Bottom line
- Total investment $2.7M – $5.8M including a $35K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 65/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 4 loans (below the industry average).
- System contracting at -6.2% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven (consolidation) or franchisee-driven (economics).
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 Red Robin unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
2%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Overview
About
Franchisees operate casual dining burger restaurants serving made-to-order gourmet burgers, appetizers, and beverages in full-service environments. Day-to-day operations include managing 40-80+ staff across kitchen and front-of-house, maintaining food quality and brand consistency, inventory management, local marketing, and driving customer traffic during high-pressure lunch and dinner service periods.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
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
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 15 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.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Red Robin presents CAUTION-level risk: a contracting franchise system with non-disclosed unit economics, high capital requirements, and historical legal disputes that obscure true franchisee profitability potential.
Score breakdown · what drove the 65 / 100 rating
- 01MINORDeclining unit count (-1.1% YoY) indicates system contraction and potential market saturation or performance issues
- 02MINORNo Item 19 financial performance disclosure (Avg Revenue and Net Income not provided) prevents informed ROI analysis on $2.7M-$5.8M investment
- 03MINORHigh initial investment range ($2.7M-$5.8M) combined with 5% royalty creates significant financial burden without transparent profitability benchmarks
- 04HIGHPrior litigation (2016 trademark/franchise agreement disputes with LVRG) suggests franchise agreement enforcement challenges and franchisor-franchisee relationship risks
- 05MINORCasual dining segment experiencing structural headwinds; declining unit count may reflect category-wide weakness rather than brand-specific strength
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
76 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Red Robin · FDD (2025) PDF