Mr. Charlie’s Told Me So Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $283K – $698K
- Disclosed sales
- partial, no system average
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Mr. Charlie's Told Me So is a fast-food franchise serving plant-based hamburgers, plant-based chicken sandwiches, and meatless menu items from restaurants and food trucks. Franchisees run the locations, managing food prep, staffing, and service.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO franchise requires a total initial investment of $283K – $698K, including a $35K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. The 2025 FDD on file does not yield a unit-revenue figure we can publish. FranchiseVerdict grade: D (Below average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Limited operating history: franchising since 2024. A system this young has fewer than three years of Item 20 outlet history and rarely enough SBA loans for a charge-off rate, so its grade rests on less evidence than an established system's. Read its Item 20 tables and talk to its first franchisees before relying on the grade. Other new franchisors
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: medium - issued 12 to 24 months ago; a newer filing is likely on file
Evidence: partial✓ 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 scored6 of 6 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $283K – $698K
- 12th pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- N/A
- Company-owned onlyn=2
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 8th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 2
- 4th pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Full-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Full-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 $283K – $698K including a $35K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSItem 19 reports outlet revenue, but not in a form that yields a per-outlet average we can compare across brands.
- RISKVerdict D (Below average), verdict score 30/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHFlat: no net change in franchised outlets in the latest year (0 opened, 0 closed) (Item 20).
- FLAGItem 4 discloses a bankruptcy of an officer or of a company an officer ran, not of the franchisor. Review Item 4 for details.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Mr. Charlie's World LLC
- Parent company
- Sona Terra Inc.
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- David Shneer
- Founder active
- Yes
- Original founder still leading the business
- Incorporated in
- CA
- HQ
- 450 North Bedford Drive, Suite 312, Beverly Hills, California 90210
- Auditor
- Metwally CPA PLLC
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $13K
- Most recent fiscal year
Overview
About
- CEO
- David Shneer
- Headquarters
- CA
- Founded
- 2022
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 0
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 28% below the typical full-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown20 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $35K | $35K | |
| Security Deposit | $5K | $5K | |
| Initial Training Expenses 2 | $500 | $10K | |
| Food Handler Certification 3 | $200 | $500 | |
| Lease Deposit & Rent (3 months) 4 | $12K | $80K | |
| Architect Fees | $9K | $11K | |
| Construction 6 | $100K | $300K | |
| Exterior & Interior Signage 7 | $15K | $30K | |
| Furniture, Fixtures & Décor | $9K | $20K | |
| Technology Systems 8 | $9K | $18K | |
| Kitchen Equipment 9 | $32K | $57K | |
| Employee Uniforms | $3K | $4K | |
| Opening Inventory 10 | $23K | $52K | |
| Grand Opening Advertising 11 | $5K | $12K | |
| Office Supplies | $500 | $900 | |
| Utility Deposits | $4K | $5K | |
| Business Licenses & Permits | $2K | $6K | |
| Professional Fees 12 | $5K | $16K | |
| Insurance Premium (3 months) | $600 | $1K | |
| Additional Funds (3 months) 13 | $15K | $35K | |
| Total initial investment | $283K | $698K |
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
- $283K – $698K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $15K – $35K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $35K – $35K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 2.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 7.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 2.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $150 |
| Training fee | $500 |
| Transfer fee | $10K |
| Renewal fee | $18K |
| Inventory (initial) | $23K – $52K |
| Total fee load | 7.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
No Item 19 revenue figure for MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO is on file. The return models need a revenue figure to start from, and the operating costs that turn gross sales into a profit are in no FDD. Enter your own and the calculator runs on your assumptions — nothing here is modelled until you do.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO 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 annual revenue, 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.
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: 2025 FDD
Financial Performance
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
Based on a sample of only 2
- Item 19 type
- gross sales
- Sample size
- 2
- vs category median 18 · small
- Range (low → high)
- $1.2M→$1.5MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 45 of the 2025 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- Disclosed in the 2025 filing, covering 2024
- Transparency
- 3 / 10
- vs category median 3 / 10 · typical
Compared against 801 Full-Service Restaurants brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 7.0% (near the Full-Service Restaurants median).
