FranchiseVerdict
Maryland Blue Crab® logo
FV-01578·AVOIDExcellent81FDD 2022

Maryland Blue Crab®

Food & Beverage - Full ServiceFranchising since 2020Website
Investment
$203K – $513K
20th pct Full Service
Avg revenue
57th pct Full Service
Royalty
3.0%
2nd pct Full Service
Units
1
3rd pct Full Service
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $203K – $513K including a $19K franchise fee, 3.0% ongoing royalty.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated AVOID with a risk score of 79/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 2 loans (below the industry average).
  • No Item 19 financial performance representation. Without franchisor-disclosed revenue data, you'll need to gather unit economics directly from existing franchisees.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
MD Blue Crab Franchising International, LLC
Incorporated in
Louisiana
HQ
13055 West Main Street, Larose, Louisiana 70373
Auditor
Roger and Associates, LLC
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$0
vs $0 prior year

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 Maryland Blue Crab® unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
Item 19 not disclosed — typing your own estimate
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: generic
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $203K–$513K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $50K–$100K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

33%

In Yale's "attractive" band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$143K
EBITDA margin
19.0%
Total invested
$433K
Payback
36 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Overview

About

Maryland Blue Crab franchisees operate casual dining establishments or seafood retail locations specializing in blue crab and regional Chesapeake Bay cuisine. Daily operations likely include food preparation, inventory management, customer service, and adherence to recipes and brand standards. The business model appears regionally focused on Maryland/Mid-Atlantic markets.

CEO
Theron McCarthy III
Founded
2020
FDD year
2022
States available
1

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$203K – $513K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$50K – $100K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$19K
Royalty
3.0%
Gross Revenues · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
1.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
4.0%
vs 9–13% typical

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

Total units
1
Opened
0
Last reporting year
Closed
0
Turnover rate
0.0%
Company-owned
1
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
0%
vs corporate-owned
2020
0±0
Franchised units
2021
0
Franchised units
2022
0
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 20 · 3 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).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 3 states
Not registered

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.

Total loans
2
Loan volume
Avg loan
Default rate
0.0%
vs <3% typical · system-wide
5-yr default

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

79
Risk · 0-100
AVOID79 / 100

Maryland Blue Crab presents extreme risk due to going concern status, single-unit system, undisclosed financials, and no Item 19 disclosure — a potentially failing franchisor unable to demonstrate unit profitability.

Score breakdown · what drove the 79 / 100 rating

  1. 01HIGHGoing Concern status is FALSE — indicates the franchisor may have serious financial viability issues
  2. 02MINOROnly 1 unit in system with unknown growth trajectory — signals potential market failure or brand stagnation
  3. 03MINORNo average revenue or net income disclosure (no Item 19) — impossible to assess ROI or validate investment claims
  4. 04MINORHigh investment range ($203K–$512K) relative to unknowable returns creates extreme financial risk for franchisee
  5. 05MINORSingle unit makes it impossible to validate business model or replicate success across territories

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Radius
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
7 years
Renewal term
7 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Optional
Governing law
Louisiana

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
51 hrs
On-the-job training
131 hrs
POS system
Not specified
Operating tech stack

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

4 numbers

Locked
(808) 586-••••
HI
(443) 554-••••
LA
(804) 371-••••
VA

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Maryland Blue Crab® · FDD (2022) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above