Modern Market Eatery Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $929K – $1.5M
- Disclosed sales
- $2.8M
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Modern Market Eatery is a fast-casual franchise serving made-from-scratch bowls, salads, sandwiches, and pizzas with a healthy focus. Franchisees run the restaurants, managing fresh prep, staffing, and counter service.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Modern Market Eatery franchise requires a total initial investment of $929K – $1.5M, including a $40K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2024 FDD, average unit revenue was $2.8M[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: high - issued more than two years ago
Evidence: strong✓ 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 scored8 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $929K – $1.5M
- 92nd pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $2.8M
- 35th pct Service Resta…
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 12th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 26
- 53rd pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Quick-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Quick-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 $929K – $1.5M including a $40K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $2.8M/year (median $2.8M), with an estimated 8% cash-on-cash return (based on Restaurant EBITDA (adjusted for Royalty, Brand Fund, and Local Advertising)).
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 59/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHFlat: no net change in franchised outlets in the latest year (0 opened, 0 closed) (Item 20).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Modern Market Franchising, LLC
- Parent company
- ModMarket, LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 7 of the 2024 FDD
- Ultimate parent
- New MRC Holdings, LLC (majority owned by Butterfly Equity LP)
- FDD Item 1, page 7 of the 2024 FDD
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- John C. Cywinski
- Founder active
- Yes
- Original founder still leading the business
- Incorporated in
- DE
- HQ
- 3001 Brighton Blvd., Suite 701, Denver, CO 80216
- Auditor
- Plante & Moran, PLLC
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $524K
- vs $42K prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Independent franchisee associations
- Franchise Advisory Council (FAC)
Franchisee-led councils or alliances disclosed in Item 20. Indicates operator voice.
Overview
About
- CEO
- John C. Cywinski
- Headquarters
- CO
- Founded
- 2019
- FDD year
- 2024
- States available
- 1
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 147% above the typical quick-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2024 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown20 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franchise Feenot refundable | $40K | $40K | |
| Lease Deposit | $5K | $30K | |
| Licenses and Permits | $3K | $5K | |
| Architects and Design | $18K | $40K | |
| Construction/Leasehold Improvements | $520K | $700K | |
| Graphics and Signage | $20K | $40K | |
| Kitchen Equipment | $120K | $220K | |
| Furniture, Fixtures | $75K | $150K | |
| Computer and Security Equipment | $25K | $35K | |
| Uniforms | $2K | $4K | |
| Professional Fees | $2K | $5K | |
| Opening Inventory | $10K | $20K | |
| Smallwares | $20K | $25K | |
| Pre-Opening Labor | $10K | $20K | |
| Insurance Deposits | $4K | $6K | |
| Manager In Training | $10K | $40K | |
| Grand Opening Marketing | $15K | $40K | |
| Site Selection Assistance Feenot refundable | $0 | $500 | |
| Miscellaneous Opening Costs | $0 | $9K | |
| Additional Funds - 3 months working capital | $30K | $40K | |
| Total initial investment | $929K | $1.5M |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. Total is the sum of line-item lows / highs — actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $929K – $1.5M
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $30K – $40K
- Middle of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $40K – $40K
- Middle of category vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 6.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
- Payback period
- 12.1 yrs
- From FDD / Item 19
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% |
| Transfer fee | $20K |
| Renewal fee | $15K |
| Inventory (initial) | $10K – $20K |
| Total fee load | 6.0% of rev |
A 6.0% total fee load is unusually lean. More of each revenue dollar stays with the franchisee.
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 192% above the quick-service restaurants norm.
Source: FDD 2024 · Item 19
Single-unit · not modelled
Returns at a glance
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit, and the operating costs that turn one into the other are in no filing. We publish no modelled return for Modern Market Eatery until someone supplies them — yours, in the models below.
—
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for 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.
Total invested capital · disclosed
$1.2M
Item 7 initial investment plus working capital, as filed — the one figure here that needs no assumption.
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
FDD-reported earnings
The FDD reports $180K as Restaurant EBITDA (adjusted for Royalty, Brand Fund, and Local Advertising). This is a disclosed figure, not our estimate — we publish no modelled profit for Modern Market Eatery.
