Premium Matcha Café Maiko Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $333K – $471K
- Disclosed sales
- not disclosed
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Premium Matcha Café Maiko is a dessert and beverage franchise serving matcha drinks, soft serve, and Japanese-style treats. Franchisees run the cafes, managing matcha prep, inventory, and counter service.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Premium Matcha Café Maiko franchise requires a total initial investment of $333K – $471K, including a $35K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. This franchisor makes no financial performance representation in Item 19 of its FDD. Item 19 is voluntary under the FTC Franchise Rule, and this filing states that it makes none, so no revenue or earnings figures are disclosed. Declining to publish one is lawful and is not evidence of how the outlets perform. It does mean that less about this brand can be verified from its filing, and the FranchiseVerdict grade - an editorial assessment, not investment advice - reflects that. 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: medium - issued 12 to 24 months ago; a newer filing is likely on file
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 scored4 of 5 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $333K – $471K
- 15th pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- N/A
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 8th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 26
- 22nd 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 $333K – $471K including a $35K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSThis franchisor makes no financial performance representation in Item 19 of its FDD. Item 19 is voluntary under the FTC Franchise Rule, and this filing states that it makes none, so no revenue or earnings figures are disclosed. Declining to publish one is lawful and is not evidence of how the outlets perform. It does mean that less about this brand can be verified from its filing, and the FranchiseVerdict grade - an editorial assessment, not investment advice - reflects that.
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 56/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +2 franchised outlets in the latest year (2 opened, 0 closed) (Item 20).
- DATAThis franchisor makes no financial performance representation in Item 19 of its FDD. Item 19 is voluntary under the FTC Franchise Rule, and this filing states that it makes none, so no revenue or earnings figures are disclosed. Declining to publish one is lawful and is not evidence of how the outlets perform. It does mean that less about this brand can be verified from its filing, and the FranchiseVerdict grade - an editorial assessment, not investment advice - reflects that. Item 20 of the FDD lists current and former franchisees; asking them directly is the standard way to fill this gap.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Eight USA Inc.
- Parent company
- Eight Kabushiki Gaisha (Eight Co., Ltd.)
- FDD Item 1, page 6 of the 2025 FDD
- Predecessor
- EXEO USA, INC.
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- President
- Hideyuki Hashimoto
- Founder active
- Yes
- Original founder still leading the business
- Incorporated in
- HI
- HQ
- 1441 Kapiolani Blvd., Suite 910, Honolulu, Hawaii 96814
- Auditor
- Reiwa (Reiwa US, Honolulu, HI)
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $1.8M
- vs $1.6M prior year
Overview
About
- CEO
- Hideyuki Hashimoto
- Headquarters
- HI
- Founded
- 2019
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 15
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 41% below the typical full-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
The filing's Item 7 TOTAL row prints $333,300 to $470,800. Its own line items add to $336,800 to $419,800. The total is shown as the franchisor printed it; the lines are listed as printed. Only one Item 7 table in the filing; its printed TOTAL ($333,300-$470,800) equals the headline.
Full Item 7 breakdown18 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $35K | $35K | |
| Real Estate Rental | $5K | $15K | |
| Construction fees including fixtures and equipment installation | $180K | $180K | |
| Soft serve machine | $27K | $27K | |
| Ice cream freezer | $7K | $7K | |
| Ice cube machine | $6K | $6K | |
| Refrigerator | $7K | $7K | |
| Refrigerator (2) | $4K | $4K | |
| Undercounter refrigerator | $3K | $3K | |
| Inventory | $12K | $12K | |
| Kitchen supplies | $3K | $3K | |
| Consultation fees | $3K | $3K | |
| Computer, IT and other systems | $10K | $15K | |
| Furnishing | $20K | $70K | |
| Opening Advertising | $3K | $10K | |
| Insurance (1 year) | $2K | $2K | |
| Training | $1K | $2K | |
| Additional Funds | $10K | $20K | |
| Total initial investment | $337K | $420K |
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
- $333K – $471K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $10K – $20K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $35K – $35K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- Set by a formula · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 0.0%
- 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 | 0.0% of gross sales |
| Transfer fee | $35K |
| Renewal fee | $0 |
| Inventory (initial) | $12K – $12K |
| Total fee load | 7.0% of rev |
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
Premium Matcha Café Maiko makes no financial performance representation in Item 19 of its FDD - a voluntary item under the FTC Franchise Rule - so no unit revenue figures are disclosed. 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 Premium Matcha Café Maiko 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
No financial performance representation
This franchisor makes no financial performance representation in Item 19 of its FDD. Item 19 is voluntary under the FTC Franchise Rule, and this filing states that it makes none, so no revenue or earnings figures are disclosed. Declining to publish one is lawful and is not evidence of how the outlets perform. It does mean that less about this brand can be verified from its filing, and the FranchiseVerdict grade - an editorial assessment, not investment advice - reflects that.
Item 20 of the FDD lists current and former franchisees; asking them directly is the standard way to fill this gap.
