FranchiseVerdict
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FV-01293·STRONGExcellent95

Instant Imprints

Business Services - Printing & SignsFranchising since 2011Website
Investment
$188K – $365K
60th pct Printing & Si…
Avg revenue
$465K
7th pct Printing & Si…
Royalty
6.0%
10th pct Printing & Si…
Units
45
40th pct Printing & Si…
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $188K – $365K including a $40K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $465K/year (median $426K).
  • Rated STRONG with a risk score of 50/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 56 loans (below the industry average).
  • 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

Legal entity
No Frill Franchising, Inc.
Parent company
II Transatlantic, Inc.
Incorporated in
Delaware
HQ
7310 Miramar Road, Suite 102, San Diego, CA 92126
Auditor
Hinzman & Associates
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$959K
vs $1.1M prior year
⚠ Going-concern note
Disclosed in FDD 2025
Auditor flagged doubt about continued operations. Verify against the latest FDD before deciding.

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 Instant Imprints unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $465,120
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: retail
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $188K–$365K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $35K–$50K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

10%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$33K
EBITDA margin
7.0%
Total invested
$319K
Payback
118 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.

Overview

About

Instant Imprints franchisees operate embroidery, screen printing, and promotional product customization shops, managing production equipment, customer orders, inventory, and local sales/marketing. Day-to-day involves order fulfillment, quality control, team management, and revenue generation targeting B2B clients (corporate apparel, event merchandise) and B2C retail customers.

CEO
Ralph Askar
Founded
2011
FDD year
2025
States available
12

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$188K – $365K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$35K – $50K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$40K
Royalty
6.0%
Percentage of Gross 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
$465K
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
$426K
Item 19 type
Actual Sales
Sample size
20 units
vs category median 42 · small
Range (low → high)
$72K$1.8M
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
4 / 5
vs category median 4 / 5 · typical
Revenue rank7th
vs Business Services - Printing & Signs peers
Investment cost rank60th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank10th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank40th
vs Business Services - Printing & Signs peers
Risk score rank33th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
45
Opened
1
Last reporting year
Closed
4
Turnover rate
8.9%
Company-owned
4
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
91%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
-12.5%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
-8.7%
Compounded over last 3 years
2023
21-3
Franchised units
2024
24
Franchised units
2025
23
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 16 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 · 16 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
56
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

50
Risk · 0-100
STRONG50 / 100

Instant Imprints presents moderate-to-cautious risk: contracting franchisee base, missing profitability data, litigation history, and high capital requirements with unclear path to positive ROI for median performers.

Score breakdown · what drove the 50 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDUnit count declined 12.5% YoY (45 units), indicating system contraction and potential market saturation or franchisee dissatisfaction
  2. 02MEDNo average net income disclosed in Item 19 — prevents ROI validation and suggests weak unit economics or franchisor reluctance to disclose profit data
  3. 03HIGHMultiple litigation cases including breach of contract and shareholder disputes signal operational friction and potential governance issues within franchisor leadership
  4. 04MINORHigh initial investment ($187,903–$364,862) combined with declining unit base creates elevated risk of poor capital recovery
  5. 05MINORTiered royalty structure (6%→4%→2%) incentivizes high-volume sales but only benefits top 20% of franchisees; median franchisees likely cap at $1M revenue paying full 6% rate

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

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

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Demographic and Zip Code based
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
10 years
Renewal term
10 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
3
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
No
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Optional
Governing law
Delaware

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
55 hrs
On-the-job training
201 hrs
POS system
shopVOX
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

53 numbers

Locked
(302) 515-••••
Brian Drysdale King of Prussia,
PA
(239) 949-••••
FL
(604) 628-••••

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Instant Imprints · FDD (2025) PDF

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