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit, read against the 30–60% reference band · Yale SOM, Post-MBA Path Exhibit 2 (2023). Below that band a passive index fund likely outperforms; above it the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses, and it is the top line only — gross sales are not profit. No FDD discloses the operating costs that turn one into the other, so those fields start empty and nothing is modelled until you supply them from your own lease quote, labor market and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Modern Market Eatery 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 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.
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for 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.
A 25-unit return is built on a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in Model A above and this model runs on that figure, or take the whole scenario to the full ROI workbench, where the portfolio and LBO models accept your own per-unit economics directly.
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: 2024 FDD
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $2.8M
- Per unit/yr · from the Item 19 franchised-cohort breakdown (no single system-wide average disclosed)
- Median gross sales
- $2.8M
- Avg restaurant ebitda (adjusted for royalty, brand fund, and local advertising)
- $180K
- Reported as Restaurant EBITDA (adjusted for Royalty, Brand Fund, and Local Advertising) in FDD Item 19
- Cash-on-cash
- 8.3%
- Based on Restaurant EBITDA (adjusted for Royalty, Brand Fund, and Local Advertising) / investment midpoint
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- gross sales and profit-and-loss statements
- Sample size
- 3 outlets
- vs category median 19 · small
- Range (low → high)
- $2.6M→$3.1MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 54 of the 2024 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2023
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2024
- Disclosed in the 2024 filing, covering 2023
- Transparency
- 6 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 781 Quick-Service Restaurants brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $2.8M/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 2.4x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 6.0% — below the Quick-Service Restaurants median of 7.5%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 6/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence. Sample size of 3 outlets — treat as directional only.
Operator retention
Net unit growth of +100.0% over 3 years (0 opened, 0 closed).
Multi-unit rate
50% of franchisees own multiple units, a moderate multi-unit rate.
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 Quick-Service Restaurants medians
How Modern Market Eatery Compares
Category median of published Quick-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 2024 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 26
- Opened
- 0
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- N/A
- Company-owned
- 23
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 12%
- vs corporate-owned
- Multi-unit owners
- 50.0%
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +100.0%
- Net unit change over 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 0
- 0.00 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 7
- 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)
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
0 current owners across 0 states; 3 former (terminated, transferred or not renewed) listed separately.
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20. Names and phone numbers are for your own due diligence and are not shown here.
Fast growth in a small system. Newer franchisors expanding quickly may not yet have the support infrastructure of larger systems.
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
Modern Market Eatery presents CAUTION-level risk: a micro-franchise system with undisclosed unit performance data, franchisor financial uncertainty, and high capital requirements relative to reported profitability.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
0 case reference(s): 0 pending, 0 settled.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Plante & Moran, PLLC
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
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
Score breakdown · what drove the 59 / 100 verdict
- 01MINOROnly 26 units with unknown growth trajectory - extremely small system raises sustainability and support infrastructure concerns
- 02MEDHigh initial investment ($928.5K-$1.47M) relative to disclosed net income (8-19% ROI) creates extended payback period risk
- 03MED5% royalty plus operating costs in QSR sector could compress margins below disclosed averages
- 04MEDNo disclosed litigation but small unit count and lack of financial transparency limits due diligence confidence
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 6.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2024 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory radius | 2 mi |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 3 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 1 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 3 |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Arbitration location | Denver, Colorado |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | CO |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
0 case reference(s): 0 pending, 0 settled.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 63 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 297 hrs
- Training location
- Certified Training Restaurant in Denver, Colorado area
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 12 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- Franchisee with franchisor approval
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
3 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 Modern Market Eatery franchise?
The total investment to open a Modern Market Eatery franchise ranges from $929K – $1.5M, 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 Modern Market Eatery franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Modern Market Eatery FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $2.8M. The median is $2.8M. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Modern Market Eatery?
Modern Market Eatery is franchised by Modern Market Franchising, LLC. Its parent company is ModMarket, LLC. The ultimate parent named in the FDD is New MRC Holdings, LLC (majority owned by Butterfly Equity LP). Source: FDD Item 1, 2024 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Modern Market Eatery 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 Modern Market Eatery FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Modern Market Eatery's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Modern Market Eatery (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 Modern Market Eatery franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Modern Market Eatery has 26 total units in the United States, including 3 franchised units and 23 company-owned units.
Is Modern Market Eatery a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Modern Market Eatery as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 59 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.