la Madeleine Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $1.2M – $2.3M
- Disclosed sales
- $2.2M
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
la Madeleine is a French bakery-cafe franchise serving pastries, quiche, soups, salads, and sandwiches in a country-French setting. Franchisees run cafes managing baking, counter and cafe service, and staffing.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A la Madeleine franchise requires a total initial investment of $1.2M – $2.3M, including a $40K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $2.2M[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: A (Strongest tier), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: medium - issued 12 to 24 months ago; a newer filing is likely on file
Evidence: strong✓ Investment (Item 7)✓ Item 19 status✓ Units and owners (Item 20)✗ SBA loan coverage✓ Litigation (Item 3)✓ Financial statements (Item 21)✓ Franchisor identityhow this is scored7 of 7 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $1.2M – $2.3M
- 95th pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $2.2M
- Company-owned only
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 12th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 91
- 75th pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Quick-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Quick-Service Restaurants median · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- COSTTotal investment $1.2M – $2.3M including a $40K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $2.2M/year (company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance).
- RISKVerdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 74/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHNegative: net -2 franchised outlets in the latest year (2 opened, 0 closed); 5 signed but not yet open (Item 20).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- La Madeleine Franchising Company, Inc.
- Parent company
- La Madeleine, Inc.
- FDD Item 1, page 8 of the 2025 FDD
- Ultimate parent
- Le Duff, Restauration
- FDD Item 1, page 8 of the 2025 FDD
- Predecessor
- for purposes of this disclosure document is our direct parent company
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- CEO
- Lionel Ladouceur
- Incorporated in
- DE
- HQ
- 12201 Merit Drive, Suite 900, Dallas, TX 75251
- Auditor
- Grant Thornton
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $79.5M
- vs $79.5M prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Affiliated brands
- LDA Management Company
- Gourmet Cuisine
- Bridor
Other brands the franchisor or its parent operates (Item 1).
Overview
About
- CEO
- Lionel Ladouceur
- Headquarters
- TX
- Founded
- 2011
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 7
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 259% above the typical quick-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown17 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $40K | $40K | |
| Real Property | — | — | |
| Design, Permitting Fees & Liquor License | $56K | $75K | |
| Building and Leasehold Improvements | $704K | $873K | |
| Security Camera System | $0 | $10K | |
| Signage and Awnings | $22K | $43K | |
| Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment | $271K | $407K | |
| Technology Suite | $44K | $108K | |
| Initial Technology Administrative Fee | $3K | $3K | |
| Site Work | $0 | $300K | |
| Start-up Inventory & Supplies | $32K | $52K | |
| Grand Opening Advertising | $10K | $30K | |
| Insurance | $7K | $25K | |
| Training & Managers' Salary | $19K | $54K | |
| Utility Deposits / Licenses | $3K | $5K | |
| Legal and Accounting | $5K | $30K | |
| Additional Funds - 3 months | $15K | $200K | |
| Total initial investment | $1.2M | $2.3M |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. Total is the sum of line-item lows / highs — actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $1.2M – $2.3M
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $15K – $200K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $40K – $40K
- Middle of category vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 3.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 9.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 3.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $3K |
| Training fee | $4K |
| Transfer fee | $20K |
| Renewal fee | $20K |
| Inventory (initial) | $32K – $52K |
| Total fee load | 9.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 124% above the quick-service restaurants norm.
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
Single-unit · not modelled
Returns at a glance
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit, and the operating costs that turn one into the other are in no filing. We publish no modelled return for la Madeleine until someone supplies them — yours, in the models below.
—
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
Total invested capital · disclosed
$1.8M
Item 7 initial investment plus working capital, as filed — the one figure here that needs no assumption.
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit, read against the 30–60% reference band · Yale SOM, Post-MBA Path Exhibit 2 (2023). Below that band a passive index fund likely outperforms; above it the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses, and it is the top line only — gross sales are not profit. No FDD discloses the operating costs that turn one into the other, so those fields start empty and nothing is modelled until you supply them from your own lease quote, labor market and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one la Madeleine unit return on the cash you put in?
Illustrative category typicals — not sourced to any filing, survey or sample. Replace them with figures from franchisee validation calls before you rely on the output.
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Your modelled return on total invested capital, before any debt financing.
—
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
A 25-unit return is built on a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in Model A above and this model runs on that figure, or take the whole scenario to the full ROI workbench, where the portfolio and LBO models accept your own per-unit economics directly.
