la Madeleine Express Franchise Cost & 2025 FDD Data
85/100
Strongest tier
85 this brand51 Quick-Service Restaurants medianlikely 70–100: narrower with more SBA loans (low confidence)
Higher is better · an editorial assessment, not investment advice
#102 of 3,069 graded brands
Why an A: Helped by financial health, unit economics, scale, legal record and transparency. See all six factors
- Total investment
- $448K – $856K
- “Express Café” Prototype; excl. real estate
- Avg gross sales
- $2.1M
- “Franchised la Madeleine Cafés at Non-Traditional Facilities”, 6 outlets; not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from the FDD filing. Analysis by FranchiseVerdict · Methodology · Website · Report an error · Franchisor? Claim this listing
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2025 FDD
Per the 2025 FDD, a la Madeleine Express franchise requires a total initial investment of $448K – $856K for the “Express Café” Prototype format (the filing prices $448K to $2.3M across two formats), excluding real estate, including a $20K – $40K franchise fee. Once open, the ongoing royalty is 5.0%. Per the 2025 FDD, average gross sales were $2.1M (Item 19 group “Franchised la Madeleine Cafés at Non-Traditional Facilities”, 6 outlets; gross sales, not profit). Verdict grade: A (Strongest tier), an editorial assessment, not investment advice.
Sources: 2025 FDD · What one unit could make and lose →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: medium (issued 12 to 24 months ago; a newer filing is likely on file)
Evidence for the headline figures: partial✓ 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 scored5 of 5 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
Quick verdict · vs Quick-Service Restaurants median
Top edge: green = better than the Quick-Service Restaurants median by more than 10%, red = worse by more than 10%, gray = within 10% or no benchmark. Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a).
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Methodology
Bottom line
- RETURNSAverage gross sales of $2.1M/year (Item 19 group “Franchised la Madeleine Cafés at Non-Traditional Facilities”, 6 outlets; gross sales, not profit).
- GROWTHIn the latest Item 20 year, the number of franchised outlets grew by 2 (2 opened, 0 closed).
AT STAKEOne unit at the Item 7 midpoint: $84K a year in payments on assumed SBA 7(a)-style terms.You put in about $130K of your own cash and personally guarantee a $522K loan. Assumptions are labeled in Sales; not investment advice.See what one unit could make and lose
Things to check before you sign (3)
- The franchisor keeps the right to compete inside your territory (Item 12, territory).
- The franchisor receives rebates or payments from suppliers you buy from (Item 8, required suppliers).
- An owner must run the business personally (Item 15, owner participation). Ask whether a trained manager can ever stand in.
Checked and clear: no auditor doubt that the franchisor can keep operating, no lawsuit naming the franchisor in Item 3, no jury-trial waiver and the full filing on file, and an Item 19 average from 6 units. Not on file here, so ask: unit trend and SBA charge-off rate against the category median.
What to do next
Step 1: Read the FDD itself.
Free: the franchisor must give it to you at least 14 days before you sign or pay. Or look it up in a state registry (Wisconsin, Minnesota, California). What to read first.
Step 2: Talk to current and former owners.
Free: Item 20 of the FDD lists every current owner and those who left last year, most with a phone number. Questions to ask.
Step 3: Talk to an SBA lender.
Free: the SBA's Lender Match. Ask what you would personally guarantee and what the monthly payment would be. If you plan to use retirement savings, ask a CPA about the rules for that first.
Step 4: Have a franchise attorney review the FDD and agreement.
Free: your state bar's lawyer referral service can name franchise lawyers, and many offer a short first consultation. Bring the checks listed above.
Research steps, not investment or legal advice.
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost (the Item 7 midpoint) is 34% above the Quick-Service Restaurants median ($487K).
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7 (fees and startup costs)
Do you qualify? The filing states no minimum net worth or liquid capital. Ask La Madeleine Franchising Company, Inc. (Item 1: 12201 Merit Drive, Suite 900, Dallas, TX 75251) and your lender what they require, and keep living costs for the first year outside the deal.
Item 7 (startup costs) · 2 formats · 2025 FDD
Every building format
The filing prints a separate Item 7 table for each format. Every total excludes real estate (FDD p.22).
