Bottom line
- Total investment $145K – $261K 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 CAUTION with a risk score of 72/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 2 loans (below the industry average).
- 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
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 Rod Works unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
35%
In Yale's "attractive" band (30–60%)
Overview
About
Rod Works franchisees appear to operate in custom rod manufacturing or fishing rod repair/customization, likely involving specialized equipment, inventory management, and direct customer sales. Day-to-day operations would include fabrication work, customer consultations, order fulfillment, and potentially retail or B2B sales.
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 · 16 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
Rod Works presents extreme risk due to going concern status, minimal system size, missing financial disclosures, and inability to demonstrate franchisee profitability.
Score breakdown · what drove the 72 / 100 rating
- 01HIGHGoing Concern status is FALSE — franchisor reports inability to continue operations, indicating potential system collapse or financial distress
- 02MEDNo average revenue or net income disclosed — inability to assess unit economics, profitability, or ROI on $145k-$261k investment
- 03MEDOnly 9 units systemwide — extremely small franchise system with no disclosed growth trajectory, suggesting limited scalability or franchisee demand
- 04MINORItem 19 financial performance representations absent — franchisor provides zero benchmarks for earnings claims, preventing informed financial projections
- 05MINORHigh investment-to-unit ratio suggests poor unit economics or high failure rate requiring continuous recruitment
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
19 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Rod Works · FDD (2023) PDF