FranchiseVerdict
Smalls Sliders logo
FV-02349·STRONGExcellent81

Smalls Sliders

Food & Beverage - Quick ServiceFranchising since 2021Website
Investment
$1.4M – $2.1M
98th pct Quick Service
Avg revenue
60th pct Quick Service
Royalty
6.0%
46th pct Quick Service
Units
45
56th pct Quick Service
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $1.4M – $2.1M including a $35K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated STRONG with a risk score of 44/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 10 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

Legal entity
Smalls Sliders Franchising LLC
Parent company
Smalls Holding, LLC
Incorporated in
Georgia
HQ
115 Perimeter Center Place, Suite 1045, Atlanta, Georgia 30346
Auditor
Bennett Thrasher LLP
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$4.2M
vs $8.0M prior year
⚠ Going-concern note
Disclosed in FDD 2026
Auditor flagged doubt about continued operations. Verify against the latest FDD before deciding.

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 Smalls Sliders 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: qsr
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $1.4M–$2.1M
Working capital
$
FDD reports $25K–$30K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

5%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$98K
EBITDA margin
13.0%
Total invested
$1.8M
Payback
222 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

Franchisees operate fast-casual slider restaurants featuring small-format gourmet hamburgers and related quick-service items. Daily operations include food prep, inventory management, staff scheduling, customer service, and POS management in a limited-service restaurant model. Franchisees typically manage 10–20 employees across morning prep, lunch, and dinner service.

CEO
Charles Watson
Founded
2021
FDD year
2026
States available
11

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$1.4M – $2.1M
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$25K – $30K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$35K
Royalty
6.0%
Percentage of Gross 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
45
Opened
24
Last reporting year
Closed
0
Turnover rate
0.0%
Company-owned
2
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
96%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+126.3%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
Outlier (see FDD)
Likely small-sample artifact
2024
43+24
Franchised units
2025
19
Franchised units
2026
9
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 23 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
Available · 23 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
10
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

44
Risk · 0-100
STRONG44 / 100

Smalls Sliders is a high-investment, early-stage franchise with explosive unit growth but zero disclosed financial performance metrics, making ROI validation impossible and sustainability questionable.

Score breakdown · what drove the 44 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDNo average revenue or net income disclosed in FDD (Item 19) — impossible to validate ROI claims
  2. 02MINORHigh unit growth rate (126.3% YoY) is atypical and raises sustainability questions; may indicate aggressive recruitment over organic growth
  3. 03MINORInvestment range of $1.4M–$2.1M is substantial with no financial performance benchmarks to justify it
  4. 04MINOR6% royalty on gross sales (not net) is aggressive and lacks transparency on what franchisees typically net
  5. 05MEDOnly 45 total units suggests early-stage franchise with limited historical data and unproven scalability

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
15 years
Renewal term
5 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
No
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
Georgia

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
17 hrs
On-the-job training
147 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

74 numbers

Locked
(512) 826-••••
TX
(228) 333-••••
MS
(504) 324-••••
LA

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Smalls Sliders · FDD (2026) PDF

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