Bottom line
- Total investment $448K – $2.5M including a $40K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $2.2M/year (median $2.2M). Estimated payback in 5.9 years.
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 65/100.
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 la Madeleine unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
12%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 la Madeleine units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$875K
on $4.4M purchase
Total debt
$3.5M
SBA $2.2M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Franchisees operate full-service French casual dining locations (bakery-café concept) featuring fresh-baked pastries, sandwiches, soups, and light entrées. Day-to-day operations include managing on-premise dining, ordering/inventory control, staffing (typically 15–25 employees per location), and maintaining French-inspired ambiance and food quality standards.
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 · 12 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.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
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.
Score breakdown · what drove the 65 / 100 rating
- 01MINORUnit count declining 3.1% YoY (91 units) suggests system contraction and potential market saturation or operational challenges
- 02MEDNo Item 19 (Financial Performance Representation) disclosed — cannot independently verify the $2.19M avg revenue or $251K net income claims
- 03MINOR11.5% 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
- 04MINORHigh investment range ($448K–$2.5M) with wide variance suggests inconsistent location costs or build-out standards
- 05MINORMature 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
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
20 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
la Madeleine · FDD (2025) PDF