Qdoba Mexican EatsFranchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Qdoba Mexican Eats franchise requires a total initial investment of $546K – $1.3M, including a $40K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2024 FDD, average unit revenue was $1.6M[2]. Verdict grade: A. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified June 18, 2026 · figures per the 2024 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $546K – $1.3M
- 85th pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $1.6M
- 49th pct Service Resta…
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 13th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 777
- 92nd pct Service Resta…
- SBA default
- N/A
Quick verdict · Quick-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = >15% above Quick-Service Restaurants avg · No shading = within ±15% · Red = >15% below avg · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Franchising since 1997. Systems this mature have refined operations and brand recognition.
44% cash-on-cash return (based on EBITDA). Above the 20% threshold most investors target.
Bottom line
- Total investment $546K – $1.3M including a $40K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.6M/year (median $1.5M), with an estimated 44% cash-on-cash return (based on EBITDA).
- Verdict A (Top Quintile) with a risk score of 9/100.
- System growing at 37.1% CAGR over 3 years with 777 total units. Strong expansion trajectory.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
- Legal entity
- Qdoba Franchisor LLC
- Parent company
- Qdoba Funding LLC
- Incorporated in
- DE
- HQ
- 350 Camino De La Reina, Suite 400, San Diego, California 92108
- Auditor
- Deloitte & Touche LLP
- Audited financials
Overview
About
Franchisees operate counter-service Mexican fast-casual restaurants, managing daily P&L for food prep, customer service, inventory, and staffing (typically 8-15 FTE per location). Core revenue drivers are lunch/dinner dayparts, catering, and digital ordering; franchisees remit 5% of gross sales to Qdoba corporate while maintaining margins through labor and COGS discipline in a competitive QSR segment.
- CEO
- John C. Cywinski
- Headquarters
- CA
- Founded
- 1995
- FDD year
- 2024
- States available
- 43
FDD Item 7 · 2024 filing · 33 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franchise Fee (Traditional)not refundable | $40K | $40K | |
| Development costs: plans, legal fees, permits (Traditional) | $20K | $50K | |
| Leasehold improvements (Traditional) | $200K | $525K | |
| Furnishings, fixtures and equipment (Traditional) | $185K | $330K | |
| Signage (Traditional) | $10K | $35K | |
| IT and other Systems (Traditional) | $40K | $101K | |
| Opening inventory (Traditional) | $5K | $10K | |
| Travel and living expenses while training (Traditional) | — | — | |
| Miscellaneous pre-opening expenses (Traditional) | $5K | $15K | |
| Grand opening advertising (Traditional) | $10K | $25K | |
| Insurance (Traditional) | $5K | $10K | |
| Liquor license (Traditional) | — | — | |
| Real property lease / purchase costs (Traditional) | — | — | |
| Business licenses, health permits and similar permits (Traditional) | $500 | $3K | |
| Additional funds - 3 months (Traditional) | $25K | $150K | |
| Franchise Fee (Non-Traditional)not refundable | $20K | $20K | |
| Development costs: plans, legal fees, permits (Non-Traditional) | $10K | $50K | |
| Leasehold improvements (Non-Traditional) | $75K | $350K | |
| Furnishings, fixtures and equipment (Non-Traditional) | $83K | $200K | |
| Signage (Non-Traditional) | $8K | $25K | |
| Total initial investment | $823K | $2.3M |
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.
Single-unit · estimated
Returns at a glance
Indicative numbers using FDD Item 7 / Item 19 inputs and category-benchmarked cost ratios. Full single-unit, 25-unit portfolio, and LBO models (with every input editable to stress-test your own scenario) live on the financials page.
