
- 22nd pct Service Resta…
- SBA default
- N/A
Quick verdict · Quick-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = >15% above Quick-Service Restaurants avg · No shading = within ±15% · Red = >15% below avg · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Each dollar invested generates 3.3x in gross revenue, well above the typical 1.5-2.5x range.
Started franchising in 2025. Newer systems carry more uncertainty but may offer better territories.
The franchisor's auditor raised doubt about continued operations. This is a serious risk signal.
Bottom line
- Total investment $279K – $936K including a $30K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $2.0M/year.
- Verdict A (Top Quintile) with a risk score of 29/100.
- Auditor disclosed a going-concern note, which flagged doubt about the franchisor's ability to continue operations. Verify against the latest FDD.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
- Legal entity
- Gold Dust Pizza, LLC
- CEO title
- Organizer/Member/Manager
- Monica Willey
- Incorporated in
- WY
- HQ
- 1444 W Main Street Ste A, Ripon, CA 95366
- Auditor
- MUHAMMAD ZUBAIRY, CPA PC
- Audited financials
- ⚠ Going-concern note
- Disclosed in FDD 2025
- Auditor flagged doubt about continued operations. Verify against the latest FDD before deciding.
Overview
About
Gold Dust Pizza franchisees operate quick-service or full-service pizza restaurants, managing daily food preparation, customer service, staffing, and inventory. They handle marketing, local promotions, and day-to-day P&L responsibility within a protected territory while adhering to franchisor brand standards and recipes.
- CEO
- Monica Willey
- Headquarters
- CA
- Founded
- 2025
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 1
FDD Item 7 · 2025 filing · 17 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Feenot refundable | $30K | $30K | |
| Rent and Lease Security Deposit | $2K | $27K | |
| Utilities | $2K | $5K | |
| Leasehold Improvementsnot refundable | $50K | $400K | |
| Market Introduction Programnot refundable | $8K | $15K | |
| Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipmentnot refundable | $100K | $240K | |
| Computer Systemsnot refundable | $2K | $5K | |
| Insurancenot refundable | $4K | $15K | |
| Signagenot refundable | $15K | $30K | |
| Office Expensesnot refundable | $1K | $2K | |
| Inventorynot refundable | $15K | $45K | |
| Licenses and Permitsnot refundable | $3K | $5K | |
| Professional Fees (lawyer, accountant, etc.)not refundable | $2K | $5K | |
| Travel, Lodging and Meals for Initial Trainingnot refundable | $6K | $12K | |
| Additional Funds (for first 3 months)not refundable | $40K | $100K | |
| Additional Initial Franchise Fees (Multi-Unit Development Agreement)not refundable | $30K | $98K | |
| Business Planning and Miscellaneous Expenses (MUDA)not refundable | $1K | $5K | |
| Total initial investment | $310K | $1.0M |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. Total is the sum of line-item lows / highs — actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Single-unit · estimated
Returns at a glance
Indicative numbers using FDD Item 7 / Item 19 inputs and category-benchmarked cost ratios. Full single-unit, 25-unit portfolio, and LBO models (with every input editable to stress-test your own scenario) live on the financials page.
Store EBITDA · annual
$321K
16.0% margin
Unlevered ROIC
47%
EBITDA / total invested capital
Payback
25 mo
cash-on-cash, unlevered
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $279K – $936K
- Near category avg vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $40K – $100K
- Below avg, review vs category
- Franchise fee
- $30K – $30K
- Better than avg vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- Net Sales · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 6.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% of gross sales |
| Training fee | $500 |
| Transfer fee | $10K |
| Renewal fee | $0 |
| Total fee load | 6.0% of rev |
A 6.0% total fee load is unusually lean. More of each revenue dollar stays with the franchisee.
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $2.0M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- N/A
- Item 19 type
- Historical
- Sample size
- 4 units
- vs category median 28 · small
- Range (low → high)
- $705K→$3.8M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Transparency
- 3 / 5
- vs category median 4 / 5 · below
Compared against 453 Quick-Service Restaurants brands
vs Quick-Service Restaurants averages
How Gold Dust Pizza Compares
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 5
- Opened
- 1
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 0.0%
- Company-owned
- 5
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 0%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (yr3)
- +25.0%
- Net unit change last year
3-year detail · Item 20
- Transfers (3yr)
- 0
- Projected new
- 5
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 14 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 contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
Fast growth in a small system. Newer franchisors expanding quickly may not yet have the support infrastructure of larger systems.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 169
- Loan volume
- N/A
- Amount data pending
- Median loan
- N/A
- Charge-off rate
- N/A
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- N/A
- 5-yr charge-off
- N/A
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 0
- Defaults
- 0
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Gold Dust Pizza is a micro-franchise with insufficient operating history, opaque profitability metrics, and unclear unit economics that warrant caution despite protected territory and no litigation.
Litigation (Item 3)
No litigation required to be disclosed
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · MUHAMMAD ZUBAIRY, CPA PC⚠ Going-concern note flagged
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: No
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 29 / 100 rating
- 01MINOROnly 5 units in system with unknown growth trajectory — insufficient scale and data to assess viability
- 02MEDNet Income not disclosed in FDD — unable to validate $2M+ average revenue translates to acceptable profitability
- 03MINORWide investment range ($279K–$935K) suggests inconsistent unit economics or unclear cost structure
- 04MINORExtremely small franchisee base limits meaningful performance validation and peer support network
- 05MED5% royalty on undisclosed net income creates uncertainty about true cost burden to franchisees
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Territory type | Radius |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | Yes |
| Territory radius | 3 mi |
| Territory population | 50,000 |
| Online sales rights | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | No |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 5 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 10 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Sheridan, Wyoming |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Wyoming |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation required to be disclosed
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 48 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 13 hrs
- Training location
- On-site and corporate
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 8 mo
- From signing to launch
- POS system
- TOAST POS
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: TOAST POS
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
14 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
Gold Dust Pizza · FDD (2025) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Gold Dust Pizza franchise?
The total investment to open a Gold Dust Pizza franchise ranges from $279K – $936K, with an initial franchise fee of $30K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Gold Dust Pizza franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Gold Dust Pizza FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $2.0M. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
What is Gold Dust Pizza's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Gold Dust Pizza (fewer than 10 loans on file). Charge-off rates are one way to gauge franchise risk, but not all franchise loans go through the SBA program. We recommend reviewing turnover and closure data in the FDD and speaking with current franchisees.
How many Gold Dust Pizza franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Gold Dust Pizza has 5 total units in the United States, including 0 franchised units and 5 company-owned units. 1 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Gold Dust Pizza a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Gold Dust Pizza as a A-grade franchise with a risk score of 29 out of 100, based on our analysis of investment costs, revenue data, SBA loan performance, and growth trends. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
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Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.