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2025 FDD
Financial Performance
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
- Avg gross sales
- $2.2M
- Per unit, per year
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- Gross Sales + EBITDA (company-owned); Gross Sales only (franchised)
- Sample size
- 25 outlets
- vs category median 19
- Range (low → high)
- $1.2M→$5.2MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 69 of the 2025 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- Disclosed in the 2025 filing, covering 2024
- Transparency
- 6 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 781 Quick-Service Restaurants brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $2.2M/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 1.3x. Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 9.0% — above the Quick-Service Restaurants median of 7.5%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 6/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Operator retention
System roughly stable (+3.3% 3-year CAGR) with 91 units.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Quick-Service Restaurants medians
How la Madeleine Compares
Category median of published Quick-Service Restaurants brands that report the figure; the middle half spans the 25th to 75th percentile and n counts the brands behind it. Medians are used because a few very large systems pull an average far from the typical brand. Revenue is disclosed gross sales, not profit.
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 91
- Opened
- 2
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Terminated
- 1
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 1.6%
- Company-owned
- 29
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 68%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +3.3%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +3.3%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 1
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 3
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 5
- 0.05 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 6
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Termination rate
- 1.1%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
- Ceased ops
- 1.1%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 7 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 contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
Available to sell in · Item 12
- Michigan
States where the franchisor is registered to sell new franchises (FDD registration filings).
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
14 current owners across 7 states.
- TX 7
- FL 2
- AZ 1
- GA 1
- NC 1
- SC 1
- TN 1
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20. Names and phone numbers are for your own due diligence and are not shown here.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
What could kill this investment?
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
La Madeleine presents moderate-to-high risk due to declining unit count, lack of financial performance transparency, thin margins in a contracting footprint, and high capital requirements in a challenging casual dining market.
Why this reads harsher than the A grade: the grade weighs financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency across the whole filing, while this summary lists individual flags without that weighting. The flags are worth checking with current owners; neither is investment advice.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation required to be disclosed in Item 3.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Grant Thornton
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Audited financial statements are the consolidated statements of Le Duff America, Inc. and Subsidiaries (the franchisor's affiliate), not of the franchisor La Madeleine Franchising Company, Inc. itself. FY2024 ended Dec 31, 2024; FY2023 ended Dec 26, 2023. other_revenue shown is the Royalties and other fees line ($10,976,704); manufacturing sales were $7,909,562 and store sales $60,621,279.
ⓘ These are the parent company's consolidated financials (the parent guarantees the franchisor), not this brand's standalone results — the figure reflects the whole corporate group, not this brand alone.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 74 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORUnit count declining 3.1% YoY (91 units) suggests system contraction and potential market saturation or operational challenges
- 02MINOR11.5% net margin (251K / 2.19M) is thin for food service; 5% royalty on top of COGS (typically 28-32%), labor (28-30%), rent (8-10%) leaves minimal cushion
- 03MINORMature brand in competitive QSR/casual dining segment facing structural headwinds (rising labor, inflation, changing consumer behavior)
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 9.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory radius | 3 mi |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Not allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 1 year |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 10 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 12 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 3 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Texas |
| Jury trial waiver | No |
| Governing law | TX |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation required to be disclosed in Item 3.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 48 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 252 hrs
- Training location
- Certified Training Café in Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex (DFW)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 16 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- Franchisee with franchisor approval
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- NCR Aloha Point of Sale and Kitchen Display System
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: NCR Aloha Point of Sale and Kitchen Display System
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
14 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a la Madeleine franchise?
The total investment to open a la Madeleine franchise ranges from $1.2M – $2.3M, with an initial franchise fee of $40K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do la Madeleine franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the la Madeleine FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $2.2M. Important context: Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns la Madeleine?
la Madeleine is franchised by La Madeleine Franchising Company, Inc.. Its parent company is La Madeleine, Inc.. The ultimate parent named in the FDD is Le Duff, Restauration. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the la Madeleine FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the la Madeleine FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is la Madeleine's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for la Madeleine (fewer than 10 loans on file). Charge-off rates are one way to gauge franchise risk, but not all franchise loans go through the SBA program. We recommend reviewing turnover and closure data in the FDD and speaking with current franchisees.
How many la Madeleine franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, la Madeleine has 91 total units in the United States, including 62 franchised units and 29 company-owned units. 2 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is la Madeleine a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates la Madeleine as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 74 out of 100 (higher is better). The grade is a deterministic score built from six weighted dimensions — financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency — then calibrated against SBA loan charge-off rates and FDD age. Transparency is one of the six, so a filing that discloses less scores lower on that dimension than one that discloses more. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
Are you the franchisor?
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Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.