Store EBITDA · annual
$232K
14.2% margin
Unlevered ROIC
23%
EBITDA / total invested capital
Payback
4.3 yrs
cash-on-cash, unlevered
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $546K – $1.3M
- Below avg, review vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $25K – $150K
- Near category avg vs category
- Franchise fee
- $20K – $40K
- Below avg, review vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- percentage_of_gross · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 2.8%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 7.8%
- vs 9–13% typical
- Payback period
- 2.3 yrs
- From FDD / Item 19
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 2.8% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $14K |
| Transfer fee | $5K |
| Renewal fee | $10K |
| Total fee load | 7.8% of rev |
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $1.6M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $1.5M
- Avg ebitda
- $403K
- Reported as EBITDA in FDD Item 19
- Cash-on-cash
- 43.8%
- Based on EBITDA / investment midpoint
- Item 19 type
- net_sales
- Sample size
- 444 units
- vs category median 28 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $417K→$5.5M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Quartile band
- $926K→$2.5M
- Bottom 25% → top 25%
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Transparency
- 10 / 5
- vs category median 4 / 5 · above
Compared against 453 Quick-Service Restaurants brands
vs Quick-Service Restaurants averages
How Qdoba Mexican Eats Compares
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 777
- Opened
- 52
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 10
- Non-renewed
- 1
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 1.3%
- Company-owned
- 164
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 79%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (yr3)
- +7.4%
- Net unit change last year
- 3-yr CAGR
- +37.1%
- Compounded over last 3 years
3-year detail · Item 20
- Transfers (3yr)
- 1
- Transfer rate
- 0.1%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
- Continuity rate
- 98.4%
- Units that stayed open
- Termination rate
- 0.1%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
- Ceased ops
- 1.2%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 41 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.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 31
- Loan volume
- N/A
- Amount data pending
- Median loan
- N/A
- Charge-off rate
- N/A
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- N/A
- 5-yr charge-off
- N/A
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 0
- Defaults
- 0
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Qdoba presents caution-level risk: moderate unit growth, active termination litigation, going concern flag, and high capex against uncertain performance data warrant thorough franchisee reference checks and legal review of dispute root causes.
Litigation (Item 3)
Two franchisee cases: (1) Q of Hasbrouck Heights, LLC v. Qdoba settled October 2023 for $600,000, royalty reduction, and franchise extension; (2) Fiesta Ventures of Bevercreek, LLC and Fiesta Ventures DM, LLC v. Qdoba filed November 2024 involving breach of contract and unfair business practices claims.
Largest disclosed settlement: $600,000
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Deloitte & Touche LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- 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 9 / 100 rating
- 01HIGHActive litigation with Fiesta Ventures regarding franchise termination suggests systemic disputes over franchisor enforcement or performance
- 02MINORPrior $600,000 settlement with Q of Hasbrouck Heights plus royalty reduction indicates franchisor willingness to modify terms mid-agreement, creating precedent uncertainty
- 03HIGHGoing Concern status = False suggests potential balance sheet weakness or undisclosed financial stress at corporate level despite system-wide $1.25B+ revenue
- 04MINORModest unit growth of 7.4% YoY is below QSR category average, indicating maturation or contraction risk in competitive fast-casual segment
- 05MINORHigh investment range ($545K-$1.29M) against 31% net margin creates 1.3-3.2 year payback dependency on traffic consistency and labor cost stability
- 06MINORNo Item 19 (Avg Revenue disclosure) provided to franchisees — the $1.625M average may not reflect franchisee-specific location performance or seasonality
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | Radius |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| 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 | 5 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | California |
| Litigation count | 2 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Two franchisee cases: (1) Q of Hasbrouck Heights, LLC v. Qdoba settled October 2023 for $600,000, royalty reduction, and franchise extension; (2) Fiesta Ventures of Bevercreek, LLC and Fiesta Ventures DM, LLC v. Qdoba filed November 2024 involving breach of contract and unfair business practices claims.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 9 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 270 hrs
- Training location
- On-site and off-site
- POS system
- NCR Aloha
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: NCR Aloha
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
526 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
Qdoba Mexican Eats · FDD (2024) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Qdoba Mexican Eats franchise?
The total investment to open a Qdoba Mexican Eats franchise ranges from $546K – $1.3M, with an initial franchise fee of $40K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Qdoba Mexican Eats franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Qdoba Mexican Eats FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $1.6M. The median is $1.5M. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
What is Qdoba Mexican Eats's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Qdoba Mexican Eats (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 Qdoba Mexican Eats franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Qdoba Mexican Eats has 777 total units in the United States, including 447 franchised units and 164 company-owned units. 52 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Qdoba Mexican Eats a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Qdoba Mexican Eats as a A-grade franchise with a risk score of 9 out of 100, based on our analysis of investment costs, revenue data, SBA loan performance, and growth trends. 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.
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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.