FranchiseVerdict
Molly Tea logo
FV-01667·MODERATEStandard71

Molly Tea

Food & Beverage - Full ServiceFranchising since 2025Website
Investment
$528K – $1.1M
69th pct Full Service
Avg revenue
57th pct Full Service
Royalty
8.0%
90th pct Full Service
Units
4
20th pct Full Service
SBA default

Bottom line

  • Total investment $528K – $1.1M including a $50K franchise fee, 8.0% ongoing royalty.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 65/100.
  • Auditor disclosed a going-concern note — flagged doubt about the franchisor's ability to continue operations. Verify against the latest FDD.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
MOLLYTEA Franchising LLC
Parent company
Molly Tea IP Inc.
Incorporated in
Delaware
HQ
6 Kilmer Road, Suite B, Edison, New Jersey 08817
Auditor
CBIZ CPAs P.C.
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$0
Most recent fiscal year
⚠ Going-concern note
Disclosed in FDD 2025
Auditor flagged doubt about continued operations. Verify against the latest FDD before deciding.

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 Molly Tea 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: $528K–$1.1M
Working capital
$
FDD reports $50K–$100K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

11%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$98K
EBITDA margin
13.0%
Total invested
$893K
Payback
110 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

Franchisees operate Molly Tea beverage retail locations, likely serving specialty tea drinks and related products. Day-to-day operations include inventory management, customer service, point-of-sale transactions, staff supervision, and adherence to brand standards for product preparation and store presentation.

CEO
Biao Zhang (Zhang Biao)
Founded
2025
FDD year
2025
States available
0

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$528K – $1.1M
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$50K – $100K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$50K
Royalty
8.0%
Gross Sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
2.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
10.0%
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
4
Opened
0
Last reporting year
Closed
0
Turnover rate
0.0%
Company-owned
4
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
0%
vs corporate-owned
2023
0±0
Franchised units
2024
0
Franchised units
2025
0
Franchised units

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

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

No SBA loan data available for this brand.

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

Risk & Legal

65
Risk · 0-100
MODERATE65 / 100

Molly Tea is a pre-revenue stage franchise with minimal unit count, no financial transparency, short contract term, and unprotected territory—presenting substantial execution and profitability risk.

Score breakdown · what drove the 65 / 100 rating

  1. 01MINOROnly 4 units system-wide indicates minimal scale, unproven model, and high failure risk
  2. 02MINORNo average revenue or net income disclosure (Item 19) prevents ROI validation and suggests weak unit economics
  3. 03MINOR1-year term is unusually short and creates instability; most franchises offer 5-10 year terms
  4. 04MINORUnprotected territory creates direct competition risk from other franchisees and franchisor expansion
  5. 05MINORWide investment range ($527.5K-$1.1M) with no clear cost breakdown raises transparency concerns
  6. 06MED8% royalty on undisclosed revenue makes it impossible to model profitability or break-even timeline

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

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

Contract & Territory Detail

Protected territory
No
Initial term
1 year
Renewal term
1 year
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
New York

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
112 hrs
On-the-job training
208 hrs
POS system
Resto and Chowbus
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

1 numbers

Locked
(517) 373-••••
MI

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Molly Tea · FDD (2025) PDF

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