Bottom line
- Total investment $422K – $668K including a $40K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.6M/year (median $1.6M).
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 42/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 11 loans (below the industry average).
- Auditor disclosed a going-concern note — flagged doubt about the franchisor's ability to continue operations. Verify against the latest FDD.
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 Salad House unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
43%
In Yale's "attractive" band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Salad House units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
35.1%
4.50× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
2.32×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$5.1M
on $14.4M purchase
Total debt
$9.3M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Salad House franchisees operate fast-casual salad restaurants where customers customize fresh salad bowls, grain bowls, or wraps. Day-to-day operations include food prep, inventory management, POS systems, staffing, and customer service in a quick-service format. The model emphasizes fresh ingredients, health-conscious positioning, and rapid transaction times similar to other build-your-own bowl concepts.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 3 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
Early-stage salad franchise with aggressive unit growth, opaque profitability metrics, and high capital requirements relative to system maturity.
Score breakdown · what drove the 42 / 100 rating
- 01MEDNet income not disclosed in FDD Item 19 — inability to verify actual profitability despite $1.6M avg revenue claims
- 02MINORExplosive 57.1% YoY unit growth (6→13 units) suggests either aggressive expansion or prior underperformance; sustainability unclear
- 03MINORHigh initial investment range ($422K–$668K) with 6% royalty requires $96K+ annual revenue just to break even on fees alone
- 04MINOROnly 13 total units across entire system indicates very early-stage franchise with minimal operational track record and support infrastructure
- 05MEDNo disclosed average net income means franchisee cannot reasonably project ROI or payback period before opening
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
Salad House · FDD (2024) PDF