Bottom line
- Total investment $377K – $1.8M including a $20K franchise fee.
- No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 47/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 323 loans (below the industry average).
- Auditor disclosed a going-concern note — flagged doubt about the franchisor's ability to continue operations. Verify against the latest FDD.
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 Little Caesars unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
3%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Overview
About
Little Caesars franchisees operate quick-service pizza restaurants, managing dough preparation, ingredient sourcing, food assembly, and customer service in a fast-casual environment. Day-to-day operations include staffing and scheduling, inventory management, food cost control, delivery logistics (for "Carryout-Delivery" model), and marketing to drive volume in a competitive pizza category. Franchisees must maintain brand standards, manage local labor costs, and execute corporate promotions while competing with national chains and local independent pizzerias.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
This franchisor did not disclose financial performance representations in Item 19, or our extractor could not parse them.
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 14 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
Little Caesars presents moderate-to-cautious risk: stagnant unit growth, significant litigation history, undisclosed financials, and an enforcement-oriented franchisor relationship warrant deep validation with current franchisees before investment.
Score breakdown · what drove the 47 / 100 rating
- 01HIGHHigh litigation history including breach of contract, fraud in inducement, and anti-poaching settlement suggests adversarial franchisor-franchisee relationships
- 02MINORMinimal unit growth (2.4% YoY) on mature system of 4,374 units indicates market saturation and difficulty in recruiting/retaining franchisees
- 03MEDNo Item 19 financial disclosure (Avg Revenue and Net Income not disclosed) prevents verification of profitability claims and return on investment
- 04MINORWide investment range ($376,500–$1,769,200) suggests high variability in startup costs and unclear path to ROI
- 05MINORHybrid royalty structure (greater of 6% or $300/week) creates floor burden on low-revenue locations, with minimum annual royalty ~$15,600
- 06MINORFranchisor appears litigious against franchisees—multiple cases initiated to enforce terminations and exercise contractual rights, indicating enforcement-heavy management style
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
99 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Little Caesars · FDD (2026) PDF