Hungry Howie's Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Hungry Howie's is a quick-service pizza franchise best known for its Flavored Crust pizzas, plus subs and wings. Franchisees run stores for carryout and delivery, managing kitchen prep, staffing, and local marketing.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Hungry Howie's franchise requires a total initial investment of $359K – $519K, including a $13K – $25K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.5% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $794K[2]. SBA 7(a) loans show a 17.9% charge-off rate across 120 loans[1]. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified · figures per the 2025 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $359K – $519K
- 60th pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $794K
- 13th pct Service Resta…
- Royalty
- 5.5%
- 44th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 509
- 89th pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- 17.9%
- % of SBA 7(a) loans not repaid · median varies by category
Quick verdict · Quick-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Quick-Service Restaurants avg · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- COSTTotal investment $359K – $519K including a $25K franchise fee, 5.5% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $794K/year (median $750K).
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 56/100 (higher is better). SBA loan charge-off rate of 17.9% across 120 loans (above the 16% franchise average, based on all SBA 7(a) franchise lending, 2010–2025).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Hungry Howie's Pizza & Subs, Inc.
- Parent company
- None
- CEO title
- CEO/President
- Steven E. Jackson
- CEO experience
- 1981 yrs
- Years in role or industry
- Founder active
- Yes
- Original founder still leading the business
- Incorporated in
- MI
- 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
Overview
About
- CEO
- Steven E. Jackson
- Headquarters
- MI
- Founded
- 1981
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 21
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 34% below the typical quick-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown16 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franchise Fee | $13K | $25K | |
| Franchise Grand Opening Fee | $15K | $15K | |
| Real Estate | $2K | $5K | |
| Security Deposits | $0 | $8K | |
| Leasehold Improvements | $197K | $274K | |
| Architectural Drawings & Local Plan Review Fees | $12K | $13K | |
| Equipment and Fixtures | $86K | $134K | |
| Point of Sale System - Hardware Subscription | $4K | $4K | |
| Point of Sale System - Software-As-A-Service Subscription | $444 | $567 | |
| Opening Inventory | $10K | $15K | |
| Insurance | $650 | $5K | |
| Security Deposits - Utilities | $0 | $500 | |
| Exterior Signage | $14K | $18K | |
| Digital Displays | $2K | $3K | |
| Travel and Living Expenses During Training | $3K | $5K | |
| Additional Funds - 3 Months | $2K | $20K | |
| Total initial investment | $359K | $542K |
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.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $359K – $519K
- Middle of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $2K – $20K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $13K – $25K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 5.5%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 7.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 12.8%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.5% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 7.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $0 |
| Transfer fee | $13K |
| Renewal fee | $1K |
| Inventory (initial) | $10K – $15K |
| Total fee load | 12.8% of rev |
At 12.8% total fee load, roughly $101K per year goes to the franchisor before you pay a single operating expense.
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 31% below the quick-service restaurants norm.
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
Single-unit · not modelled
Returns at a glance
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit, and the operating costs that turn one into the other are in no filing. We publish no modelled return for Hungry Howie's until someone supplies them — yours, in the models below.
—
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
Total invested capital · disclosed
$450K
Item 7 initial investment plus working capital, as filed — the one figure here that needs no assumption.
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit, read against the 30–60% reference band · Yale SOM, Post-MBA Path Exhibit 2 (2023). Below that band a passive index fund likely outperforms; above it the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses, and it is the top line only — gross sales are not profit. No FDD discloses the operating costs that turn one into the other, so those fields start empty and nothing is modelled until you supply them from your own lease quote, labor market and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Hungry Howie's unit return on the cash you put in?
Illustrative category typicals — not sourced to any filing, survey or sample. Replace them with figures from franchisee validation calls before you rely on the output.
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Your modelled return on total invested capital, before any debt financing.
—
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
A 25-unit return is built on a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in Model A above and this model runs on that figure, or take the whole scenario to the full ROI workbench, where the portfolio and LBO models accept your own per-unit economics directly.
