FranchiseVerdict
Hurricane Grill & Wings / Hurricane Burgers Tacos Wings logo
FV-01253·CAUTIONExcellent95

Hurricane Grill & Wings / Hurricane Burgers Tacos Wings

Food & Beverage - Full ServiceFranchising since 2009Website
Investment
$539K – $2.9M
69th pct Full Service
Avg revenue
$1.8M
38th pct Full Service
Royalty
6.0%
54th pct Full Service
Units
41
69th pct Full Service
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $539K – $2.9M including a $50K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $1.8M/year (median $1.6M).
  • Rated CAUTION with a risk score of 75/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 6 loans (below the industry average).
  • 16 litigation matters disclosed in Item 3 — higher than typical. Review the summary for patterns (franchisor-initiated vs. franchisee-initiated).

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Hurricane AMT, LLC
Parent company
FAT Brands, Inc.
Incorporated in
Delaware
HQ
9720 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 500 Beverly Hills, California 90212
Auditor
Macias Gini & O’Connell LLP
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$4.9M
vs $4.5M 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 Hurricane Grill & Wings / Hurricane Burgers Tacos Wings unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $1,768,179
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: generic
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $539K–$2.9M
Working capital
$
FDD reports $15K–$60K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

15%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$265K
EBITDA margin
15.0%
Total invested
$1.8M
Payback
80 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 Hurricane Grill & Wings / Hurricane Burgers Tacos Wings units return on equity?

Edit assumptions

Equity IRR · 5-yr

35.6%

4.58× MOIC

Year-1 DSCR

2.30×

EBITDA ÷ debt service

Equity required

$4.9M

on $14.1M purchase

Total debt

$9.2M

SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note

SBA 7(a) request ($7.1M) exceeds the $5M program cap. Excess capped automatically; backfill via conventional or equity.

Overview

About

Hurricane Grill & Wings operates casual-dining restaurants serving grilled wings, burgers, tacos, and related comfort food. Franchisees manage day-to-day restaurant operations including food preparation, customer service, inventory management, and staff scheduling, while contributing 6% of net sales as ongoing royalties to the franchisor.

CEO
Taylor Wiederhorn
Founded
1991
FDD year
2025
States available
7

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$539K – $2.9M
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$15K – $60K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$50K
Royalty
6.0%
Percentage of Net Sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
2.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
8.0%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$1.8M
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
$1.6M
Item 19 type
Net Sales and Selected Costs
Sample size
25 units
vs category median 15
Range (low → high)
$566K$5.3M
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
7 / 5
vs category median 4 / 5 · above
Revenue rank38th
vs Food & Beverage - Full Service peers
Investment cost rank69th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank54th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank69th
vs Food & Beverage - Full Service peers
Risk score rank92th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
41
Opened
1
Last reporting year
Closed
3
Turnover rate
7.3%
Company-owned
0
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
100%
vs corporate-owned
Multi-unit owners
17.6%
Net growth (yr3)
-5.0%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
-7.3%
Compounded over last 3 years
2023
38-2
Franchised units
2024
40
Franchised units
2025
41
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 8 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 · 8 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
6
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

75
Risk · 0-100
CAUTION75 / 100

High-risk franchise with declining unit count, active litigation regarding securities and marketing fund practices, undisclosed profitability metrics, and franchisor financial distress indicators that suggest significant operational and legal risk to prospective investors.

Score breakdown · what drove the 75 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDUnit count declined 5.0% YoY (41 units) indicating system contraction and potential franchisee struggles
  2. 02HIGHActive litigation including putative class action on securities statements and franchisee lawsuit over marketing fund misuse suggests governance and transparency issues
  3. 03MINORNo net income disclosure despite $1.77M average revenue raises profitability questions and transparency concerns
  4. 04HIGHMultiple concluded litigation actions (securities class actions, registration violations, breach of contract disputes) indicate chronic compliance and relationship management problems
  5. 05HIGHGoing concern status is FALSE — potential financial distress at franchisor level threatens support and viability
  6. 06MINORHigh investment range ($539K–$2.9M) combined with 6% royalty creates significant financial burden with unproven return
  7. 07MINORArbitration demands initiated against former franchisees suggests adversarial franchisor-franchisee relationships and potential disputes over obligations

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
15 years
Renewal term
10 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
16
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Optional
Governing law
California

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
80 hrs
On-the-job training
210 hrs

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

46 numbers

Locked
(310) 402-••••
Taylor Wiederhorn
CA
(561) 932-••••
Hurricane AMT
FL
(310) 319-••••
The Franchisor is Hurricane AMT, LLC, located at
CA

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Hurricane Grill & Wings / Hurricane Burgers Tacos Wings · FDD (2025) PDF

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