Layne’s Chicken Fingers
Bottom line
- Total investment $452K – $1.1M including a $45K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.8M/year (median $1.8M).
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 50/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 4 loans (below the industry average).
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 Layne’s Chicken Fingers unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
36%
In Yale's "attractive" band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Layne’s Chicken Fingers units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
34.7%
4.44× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
2.35×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$5.3M
on $14.7M purchase
Total debt
$9.4M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Franchisees operate quick-service chicken finger restaurants featuring a limited menu (chicken fingers, sides, beverages) with emphasis on speed and quality. Day-to-day operations include food prep, front-of-house service, inventory management, and staff scheduling in a compact, efficient footprint designed for high throughput and delivery optimization.
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 · 9 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
Early-stage brand with explosive growth, undisclosed unit-level profitability, and opaque financial transparency creates moderate-to-high risk despite strong average unit volumes.
Score breakdown · what drove the 50 / 100 rating
- 01MEDNet income not disclosed in Item 19 — impossible to verify actual profitability against $451.5K-$1.05M investment
- 02MINORExplosive 50% YoY unit growth with only 19 locations raises sustainability concerns — rapid expansion often precedes contraction
- 03MINORHigh investment range ($598.5K spread) suggests inconsistent build-out costs or unclear capex requirements
- 04MINOR5% royalty on $1.83M average revenue = $91.5K/year in fees — profitability claims cannot be validated
- 05HIGHNo going concern status is unusual for a young franchise and may indicate recent legal/financial restructuring
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
23 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Layne’s Chicken Fingers · FDD (2025) PDF