2 formats, from $448K to $2.3M
| Format | Total investment | Page |
|---|---|---|
| “Bakery Café” Prototype | $1.2M – $2.3M | p.22 |
| “Express Café” Prototype(the range shown above) | $448K – $856K | p.25 |
Full Item 7 breakdown15 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $20K | $40K | |
| Design, Permitting Fees & Liquor License | $18.2K | $26.8K | |
| Building and Leasehold Improvements | $119.2K | $160.8K | |
| Signage | $5.35K | $6.4K | |
| Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment | $221.5K | $294.5K | |
| Technology Suite | $0 | $43K | |
| Initial Technology Administrative Fee | $0 | $2.86K | |
| Site Work | $0 | $5K | |
| Start-up Inventory & Supplies | $10K | $13K | |
| Grand Opening Advertising | $5K | $10K | |
| Insurance | $7K | $25K | |
| Training & Managers’ Salary | $19K | $54K | |
| Utility Deposits/ Licenses | $3K | $5K | |
| Legal and Accounting | $5K | $30K | |
| Additional Funds – 3 months | $15K | $140K | |
| Total initial investment | $448K | $856K |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. The total row is the total as printed in Item 7; the lines above add to $448,250 to $856,360, $7 at most from the printed total, which is the figure shown. Actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Item 6 · what you pay once you are open
Ongoing fees
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fundBrand-wide marketing pool. Currently 3% of Gross Sales for Brand Marketing Fund plus 1% for Local Store Marketing (WAO up to 4% total) | 3.0% of gross sales |
Technology feeThe filing's detail$2,500 per month per Café for Technology Suite (software, hardware, managed network, POS, KDS, back office, payment systems); plus $418/month administrative fee to LDAMC | $2,500/month |
| Transfer fee | $20,000 |
| Renewal fee | $20,000 |
| Total fee loadabove the Quick-Service Restaurants median of 7.0% (heavy) | 8.0% of sales |
What do units actually make?
Average gross sales are 2.2× the Quick-Service Restaurants median ($950K).
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19 (sales and earnings)
Items 6 (other fees), 7 (startup costs) and 19 (sales and earnings) · assumptions labeled
What you could make and lose: one unit
What one la Madeleine Express unit would ask of you, from the filing's Item 7 total and labeled assumptions.
Average gross sales are $2.1M (FDD p.70), and the royalty and ad fund take about $169K of that a year (Item 6). This brand's Item 19 does not print cost lines. Enter your own from a lease quote, a payroll plan and calls with current owners. So this box does not estimate a profit. To cover the loan payment alone, one unit has to clear $84K a year after its food, labor, rent and other costs and the franchisor's fees.
How these figures are worked out
- Loan (assumption): 80% of the $652K Item 7 midpoint (“Express Café” Prototype format) is a $522K loan, paid over 10 years at 10.5%: $84K a year. SBA 7(a)-style terms on a long-term rate; your lender sets yours.
What you put at risk
Your own cash in: about $130K Assumption (the part the loan does not cover of the $652K Item 7 midpoint), plus whatever anything Item 7 leaves out (its notes say what). The loan is $522K.
Personal guarantee. SBA 7(a) loans require a personal guarantee from anyone who owns 20% or more of the business. If the unit cannot pay, the lender can collect from you personally, which can include your savings and your home. The worst case is losing the cash you put in and still owing the rest of the loan.
Gross sales are not profit, and none of these figures is take-home pay until tax and every operating cost are paid. The assumptions are ours, not the filing's. Not investment advice.
Returns modelOne unit · several units · editable
One unit
One unit: what is left after the loan payment
Gross sales, minus the franchisor's fees and the operating costs, is the unit's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). Minus an assumed loan payment, that is what is left for you, before tax. Gross sales are not profit.
This brand's Item 19 does not print cost lines. Enter your own from a lease quote, a payroll plan and calls with current owners. Invested capital is the Item 7 total, which already includes its working-capital (additional funds) line.
Returns model · one unit
What would one la Madeleine Express unit leave you each year after the loan payment?
Item 19: $2,108,047 average for 6 outlets (Franchised la Madeleine Cafés at Non-Traditional Facilities). Use a figure for outlets like yours if yours differ.
Gross sales, not profit: the costs below decide what is left.
Item 6, as stored, a year. A fixed fee, so it comes off EBITDA as dollars, not a share of sales.
This brand's Item 19 does not print cost lines. Enter your own from a lease quote, a payroll plan and calls with current owners.
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.
Item 7 midpoint of $448K to $856K
Item 7's $15K to $140K additional funds are already in the total
Left after the loan payment · per year
The unit's EBITDA minus the assumed loan payment. Before tax, depreciation and any cost your inputs leave out (insurance, accounting and legal, licenses, technology fees): not take-home pay.
Gross sales are not profit. Neither the filing nor a stated assumption on this page supplies COGS, labor, rent / occupancy and other operating costs. Enter your own (a lease quote, owner calls) and the model runs on it.
Loan of $522K at 10.5% over 10 years, an assumption, not a quote. Return and payback are before tax, depreciation and the costs above. The loan usually needs your personal guarantee.
Buying several existing units? The acquisition scenario
Buying several units
What buying a few existing units could return
Prices an existing operator of a few units off the single-unit EBITDA above, after shared services, and finances it with an SBA 7(a) loan, a conventional loan and a seller note. It shows the yearly return on your cash (IRR), whether year-1 earnings cover the loan payments (DSCR) and how the price is paid for. It starts at 5 units; every deal term is an assumption you can change, and none is from the FDD.
Not modelled yet
Gross sales are not profit. Neither the filing nor a stated assumption on this page supplies COGS, labor, rent / occupancy and other operating costs. Enter your own (a lease quote, owner calls) and the model runs on it.