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
This franchisor makes no financial performance representation in Item 19 of its FDD. Item 19 is voluntary under the FTC Franchise Rule, and this filing states that it makes none, so no revenue or earnings figures are disclosed. Declining to publish one is lawful and is not evidence of how the outlets perform. It does mean that less about this brand can be verified from its filing, and the FranchiseVerdict grade - an editorial assessment, not investment advice - reflects that. Item 20 of the FDD lists current and former franchisees; asking them directly is the standard way to fill this gap.
Operator retention
System expanding at 8.7% CAGR over 3 years across 26 units — operators are staying and new ones are joining.
Multi-unit rate
60% of franchisees own multiple units — high repeat-buyer rate signals strong unit economics and operator satisfaction.
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 Premium Matcha Café Maiko 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
- 26
- Opened
- 2
- 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
- 1
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 96%
- vs corporate-owned
- Multi-unit owners
- 60.0%
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +8.7%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +8.7%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 2
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Transfer rate
- 3.8%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 14 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 contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
26 current owners across 14 states.
- CA 9
- GA 2
- NJ 2
- NY 2
- VA 2
- AZ 1
- FL 1
- HI 1
- MA 1
- MI 1
- NC 1
- OR 1
- +2 more states
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.
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
Regulatory repeat offender with zero financial transparency, anemic growth, and undisclosed going concern issues—avoid until compliance and unit economics are demonstrated.
Why this reads harsher than the B grade: the grade weighs financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency across the whole filing, while this summary lists individual flags without that weighting. The flags are worth checking with current owners; neither is investment advice.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: the franchisor is a named party (defendant).
Three state regulatory enforcement matters, all settled by consent/settlement order: Washington DFI Securities Division Consent Order (No. S-19-2813-20-CO01, 2020); Virginia State Corporation Commission Settlement Order (Case No. SEC-2021-00021, entered Jan 2022, civil penalties and costs); California DFPI Consent Order (Sept 2023, administrative penalties). All concerned offering/selling franchises without registration or FDD delivery, inherited via purchase of predecessor EXEO USA.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Reiwa (Reiwa US, Honolulu, HI)
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
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 56 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORMultiple regulatory violations across three states (WA, VA, CA) for illegal franchise sales and disclosure failures between 2020-2023, indicating systemic compliance issues
- 02MINORZero financial transparency: no average unit volume, average net income, or Item 19 disclosure, making ROI impossible to validate
- 03HIGHAnemic growth rate of 8.7% YoY with only 26 units suggests market rejection or saturation in premium matcha category; units may be declining post-litigation
- 04MINORHigh initial investment ($333K-$471K) combined with mandatory $500/month minimum royalty creates cash flow pressure without proven unit economics
- 05MINORUnprotected territory creates direct competition risk; multiple franchisees can canibalize same market without contractual safeguards
- 06MINOR5-year term is shorter than industry standard (10 years typical), offering minimal amortization window for initial investment
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 | 5 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | No territory protection |
| Protected territory | No |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Online sales rights | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 1.5 years |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 14 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Hawaii |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | HI |
| Litigation count | 3 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Three state regulatory enforcement matters, all settled by consent/settlement order: Washington DFI Securities Division Consent Order (No. S-19-2813-20-CO01, 2020); Virginia State Corporation Commission Settlement Order (Case No. SEC-2021-00021, entered Jan 2022, civil penalties and costs); California DFPI Consent Order (Sept 2023, administrative penalties). All concerned offering/selling franchises without registration or FDD delivery, inherited via purchase of predecessor EXEO USA.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 5 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 25 hrs
- Training location
- Hawaii (Franchisor company-owned store)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Field support
- 25 hrs/yr
- On-site visits per year
- Time to open
- 10 mo
- From signing to launch
- POS system
- electronic cash register or other computer system commonly used in the retail industry
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: electronic cash register or other computer system commonly used in the retail industry
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
26 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 Premium Matcha Café Maiko franchise?
The total investment to open a Premium Matcha Café Maiko franchise ranges from $333K – $471K, 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 Premium Matcha Café Maiko franchise owners earn?
Premium Matcha Café Maiko makes no financial performance representation in Item 19 of its FDD - a voluntary item under the FTC Franchise Rule - so no unit revenue figures are disclosed. Declining to publish one is lawful and is not evidence of how the outlets perform. It does mean that less about this brand can be verified from its filing, and the FranchiseVerdict grade - an editorial assessment, not investment advice - reflects that. Item 20 of the FDD lists current and former franchisees; asking them directly is the standard way to fill this gap.
Who owns Premium Matcha Café Maiko?
Premium Matcha Café Maiko is franchised by Eight USA Inc.. Its parent company is Eight Kabushiki Gaisha (Eight Co., Ltd.). Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Premium Matcha Café Maiko 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 Premium Matcha Café Maiko FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Premium Matcha Café Maiko's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Premium Matcha Café Maiko (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 Premium Matcha Café Maiko franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Premium Matcha Café Maiko has 26 total units in the United States, including 25 franchised units and 1 company-owned units. 2 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Premium Matcha Café Maiko a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Premium Matcha Café Maiko as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 56 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.