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2025 FDD
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $794K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $750K
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- gross sales
- Sample size
- 272 outlets
- vs category median 18 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $277K→$1.8M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Quartile band
- $461K→$1.2M
- Bottom 25% → top 25%
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- Disclosed in the 2025 filing, covering 2024
- Transparency
- 7 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 782 Quick-Service Restaurants brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $794K/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 1.8x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 12.8% — above the Quick-Service Restaurants average of 7.9%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 7/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Operator retention
System contracting at -4.2% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven consolidation or franchisee exits.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Quick-Service Restaurants averages
How Hungry Howie's Compares
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 509
- Opened
- 4
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 13
- Terminated
- 8
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 1
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 2.6%
- Company-owned
- 33
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 94%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- -4.2%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- -4.2%
- Compounded over last 3 years
3-year detail · Item 20
- Opened (3yr)
- 19
- Closed (3yr)
- 16
- Terminated (3yr)
- 11
- Non-renewed (3yr)
- 1
- Transfers (3yr)
- 52
- Reacquired (3yr)
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 21 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.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 120
- Loan volume
- $28.0M
- Median loan
- $166K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- 17.9%
- rates vary by category · see methodology
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- 82.8%
- 5-yr charge-off
- 0.0%
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 45
- Defaults
- 15
- Typical loan rate
- 7.2%
- avg rate to borrowers
- Franchised industry avg
- 10.8%
- brand above franchise avg ↑
- Jobs supported
- 1,227
- 6.4 per loan
- Lender concentration
- 21%
- top lender's share
Borrower mix: 59% went to startups / new businesses, 41% to established operators
Franchise vs independent — in limited-service restaurants, franchised businesses charge off at 10.8% vs 10.0% for independents — franchising is associated with 8% higher SBA default risk in this category.
Vintage analysis
Hungry Howie's charge-off rate by loan vintage
Top lenders financing Hungry Howie's franchisees
Showing 3 of 45 lenders. The full breakdown — every lender, state distribution, interest rates & risk ratings — is in the SBA Lending Report below.
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Premium insight
SBA Lending Report
Deep-dive into Hungry Howie's's SBA lending history: lender network, geographic footprint, interest rates, and more.
SBA Lending Report
- Principal loss rate and NAICS industry benchmark
- 10 lenders with concentration factor
- Per-state charge-off rates across 15 states
- Startup risk premium and job creation velocity
- 27-year lending trend
Instant access. No subscription.
What could kill this investment?
SBA loans charge off at 17.9% — 12% above the 16.0% national norm, i.e. higher lender-observed risk.
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
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.
Litigation (Item 3)
No litigation required to be disclosed (FDD Item 3).
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Plante & Moran, PLLC
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Total net revenue comprises royalties and other revenue ($29,366,594), franchise fee revenue ($282,473), and restaurant equipment sales ($683,009) for FY ended Dec 31, 2024; total nonoperating income (interest, sourcing, other fees) of $4,592,987 is reported separately below net revenue.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 56 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORUnit count declining 1.9% YoY indicates system contraction and potential franchisee dissatisfaction
- 02MEDNet income not disclosed in Item 19 prevents ROI validation and return predictability assessment
- 03MINORHigh initial investment ($358k-$519k) with 5.5% royalty requires $45k+ annual sales just to cover royalties at average unit performance
- 04MEDNo going concern statement absent—unusual omission that warrants clarification on franchisor financial stability
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 12.8% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | exclusive |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | Yes |
| Territory radius | 1 mi |
| Territory population | 25,000 |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 1 year |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 5 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Michigan |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | MI |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation required to be disclosed (FDD Item 3).
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 34 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 200 hrs
- Training location
- Metropolitan Detroit Area, MI (on-the-job); Remote electronic platform (classroom/online)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 6 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- Franchisee selects with franchisor consent and approval
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- HungerRush 360
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: HungerRush 360
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
520 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
Hungry Howie's · FDD (2025) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Hungry Howie's franchise?
The total investment to open a Hungry Howie's franchise ranges from $359K – $519K, with an initial franchise fee of $25K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Hungry Howie's franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Hungry Howie's FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $794K. The median is $750K. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
What is Item 19 in the Hungry Howie's FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the Hungry Howie's FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Hungry Howie's's franchise failure rate?
Based on SBA 7(a) loan data, Hungry Howie's has a charge-off rate of 17.9% across 120 loans, meaning 17.9% of franchise loans were charged off. Charge-off rates are one proxy for franchise risk, though they do not capture all closures. This data comes from FOIA-sourced SBA lending records.
How many Hungry Howie's franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Hungry Howie's has 509 total units in the United States, including 476 franchised units and 33 company-owned units. 4 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Hungry Howie's a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Hungry Howie's as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 56 out of 100 (higher is better). The grade is a deterministic score built from six weighted dimensions — financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency — then calibrated against SBA loan charge-off rates and FDD age. Transparency is one of the six, so a filing that discloses less scores lower on that dimension than one that discloses more. 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
Are you the franchisor?
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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.