FranchiseVerdict
Premium Matcha Café Maiko logo
FV-02026·CAUTIONExcellent81

Premium Matcha Café Maiko

Food & Beverage - Full ServiceFranchising since 2021Website
Investment
$333K – $471K
42nd pct Full Service
Avg revenue
57th pct Full Service
Royalty
Units
26
60th pct Full Service
SBA default

Bottom line

  • Total investment $333K – $471K including a $35K franchise fee.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated CAUTION with a risk score of 71/100.
  • No Item 19 financial performance representation. Without franchisor-disclosed revenue data, you'll need to gather unit economics directly from existing franchisees.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Eight USA Inc.
Parent company
EIGHT KABUSHIKI GAISHA (Japan)
Incorporated in
Hawaii
HQ
1441 Kapiolani Blvd., Suite 910, Honolulu, Hawaii 96814
Auditor
REIWA ACCOUNTING LLP
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$1.6M
vs $1.8M prior year

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 Premium Matcha Café Maiko 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: $333K–$471K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $10K–$20K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

27%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$113K
EBITDA margin
15.0%
Total invested
$417K
Payback
44 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 premium matcha café locations serving specialty matcha beverages, tea-based drinks, and light food offerings. Day-to-day operations include inventory management of matcha powder and premium ingredients, barista training and supervision, customer service, marketing in their local territory, and compliance with franchisor operational standards.

CEO
Hideyuki Hashimoto
Founded
2019
FDD year
2025
States available
15

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$333K – $471K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$10K – $20K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$35K
Royalty
Higher of $500 or 5% on all Gross Sales
Ad fund
2.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
7.0%
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
26
Opened
2
Last reporting year
Closed
0
Turnover rate
0.0%
Company-owned
1
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
96%
vs corporate-owned
Multi-unit owners
60.0%
Net growth (yr3)
+8.7%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+8.7%
Compounded over last 3 years
2023
25+2
Franchised units
2024
23
Franchised units
2025
23
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 23 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).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 23 states
Not registered

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

71
Risk · 0-100
CAUTION71 / 100

Regulatory repeat offender with zero financial transparency, anemic growth, and undisclosed going concern issues—avoid until compliance and unit economics are demonstrated.

Score breakdown · what drove the 71 / 100 rating

  1. 01MINORMultiple regulatory violations across three states (WA, VA, CA) for illegal franchise sales and disclosure failures between 2020-2023, indicating systemic compliance issues
  2. 02MINORZero financial transparency: no average unit volume, average net income, or Item 19 disclosure, making ROI impossible to validate
  3. 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
  4. 04MINORHigh initial investment ($333K-$471K) combined with mandatory $500/month minimum royalty creates cash flow pressure without proven unit economics
  5. 05MINORUnprotected territory creates direct competition risk; multiple franchisees can canibalize same market without contractual safeguards
  6. 06MINOR5-year term is shorter than industry standard (10 years typical), offering minimal amortization window for initial investment
  7. 07HIGH'Going Concern' status is FALSE, raising questions about franchisor financial stability and ability to support franchisees long-term

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

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

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Approved Location
Protected territory
No
Initial term
5 years
Renewal term
5 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
3
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
1.5 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Optional
Governing law
Hawaii

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
5 hrs
On-the-job training
25 hrs
POS system
electronic cash register or other computer system commonly used in the retail industry
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

39 numbers

Locked
(808) 679-••••
The franchise seller for this offering is Makoto Honoki, located at
HI
(917) 688-••••
NY
(410) 576-••••
MD

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Premium Matcha Café Maiko · FDD (2025) PDF

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