Bottom line
- Total investment $2.1M – $8.5M including a $50K franchise fee, 4.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $4.4M/year (median $4.3M). Estimated payback in 5.5 years.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 47/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 252 loans (below the industry average).
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 Golden Corral unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
14%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Golden Corral units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
24.0%
2.93× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
3.60×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$24.7M
on $42.4M purchase
Total debt
$17.7M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Golden Corral franchisees operate full-service, all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants with carved meats, hot bars, and dessert stations. Day-to-day operations include managing high-volume table service, staffing multiple kitchen stations, food cost control, and maintaining buffet quality standards across 55+ food offerings during extended service hours.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 10 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
Golden Corral presents caution-level risk due to declining unit count, litigation history, lack of financial disclosures, and thin profit margins relative to capital requirements in a contracting buffet-service category.
Score breakdown · what drove the 47 / 100 rating
- 01MINORUnit count declining 1.7% YoY suggests system contraction and potential market saturation
- 02MINORNo Item 19 (Financial Performance Representations) limits transparency on actual franchisee profitability claims
- 03HIGHActive litigation with franchisee awards ($1.1M+ damages) and pending appeal indicates franchisor-franchisee disputes and collection issues
- 04MINORHigh investment range ($2.1M–$8.5M) with modest average net income ($965K) yields only 11-47% ROI depending on investment tier
- 05MINOR4% royalty on gross sales (not net profit) reduces margins during low-revenue periods
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
84 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Golden Corral · FDD (2024) PDF