Bottom line
- Total investment $696K – $1.3M including a $40K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $997K/year (median $933K). Estimated payback in 7.8 years.
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 55/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 1 loans (below the industry average).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
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 Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
8%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$199K
on $997K purchase
Total debt
$798K
SBA $0.5M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Jeni's franchisees operate artisanal ice cream shops featuring small-batch, premium ice cream made with high-quality ingredients. Day-to-day operations include managing production scheduling, maintaining strict food quality and cold chain protocols, staffing seasonal labor fluctuations, and executing point-of-sale transactions in a retail environment with significant fixed overhead (rent, utilities, refrigeration equipment).
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
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).
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.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Moderate-to-cautious risk profile: high capital requirements, thin margins, small system size, and lack of transparent financial disclosure create meaningful downside exposure despite absence of litigation or going concern issues.
Score breakdown · what drove the 55 / 100 rating
- 01MINORHigh initial investment ($696k-$1.27M) relative to average net income ($125.5k) means 5.5-10 year payback period before accounting for royalties and debt service
- 02MEDOnly 87 units system-wide with unknown growth trajectory suggests limited scale, unproven replicability, and potential market saturation concerns
- 03MINORNet income represents only 12.6% of average revenue ($125.5k / $997k), indicating thin margins vulnerable to cost inflation in perishable goods sector
- 04MINORAbsence of Item 19 (Financial Performance) disclosure prevents validation of claimed averages and obscures franchise performance variability
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
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
12 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams · FDD (2025) PDF