Sauce on the Side
Bottom line
- Total investment $494K – $794K including a $35K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $985K/year (median $946K). Estimated payback in 9.5 years.
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 62/100.
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 Sauce on the Side unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
24%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Sauce on the Side units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$2.0M
on $9.9M purchase
Total debt
$7.9M
SBA $4.9M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Franchisees operate a food service concept (likely sauce/condiment-focused quick service or ghost kitchen model) managing daily food preparation, customer orders, point-of-sale operations, and inventory. Day-to-day activities include staffing management, quality control, supplier relationships, and local marketing to achieve the $985K annual revenue benchmark.
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 · 5 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.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Sauce on the Side presents elevated risk due to Going Concern status, razor-thin profit margins, and high capital requirements relative to returns in a small, early-stage franchise system.
Score breakdown · what drove the 62 / 100 rating
- 01HIGHGoing Concern status is FALSE — franchisor may have financial/operational viability issues
- 02MINORNet profit margin is extremely thin at 6.9% ($67,773 on $985,353 revenue) — leaves little buffer for underperformance or unexpected costs
- 03MEDOnly 12 units with 20% YoY growth is modest scale — limited brand recognition and support infrastructure
- 04MINORHigh initial investment ($494K-$793.5K) relative to average net income creates long payback period (7-12+ years)
- 05HIGHNo litigation disclosed but Going Concern flag suggests undisclosed operational or financial stress
- 06MINOR5% royalty on gross sales (not net) compounds margin pressure in low-profit business model
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
11 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Sauce on the Side · FDD (2025) PDF