Marble Slab Creamery
Formerly known as Maid Simple Cleaning
Bottom line
- Total investment $355K – $477K including a $25K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $481K/year (median $458K).
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 56/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 259 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 Marble Slab Creamery unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
11%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Marble Slab Creamery units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$288K
on $1.4M purchase
Total debt
$1.2M
SBA $0.7M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Marble Slab Creamery franchisees operate ice cream retail shops where customers select mix-in ingredients (candy, brownie pieces, fruit) that are folded into soft-serve ice cream on a frozen marble slab. Day-to-day operations include managing 2-5 employees, maintaining equipment, inventory control, marketing to drive foot traffic, and seasonal demand management.
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 · 13 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
Marble Slab operates within a contracting franchise system managed by litigious parent company FAT Brands, with negligible growth, non-disclosed profitability, and significant parent-level governance concerns.
Score breakdown · what drove the 56 / 100 rating
- 01MINORSeverely declining unit count: only 249 units with 0.4% YoY growth indicates a contracting franchise system losing momentum
- 02HIGHParent company FAT Brands facing active securities class action litigation plus multiple concluded lawsuits regarding stock price manipulation and registration violations—suggests governance and transparency issues
- 03MEDAverage revenue of $480,828 with undisclosed net income prevents accurate ROI calculation; without Item 19 data, franchisees cannot validate the $354.5K-$476.6K investment thesis
- 04MINOR15-year term length locks franchisees into a long commitment during a period of system contraction, limiting exit flexibility
- 05MINOR6% royalty on declining average revenue creates margin pressure; profitability data absence suggests parent may be obscuring poor unit economics
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
98 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Marble Slab Creamery · FDD (2025) PDF