Bottom line
- Total investment $111K – $853K including a $25K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.2M/year (median $1.1M).
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 38/100.
- Established system with 3,291 units across 35 years of franchising — strong brand recognition and operational playbook.
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 Papa Johns unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
25%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Papa Johns units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$926K
on $4.6M purchase
Total debt
$3.7M
SBA $2.3M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Papa Johns franchisees operate pizza delivery and carryout locations, managing day-to-day food preparation, delivery logistics, customer service, and local marketing. Franchisees handle staffing, inventory management, and point-of-sale operations while adhering to Papa Johns' operational standards and paying 5% royalties on net sales.
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 · 26 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.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Papa Johns presents moderate-to-cautionary risk: disclosed litigation history and absent profitability data (Item 19) prevent validation of returns, while sluggish 2.3% unit growth suggests market maturity challenges despite strong brand recognition.
Score breakdown · what drove the 38 / 100 rating
- 01MEDNet Income not disclosed in FDD Item 19 — unable to validate actual profitability claims against $1.16M average revenue
- 02MINORSlow unit growth of only 2.3% YoY indicates market saturation or franchisee underperformance in mature 3,291-unit system
- 03HIGHMultiple litigation settlements (equipment lease disputes, antitrust 'no-poach' violations, franchise termination breaches) suggest operational and contractual friction
- 04MINORWide investment range ($111K–$853K) creates uncertainty about true startup costs and capital requirements for different formats
- 05MED5% royalty on net sales is standard but combined with undisclosed profitability makes ROI calculation impossible
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
54 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Papa Johns · FDD (2025) PDF