Bottom line
- Total investment $250K – $554K including a $38K franchise fee, 3.5% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $333K/year.
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 65/100.
- Emerging franchise — only 1 year of franchising with 1 units. Early-stage systems carry higher risk but may offer better territory availability.
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 Shift Arcade unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
14%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Shift Arcade units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$766K
on $3.8M purchase
Total debt
$3.1M
SBA $1.9M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Shift Arcade franchisees operate entertainment venues featuring arcade games, redemption machines, and interactive gaming experiences. Day-to-day operations include managing customer flow, maintaining arcade equipment and coin/card systems, staffing, inventory management, and prize fulfillment.
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 · 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).
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
Shift Arcade is an extremely early-stage, single-unit franchise with unproven scalability, undisclosed profitability metrics, and a tiered royalty structure that punishes growth—presenting substantial operational and financial risk.
Score breakdown · what drove the 65 / 100 rating
- 01MINOROnly 1 operating unit with unknown growth trajectory creates severe lack of proof of concept and scalability
- 02MEDNet income not disclosed despite $333k average revenue claim—unable to validate profitability or ROI
- 03MINORRoyalty structure heavily penalizes franchisees #4+ (7% vs 3.5%)—incentive misalignment and potential resentment
- 04MEDHigh investment range ($249.75k-$554k) with no disclosed net income creates unfavorable risk/reward ratio
- 05MINORNo Item 19 (Financial Performance Representations) provided—franchise may lack substantiated earnings claims
- 06MEDSingle unit system suggests either new brand, failed expansion, or undisclosed closures; unit growth unknown
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
15 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Shift Arcade · FDD (2025) PDF