Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $144K – $317K
- Disclosed sales
- partial, no system average
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Little Susie's Coffee & Pie is a cafe franchise serving specialty coffee and fresh-made pies. Franchisees run the cafes, managing baking, coffee service, and counter service.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie franchise requires a total initial investment of $144K – $317K, including a $40K franchise fee and an ongoing 8.0% royalty[2]. The 2026 FDD on file does not yield a unit-revenue figure we can publish. FranchiseVerdict grade: D (Below average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Limited operating history: franchising since 2026. A system this young has fewer than three years of Item 20 outlet history and rarely enough SBA loans for a charge-off rate, so its grade rests on less evidence than an established system's. Read its Item 20 tables and talk to its first franchisees before relying on the grade. Other new franchisors
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: low - issued within the last 12 months
Evidence: 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
- Investment
- $144K – $317K
- 5th pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- N/A
- Company-owned only
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- 37th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 4
- 6th pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Full-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Full-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 $144K – $317K including a $40K franchise fee, 8.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSItem 19 reports outlet revenue, but not in a form that yields a per-outlet average we can compare across brands.
- RISKVerdict D (Below average), verdict score 34/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHFlat: no net change in franchised outlets in the latest year (1 opened, 0 closed) (Item 20).
- DATAItem 19 reports outlet revenue, but not in a form that yields a per-outlet average we can compare across brands. Ask franchisees directly for full unit-level revenue.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Little Susies Franchise Company LLC
- CEO title
- Owner
- Daniel Martino
- Incorporated in
- PA
- HQ
- 2532 E Lehigh Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19125
Overview
About
- CEO
- Daniel Martino
- Headquarters
- PA
- Founded
- 2025
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 1
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 66% below the typical full-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2026 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $40K | $40K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $3K | $10K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $101K | $267K |
| Total initial investment | $144K | $317K |
Source: Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie 2026 FDD, Items 5 and 7[2]. “Equipment, build-out, other” is computed as total minus disclosed line items above.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $144K – $317K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $3K – $10K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $40K – $40K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 9.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 8.0% of net sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% of net sales |
| Technology fee | $50 |
| Transfer fee | $10K |
| Renewal fee | $4K |
| Inventory (initial) | $2K – $2K |
| Total fee load | 9.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 19
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
No Item 19 revenue figure for Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie is on file. The return models need a revenue figure to start from, and the operating costs that turn gross sales into a profit are in no FDD. Enter your own and the calculator runs on your assumptions — nothing here is modelled until you do.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie 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 annual revenue, 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.
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: 2026 FDD
Financial Performance
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
- Item 19 type
- gross sales by outlet
- Sample size
- 4
- vs category median 18 · small
- Reporting year
- 2025
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2026
- Disclosed in the 2026 filing, covering 2025
- Transparency
- 3 / 10
- vs category median 3 / 10 · typical
Compared against 801 Full-Service Restaurants brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 9.0% — above the Full-Service Restaurants median of 7.0%.
Disclosure
Item 19 reports outlet revenue, but not in a form that yields a per-outlet average we can compare across brands.
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 Full-Service Restaurants medians
How Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie Compares
Category median of published Full-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 2026 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 4
- Opened
- 1
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Turnover rate
- N/A
- Company-owned
- 4
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 0%
- vs corporate-owned
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Signed, not yet open
- 0
- 0.00 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 1
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 1 state reported
The Territory Map
FDD Item 12 reports the state count, but the specific list isn't in our current data. The map will appear once we re-extract from the FDD or enough franchisee contacts are available.
1
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
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
Undercapitalized micro-franchise with financial transparency issues, minimal unit base, and unclear unit-level profitability poses substantial risk to franchisee ROI.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation required to be disclosed.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
No audited financials on file
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Financial statements are unaudited; franchisor (Little Susies Franchise Company LLC) formed August 23, 2025, with only an unaudited opening balance sheet dated March 5, 2026 (all values blank/zero). No three years of audited statements.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: No
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 34 / 100 verdict
- 01MINOROnly 4 units system-wide with unknown growth trajectory — unusually small and stagnant franchise system raises sustainability questions
- 02MEDNet Income not disclosed in Item 19 — prevents ROI analysis; $461K avg revenue may not support $143.5K-$317K investment payback
- 03MINORHigh royalty burden (8% of Net Sales) combined with unknown profitability makes unit economics opaque
- 04MINOR5-year term is relatively short; franchisor may be testing viability rather than establishing stable brand
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 2026 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 5 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 2 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory radius | 5 mi |
| Online sales rights | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 10 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 5 days |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 1 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Pennsylvania |
| Jury trial waiver | No |
| Governing law | PA |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation required to be disclosed.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 0 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 12 hrs
- Training location
- Philadelphia, PA (headquarters and/or affiliate-owned outlet)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Site selection
- Franchisee with franchisor approval
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Square
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Square
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
2 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 Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie franchise?
The total investment to open a Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie franchise ranges from $144K – $317K, 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 Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie franchise owners earn?
Item 19 of the Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie FDD discloses figures for part of the system but no single average across all outlets. These are gross sales figures, not profit; the Revenue section shows what the filing reports and on what basis. Item 20 of the FDD lists current and former franchisees; asking them directly is the standard way to fill this gap.
Who owns Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie?
Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie is franchised by Little Susies Franchise Company LLC. The FDD names no parent company. Source: FDD Item 1, 2026 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie 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 Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie (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 Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie has 4 total units in the United States. 1 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Little Susie’s Coffee & Pie as a D-grade franchise with a verdict score of 34 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
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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.