FranchiseVerdict
Sharetea logo
FV-02296·CAUTIONExcellent86

Sharetea

Food & Beverage - Coffee & TeaFranchising since 2015Website
Investment
$225K – $649K
33rd pct Coffee & Tea
Avg revenue
49th pct Coffee & Tea
Royalty
6.0%
50th pct Coffee & Tea
Units
153
86th pct Coffee & Tea
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $225K – $649K including a $12K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated CAUTION with a risk score of 69/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 54 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

Legal entity
Lilian USA LLC
Parent company
Lian Fa International Dining Business Corporation
Incorporated in
Delaware
HQ
1201 Orange Street #600, Wilmington, DE 19899
Auditor
Kaizen CPA PLLC
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$4.7M
vs $4.2M prior year

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 Sharetea unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
Item 19 not disclosed — typing your own estimate
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: restaurant
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $225K–$649K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $20K–$80K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

14%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$68K
EBITDA margin
9.0%
Total invested
$487K
Payback
87 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Overview

About

Sharetea franchisees operate bubble tea/milk tea retail locations, managing daily operations including beverage preparation, inventory management, point-of-sale transactions, and customer service in a QSR environment. The business model relies on high-volume transactions at relatively low per-unit margins with significant labor and ingredient costs.

CEO
Kai-Lung Cheng
Founded
2015
FDD year
2025
States available
29

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$225K – $649K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$20K – $80K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$12K
Royalty
6.0%
Percentage of Gross Monthly Sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
3.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
9.0%
vs 9–13% typical

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

Total units
153
Opened
10
Last reporting year
Closed
16
Turnover rate
10.5%
Company-owned
0
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
100%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
-3.8%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+4.8%
Compounded over last 3 years
2023
153-6
Franchised units
2024
159
Franchised units
2025
146
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 20 · 14 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).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 14 states
Not registered

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.

Total loans
54
Loan volume
Avg loan
Default rate
0.0%
vs <3% typical · system-wide
5-yr default

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

69
Risk · 0-100
CAUTION69 / 100

Sharetea presents HIGH RISK due to a contracting franchise system, active multi-jurisdictional litigation, regulatory investigations, and complete absence of earnings disclosure—indicating both franchisor instability and franchisee profitability concerns.

Score breakdown · what drove the 69 / 100 rating

  1. 01MINORUnit count declining 3.8% YoY (153 units) signals system contraction and potential market saturation or franchisee dissatisfaction
  2. 02HIGHMultiple active litigation cases including trademark infringement (domestic and Australia), territory violation claims, and personal injury tort create legal/financial exposure
  3. 03MINORState regulatory investigations in Minnesota and Hawaii for unregistered franchise offers suggest compliance failures and potential franchise disclosure violations
  4. 04MINORNo average revenue or net income disclosure (no Item 19) prevents validation of ROI claims and profitability benchmarks
  5. 05HIGHGoing Concern status False raises questions about franchisor financial stability and ability to support franchisees long-term
  6. 06MEDHigh investment ceiling ($648,800) paired with declining units and undisclosed earnings creates significant downside risk
  7. 07MINOR6% royalty on gross sales (not net) compounds profitability pressure in low-margin beverage retail

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Radius
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
5 years
Renewal term
5 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
6
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
No
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
California

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
6 hrs
On-the-job training
62 hrs

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

20 numbers

Locked
(212) 416-••••
New York,
NY
(619) 610-••••
San Diego,
CA
(804) 371-••••
VA

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Sharetea · FDD (2025) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above