FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2025 filing
Keke’s Breakfast Café litigation history
What Keke’s Breakfast Café disclosed about lawsuits, arbitrations and bankruptcy in the 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document. Item 3 lists the material legal actions a franchisor must report; Item 4 covers bankruptcy. This is the franchisor's own disclosure, not a court record, and not legal advice.
Items 3 & 4 at a glance
What the filing discloses
- Cases disclosed
- 3
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest disclosed settlement
- $115K
- As stated in Item 3
- Bankruptcy (Item 4)
- None
- Franchisor, parent, predecessor or officer
- Filing year
- 2025
- Disclosures cover the prior ten years
Extracted from the 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 3: litigation
Three cases disclosed: (1) 50 East Thousand Oaks LLC v Denny's Inc. (CA, 2014) - breach of contract/misrepresentation, settled for $115,000 in 2016; (2) Rogers Family Foods v DFO LLC (MN, 2019) - royalty dispute, dismissed with prejudice 2021; (3) RWDT Foods v DFO LLC and Denny's Inc. (SC, 2022) - breach of contract and multiple claims, pending as of disclosure. No lawsuits filed by franchisor in 2024.
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Three pending/settled litigation cases involving parent company affiliates (DFO, LLC and Denny's, Inc.) suggest structural or operational disputes within the franchise system
- Pending litigation as of 2023 (RWDT FOODS case) remains unresolved, creating uncertainty around franchisor stability and potential financial liability to franchisees
- Going Concern flagged as 'False' — if this refers to the franchisor, it raises questions about financial viability and ability to support franchisees long-term
The verdict grade is FranchiseVerdict's editorial assessment across SBA loan performance, unit growth, revenue and disclosure signals. It is not investment advice.
Before you weigh a lawsuit
How to read Item 3
A franchisor must disclose pending actions and any material civil action involving the franchise relationship, plus convictions or civil judgments for fraud, unfair or deceptive practices, or franchise-law violations, going back ten years. A case the franchisor brought against a franchisee counts too. Item 3 does not include every dispute: settled claims below the materiality line and matters resolved in private arbitration can be absent.
Questions worth asking current and former franchisees, using the contact list in Item 20:
- Were you, or anyone you know in the system, party to a dispute with the franchisor?
- Was it resolved by settlement, arbitration or a court, and on what terms?
- Has the number of disputes gone up or down since you signed?