FranchiseVerdict
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FV-01250·STRONGExcellent91

Hungry Howie's

Food & Beverage - Quick ServiceFranchising since 1982Website
Investment
$359K – $519K
66th pct Quick Service
Avg revenue
$818K
17th pct Quick Service
Royalty
5.5%
45th pct Quick Service
Units
509
87th pct Quick Service
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $359K – $519K including a $25K franchise fee, 5.5% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $818K/year (median $778K).
  • Rated STRONG with a risk score of 45/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 117 loans (below the industry average).

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Hungry Howie’s Pizza & Subs, Inc.
Incorporated in
Michigan
HQ
30300 Stephenson Highway, Suite 200, Madison Heights, Michigan 48071
Auditor
Plante & Moran, PLLC
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$30.3M
vs $29.4M 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 Hungry Howie's unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $817,802
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: qsr
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $359K–$519K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $2K–$20K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

17%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$78K
EBITDA margin
9.5%
Total invested
$450K
Payback
70 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 Hungry Howie's 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

$409K

on $2.0M purchase

Total debt

$1.6M

SBA $1.0M + senior + seller note

Overview

About

Franchisees operate quick-service pizza and submarine sandwich restaurants, managing kitchen prep, in-store and delivery operations, staff scheduling, and local marketing. Daily responsibilities include food preparation, customer service (dine-in, carryout, delivery), inventory management, and P&L oversight for a typically 1,000-2,000 sq ft location.

CEO
Steven E. Jackson
Founded
1981
FDD year
2025
States available
21

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$359K – $519K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$2K – $20K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$25K
Royalty
5.5%
Gross Sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
7.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
12.8%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$818K
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
$778K
Item 19 type
Historic Sales
Sample size
305 units
vs category median 37 · large
Range (low → high)
$277K$1.8M
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
7 / 5
vs category median 4 / 5 · above
Revenue rank17th
vs Food & Beverage - Quick Service peers
Investment cost rank66th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank45th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank87th
vs Food & Beverage - Quick Service peers
Risk score rank8th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
509
Opened
4
Last reporting year
Closed
13
Turnover rate
2.6%
Company-owned
33
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
94%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
-1.9%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
-4.2%
Compounded over last 3 years
2023
476-9
Franchised units
2024
485
Franchised units
2025
497
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 17 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 · 17 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
117
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

45
Risk · 0-100
STRONG45 / 100

Hungry Howie's presents moderate-to-caution risk: declining unit count, undisclosed profitability, and missing financial transparency raise questions about system health and franchisee viability despite low litigation and protected territories.

Score breakdown · what drove the 45 / 100 rating

  1. 01MINORUnit count declining 1.9% YoY indicates system contraction and potential franchisee dissatisfaction
  2. 02MEDNet income not disclosed in Item 19 prevents ROI validation and return predictability assessment
  3. 03MINORHigh initial investment ($358k-$519k) with 5.5% royalty requires $45k+ annual sales just to cover royalties at average unit performance
  4. 04MINORAverage revenue of $817k is modest for pizza/sub category; typical top performers exceed $1.2M, suggesting middle-of-pack unit economics
  5. 05HIGHNo going concern statement absent—unusual omission that warrants clarification on franchisor financial stability

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

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

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Radius
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
10 years
Renewal term
10 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Not allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
1 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
Michigan

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
50 hrs
On-the-job training
200 hrs
POS system
HungerRush 360
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

22 numbers

Locked
(212) 416-••••
New York, New York
NY
(701) 328-••••
ND
(317) 232-••••
IN

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Hungry Howie's · FDD (2025) PDF

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