FranchiseVerdict
House of Bread logo
FV-01237·CAUTIONExcellent95

House of Bread

Food & Beverage - BakeryFranchising since 1999Website
Investment
$198K – $584K
32nd pct Bakery
Avg revenue
$699K
25th pct Bakery
Royalty
6.0%
36th pct Bakery
Units
6
26th pct Bakery
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $198K – $584K including a $35K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $699K/year (median $667K). Estimated payback in 5.1 years.
  • Rated CAUTION with a risk score of 68/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 8 loans (below the industry average).

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
House of Bread Franchising Inc.
Incorporated in
California
HQ
299 Marsh St. San Luis Obispo, Ca 93401
Auditor
Kezos & Dunlavy
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$295K
vs $241K prior 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 House of Bread unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $699,495
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: restaurant
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $198K–$584K
Working capital
$
Item 7 didn't break this out — defaulted to ~10% of annual revenue

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

15%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$70K
EBITDA margin
10.0%
Total invested
$461K
Payback
79 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 House of Bread 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

$420K

on $2.1M purchase

Total debt

$1.7M

SBA $1.0M + senior + seller note

Overview

About

House of Bread franchisees operate neighborhood bakery retail locations, likely producing and selling fresh baked goods (breads, pastries, etc.) to walk-in customers. Daily operations involve inventory management, production scheduling, customer service, and staff management in a food service environment with seasonal demand volatility.

CEO
Sheila McCann
Founded
1998
FDD year
2025
States available
3

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$198K – $584K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$35K
Royalty
6.0%
Gross Revenue · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
2.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
8.0%
vs 9–13% typical
Payback period
5.1 yrs
From v3 / Item 19

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$699K
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
$667K
Item 19 type
Historical
Sample size
7 units
vs category median 23 · small
Range (low → high)
$249K$1.1M
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
10 / 5
vs category median 4 / 5 · above
Revenue rank25th
vs Food & Beverage - Bakery peers
Investment cost rank32th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank36th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank26th
vs Food & Beverage - Bakery peers
Risk score rank83th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
6
Opened
0
Last reporting year
Closed
1
Turnover rate
16.7%
Company-owned
2
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
67%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
-20.0%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
-33.3%
Compounded over last 3 years
2023
4-1
Franchised units
2024
5
Franchised units
2025
6
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 31 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).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 31 states
Not registered

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.

Total loans
8
Loan volume
Avg loan
Default rate
0.0%
vs <3% typical · system-wide
5-yr default

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

Risk & Legal

68
Risk · 0-100
CAUTION68 / 100

House of Bread presents HIGH RISK due to rapid unit contraction, going concern status, marginal unit profitability, and system too small to provide reliable data or franchisee support infrastructure.

Score breakdown · what drove the 68 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDSystem contraction: 20% unit decline YoY (6 units) signals franchisee dissatisfaction or system failure
  2. 02HIGHGoing Concern warning: Financial viability of franchisor is questioned, increasing operational support risk
  3. 03MINORThin unit margins: Net income of only $76,767 on $699,495 revenue (11% net margin) leaves little buffer for cost increases or underperformance
  4. 04MINORSmall system size: Only 6 units makes system-wide data unreliable and limits peer support/learning network
  5. 05MINORHigh investment-to-earnings ratio: $198k-$584k investment against $76k average net income yields 2.6-7.6 year simple payback with zero growth trajectory

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

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

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Zip Codes
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
10 years
Renewal term
10 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
No
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
California

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
56 hrs
On-the-job training
218 hrs
POS system
Toast
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

33 numbers

Locked
(907) 301-••••
AK
(850) 529-••••
FL
(614) 466-••••
OH

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

House of Bread · FDD (2025) PDF

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