Disclosure
Item 19 reports outlet revenue, but not in a form that yields a per-outlet average we can compare across brands.
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 Full-Service Restaurants medians
How Mr. Charlie’s Told Me So Compares
Category median of published Full-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 2025 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 2
- 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
- 2
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 0%
- vs corporate-owned
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Projected new
- 1
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
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
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: the franchisor is a named party (defendant).
Tustin Legacy, LLC v. Aaron Haxton, Taylor Mckinnon & Mr. Charlie Told Me So LLC (Cal. Super. Ct., Case No. 248MCV00901). Filed Feb 27, 2024. Corporate dispute re: alleged 25% ownership interest in affiliate MCTMS; compensatory damages sought of at least $1,200,000. Defendants filed cross-complaint. Case pending.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
Subject: an officer. An officer’s own bankruptcy or a company an officer ran, not the franchisor’s
Amanda Marie Mckinnon and Antonio David Mckinnon filed Chapter 7 (Case No. 2:19-bk-13970-BB, Bankr. C.D. Cal.) on April 8, 2019; discharged July 24, 2019. Taylor Mckinnon (Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer) joined as Joint Debtor after spouse's medical issue. No other bankruptcy disclosed.
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Metwally CPA PLLC
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Figures from the AUDITED financial statements of Mr. Charlie's World, LLC (the franchisor entity Item 21 relies on), audited by Metwally CPA PLLC, for the inception period July 23, 2024 to December 31, 2024. Statements are in whole US dollars (not scaled); balance sheet reconciles (Assets 232,408 = Liabilities 71,062 + Members' Equity 161,346). Total Revenues of $13,013 consist entirely of Initial franchise fees. yr2 is null (first/inception period, no prior year). Note: pages p126-p127 show an UNAUDITED interim balance sheet/statement of operations as of June 30, 2025 (Mr. Charlies World LLC) explicitly marked "prepared without an audit"; those were not used.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: No
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 30 / 100 verdict
- 01MINOROnly 2 units in system with unknown growth trajectory suggests stagnant or shrinking franchise network
- 02HIGHActive litigation involving ownership disputes and alleged fund diversion raises governance and financial integrity concerns
- 03MINORHigh investment range ($282K-$697K) relative to tiny 2-unit system increases franchisee risk significantly
- 04MINOR5% royalty on gross sales (not net) means franchisor profits even when franchisees lose money
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 7.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 2 |
| 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 | 10 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 10 days |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 4 |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Arbitration location | Los Angeles County, California |
| Jury trial waiver | No |
| Governing law | CA |
| Litigation count | 1 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Tustin Legacy, LLC v. Aaron Haxton, Taylor Mckinnon & Mr. Charlie Told Me So LLC (Cal. Super. Ct., Case No. 248MCV00901). Filed Feb 27, 2024. Corporate dispute re: alleged 25% ownership interest in affiliate MCTMS; compensatory damages sought of at least $1,200,000. Defendants filed cross-complaint. Case pending.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 44 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 120 hrs
- Training location
- San Francisco or Los Angeles, California (company-owned Restaurant)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Field support
- 120 hrs/yr
- On-site visits per year
- Time to open
- 8 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- franchisee with franchisor approval
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Toast
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Toast
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO franchise?
The total investment to open a MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO franchise ranges from $283K – $698K, with an initial franchise fee of $35K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO franchise owners earn?
Item 19 of the MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO FDD discloses outlet figures from $1.2M to $1.5M but no single average across all outlets. These are gross sales figures, not profit; the Revenue section shows what the filing reports and on what basis. Item 20 of the FDD lists current and former franchisees; asking them directly is the standard way to fill this gap.
Who owns MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO?
MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO is franchised by Mr. Charlie's World LLC. Its parent company is Sona Terra Inc.. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO 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 MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO (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 MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO has 2 total units in the United States.
Is MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates MR. CHARLIE’S TOLD ME SO as a D-grade franchise with a verdict score of 30 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.