Bottom line
- Total investment $287K – $807K including a $25K franchise fee, 5.5% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $934K/year (median $886K).
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 44/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 676 loans (below the industry average).
- 16 litigation matters disclosed in Item 3 — higher than typical. Review the summary for patterns (franchisor-initiated vs. franchisee-initiated).
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 Marco's Pizza unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
12%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Marco's Pizza units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$93K
on $467K purchase
Total debt
$374K
SBA $0.2M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Marco's Pizza franchisees operate fast-casual pizza restaurants focused on quality ingredients and quick service. Day-to-day operations include managing kitchen staff, maintaining food quality standards, inventory management, customer service, and local marketing to drive sales toward the $934K system average.
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 · 20 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
Marco's Pizza presents moderate-to-cautionary risk due to undisclosed profitability metrics, multiple active litigation cases, sluggish growth, and collection actions suggesting potential franchisee performance or compliance issues.
Score breakdown · what drove the 44 / 100 rating
- 01MINORNo Item 19 (Average Net Income) disclosure — cannot verify actual profitability claims despite $934K average revenue
- 02HIGHMultiple ongoing litigation cases involving former area representatives (American Eagle, KAM Development) and franchisor collection actions suggest systemic relationship issues
- 03MINORSlow unit growth (4.0% YoY) combined with collection actions against former franchisees indicates potential performance/retention problems
- 04MINORHigh investment range ($286K-$807K) with 5.5% royalty lacks transparency on typical break-even timeline without net income data
- 05HIGHPattern of franchisor-initiated litigation (J&J ZA, FirstSlice, Cajunland Pizza) raises questions about enforcement practices and franchisee support quality
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
65 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Marco's Pizza · FDD (2025) PDF