Bottom line
- Total investment $176K – $298K including a $25K franchise fee, 4.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $484K/year (median $511K).
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 55/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 27 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
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 Just A Buck unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
16%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Just A Buck units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$194K
on $968K purchase
Total debt
$775K
SBA $0.5M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Just A Buck franchisees operate discount/dollar store retail locations, likely selling a curated selection of closeout merchandise, seasonal items, and household goods at fixed or heavily discounted price points. Daily operations involve inventory management, point-of-sale transactions, visual merchandising, and customer service in a high-volume, low-margin retail environment.
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 · 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).
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
Rapidly contracting 10-unit system with missing profitability data and unclear unit economics poses meaningful investment risk despite protected territory and low litigation.
Score breakdown · what drove the 55 / 100 rating
- 01MEDUnit count declined 12.5% year-over-year (10 units remaining) suggests system contraction and potential franchisee dissatisfaction
- 02MEDNet income not disclosed in FDD Item 19 makes ROI impossible to validate; only gross revenue ($484K avg) provided without profitability metrics
- 03MINOR4% royalty on $484K average revenue yields only ~$19,360 annual royalty per unit, creating sustainability concerns for franchisor support
- 04MEDInvestment range of $176-298K against undisclosed net income creates high uncertainty on payback period and break-even timeline
- 05MINOR10-unit system is extremely small, raising questions about franchisor viability, marketing leverage, and supply chain economies of scale
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
27 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Just A Buck · FDD (2024) PDF