Kitchen Guard
Bottom line
- Total investment $198K – $264K including a $49K franchise fee, 8.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $5.3M/year. Estimated payback in 0.3 years.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 52/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 26 loans (below the industry average).
- Emerging franchise — only 3 years of franchising with 6 units. Early-stage systems carry higher risk but may offer better territory availability.
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 Kitchen Guard unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
154%
Above typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Kitchen Guard units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
46.2%
6.68× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.95×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$2.4M
on $10.6M purchase
Total debt
$8.2M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Kitchen Guard franchisees operate commercial kitchen fire suppression and safety equipment installation, maintenance, and inspection services. Day-to-day activities include on-site equipment servicing, compliance inspections, customer relationship management, and potentially emergency response coordination. Franchisees manage their protected territory's B2B restaurant and commercial kitchen client base.
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 · 24 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
Kitchen Guard presents meaningful risk due to undisclosed financial performance data, micro-scale system, franchisor going concern issues, and inability to verify the claimed $686k average net income before committing $200k+.
Score breakdown · what drove the 52 / 100 rating
- 01MINOROnly 6 units in system with unknown growth trajectory suggests minimal scale and potential stagnation
- 02MEDNo Item 19 (Financial Performance Representation) disclosed despite $686k average net income claim — cannot independently verify earnings
- 03HIGHGoing Concern status is FALSE, indicating potential financial instability at franchisor level
- 04MINORHigh initial investment ($197,950-$264,150) relative to system size creates liquidity risk if franchisor fails
- 05MED8-10% royalty on gross billings (not net) is aggressive and leaves limited margin for underperforming units
- 06MINOR10-year term is lengthy for a micro-franchise system with unproven longevity and no growth data
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
31 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Kitchen Guard · FDD (2025) PDF