This scenario starts from a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in the one-unit model above and it runs on that figure, or take it to the full ROI workbench, where the multi-unit and acquisition models accept your own per-unit economics.
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 · filed by La Madeleine Franchising Company, Inc.
Financial performance
Percentile ranks within Quick-Service Restaurants
Each rank is among the Quick-Service Restaurants brands that report that figure (the count is under each bar).
vs Quick-Service Restaurants medians
How la Madeleine Express 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.
System figures: see la Madeleine
System figures: see la Madeleine
Government records
SBA loan data
Matched to this brand from SBA 7(a) and 504 FOIA loan records.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
What are the risks?
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Verdict grade + FDD Items 3 (litigation), 4 (bankruptcy), 8 (required suppliers), 16 (what you may sell), 21 (audited financials)
Risk and legal
Grade A: Strongest tier, 85/100 (category median 51); the full grade is at the top of the page.
How the grade is built
Why an A, factor by factor
- Financial health HelpsAudited financials; no going-concern doubt; statements are the parent's, so this stays near neutral
- Unit economics HelpsAvg gross sales $2.1M on a $652K investment midpoint, 3.2x (gross sales, not profit)
- Unit growth NeutralTurnover 1.6%
- Scale HelpsFranchising since 2011
- Legal HelpsNo litigation naming the franchisor in Item 3
- Transparency HelpsItem 19 discloses financial performance; audited financials
From the six scored dimensions, an editorial assessment, not investment advice. How the score is built
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)
The revenue figures are in the Franchisor tab, under The franchisor.
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
Ask what the franchisor earns on the supplies it sells you or the rebates it takes (Item 8).
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Franchisor takes supplier rebates: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
System figures: see la Madeleine
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 8.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before your own operating costs.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12 (territory), 15 (owner participation) and 17 (renewal, termination and disputes)
Contract and territory detail
| Allowed renewals | 1 |
|---|---|
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territory | No |
| Territory radius | 3 mi |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Who runs it (Item 15) | Owner must run it |
| Non-compete (years) | 1 year |
| Non-compete (miles) | 10 mi |
| Right of first refusal | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination grounds | 12 |
| Curable defaults | 3 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Texas |
| Jury trial waiver | No |
| Governing law | TX |
Items 5 (initial fees), 7 (startup costs), 12 (territory) and 20 (outlet counts) · development agreement
Area development (several units)
The filing offers a development agreement for several units. If you miss the schedule, the development agreement can be ended.
Every term, with its page
- If you miss the schedule
- The development agreement can be ended.
2025 FDD p.52
“If you fail to meet the Development Schedule, we can terminate your right to develop new Cafés in the Development Area or reduce the size of the Development Area.” - Signed, not yet open
- 5 franchises sold but not open at year end (Item 20, Table 5; see Growth). Ask how long they have been waiting and why.
Each unit still needs its own Item 7 investment on top of the development fee. Have a franchise attorney read the schedule and the default terms before you sign.
Items 10 (financing), 11 (training and support)
Training and operations
- On-the-job training
- 252 hrs
- Ongoing training
- Required
- 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 (initial fees) & 11 (training and support)
Franchisor support
Franchisee contacts
We hold no owner list for this brand. Item 20 of the FDD lists the current and former owners; the free FDD is the source.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to open a la Madeleine Express franchise?
Per the 2025 FDD, the total investment to open a la Madeleine Express franchise ranges from $448K to $856K for the “Express Café” Prototype format, with an initial franchise fee of $20K – $40K. Across every format the filing prices, totals run from $448K to $2.3M (two formats). This is the Item 7 total in the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD): the startup costs the franchisor lists, such as build-out, equipment, inventory and working capital. The filing says these totals do not include real estate.
What do la Madeleine Express franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the la Madeleine Express FDD, average gross sales were $2.1M (Item 19 group “Franchised la Madeleine Cafés at Non-Traditional Facilities”, 6 outlets; gross sales, not profit). What an owner keeps depends on location, operating costs and management.
Who owns la Madeleine Express?
la Madeleine Express 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 Express 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 Express FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is la Madeleine Express' franchise failure rate?
There is no published franchise failure rate, and la Madeleine Express has too few resolved SBA 7(a) loans on file (fewer than 10) to show an SBA charge-off rate that would mean anything. The SBA charge-off rate is the share of a brand's resolved SBA 7(a) loans to its franchisees that the SBA wrote off, including purchased guarantees. Resolved means paid in full or charged off; active loans are excluded because their outcome is not yet known. It is a lending outcome, not a count of closed businesses. Review the turnover and closure figures in Item 20 of the FDD and speak with current and former franchisees.
Is la Madeleine Express a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict gives la Madeleine Express an A Verdict grade (Strongest tier) with a verdict score of 85 out of 100 (higher is better), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Helped by financial health (audited financials), unit economics, scale, legal record and transparency. The “Why an A” section on this page lists all six dimensions and any adjustment. Speak with current franchisees before making any investment decision.
Other Quick-Service Restaurants franchises
Similar investment first, then by grade
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.