Grimaldi's Coal Brick Oven Pizzeria
Formerly known as Church's Texas Chicken
Bottom line
- Total investment $1.4M – $1.8M including a $50K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $2.9M/year.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 52/100.
- 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 Grimaldi's Coal Brick Oven Pizzeria unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
26%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Grimaldi's Coal Brick Oven Pizzeria units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
27.9%
3.42× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
2.91×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$11.2M
on $23.2M purchase
Total debt
$11.9M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Franchisees operate coal brick oven pizzerias serving coal-fired specialty pizzas in their local markets. Day-to-day responsibilities include managing kitchen operations, overseeing wood/coal inventory, training staff on artisanal pizza-making techniques, maintaining the specialized brick oven equipment, and driving local marketing to compete against other Grimaldi's locations and independent pizzerias.
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 · 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 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.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Grimaldi's aggressive 300% growth trajectory combined with undisclosed profitability metrics and zero territorial protection creates significant execution and cannibalization risks.
Score breakdown · what drove the 52 / 100 rating
- 01MINORExplosive 300% YoY unit growth (46 units) suggests rapid expansion without proven sustainability track record
- 02MEDNet income not disclosed despite $2.89M average revenue—unable to verify actual profitability or ROI
- 03MINORNo territory protection creates cannibalization risk, especially during hypergrowth phase
- 04MINORHigh initial investment ($1.39M–$1.84M) with 10-year term but no Item 19 financials to justify returns
- 05MINORRapid expansion often correlates with quality control and franchisee support issues
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
16 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Grimaldi's Coal Brick Oven Pizzeria · FDD (2025) PDF