FranchiseVerdict
Squisito® Pizza and Pasta logo
FV-02431·STRONGExcellent86

Squisito® Pizza and Pasta

Food & Beverage - Full ServiceFranchising since 2010Website
Investment
$265K – $838K
29th pct Full Service
Avg revenue
$1.3M
25th pct Full Service
Royalty
5.0%
15th pct Full Service
Units
9
39th pct Full Service
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $265K – $838K including a $35K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $1.3M/year (median $1.2M).
  • Rated STRONG with a risk score of 53/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 3 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
Squisito Franchise Enterprises, Inc.
Incorporated in
Maryland
HQ
2024 West Street, Suite 302, Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Auditor
DA Advisory Group PLLC
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$528K
vs $495K prior year
⚠ Going-concern note
Disclosed in FDD 2024
Status as of 2024; may have been resolved in a later filing we don't yet have.

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 Squisito® Pizza and Pasta unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $1,256,122
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: generic
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $265K–$838K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $24K–$40K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

34%

In Yale's "attractive" band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$201K
EBITDA margin
16.0%
Total invested
$583K
Payback
35 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.

Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing

What would 25 Squisito® Pizza and Pasta units return on equity?

Edit assumptions

Equity IRR · 5-yr

43.0%

5.99× MOIC

Year-1 DSCR

2.03×

EBITDA ÷ debt service

Equity required

$2.9M

on $11.3M purchase

Total debt

$8.4M

SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note

SBA 7(a) request ($5.7M) exceeds the $5M program cap. Excess capped automatically; backfill via conventional or equity.

Overview

About

Franchisees operate casual Italian quick-service or fast-casual restaurants serving pizza and pasta dishes, managing daily food preparation, customer service, inventory, and staff scheduling. Revenue generation relies on dine-in, takeout, and potentially delivery channels within a protected territory.

CEO
Gennaro DiMeo
Founded
2010
FDD year
2024
States available
3

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$265K – $838K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$24K – $40K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$35K
Royalty
5.0%
Percentage of Gross Sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
2.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
7.0%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$1.3M
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
$1.2M
Item 19 type
Revenues
Sample size
9 units
vs category median 15
Range (low → high)
$769K$1.6M
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
4 / 5
vs category median 4 / 5 · typical
Revenue rank25th
vs Food & Beverage - Full Service peers
Investment cost rank29th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank15th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank39th
vs Food & Beverage - Full Service peers
Risk score rank24th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
9
Opened
1
Last reporting year
Closed
1
Turnover rate
11.1%
Company-owned
2
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
78%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+0.0%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+0.0%
Compounded over last 3 years
2022
7-1
Franchised units
2023
7
Franchised units
2024
7
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 17 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 · 17 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
3
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

53
Risk · 0-100
STRONG53 / 100

Early-stage pizza/pasta franchise with undisclosed profitability metrics, minimal unit count, and wide investment variance creating significant uncertainty around franchise viability and ROI.

Score breakdown · what drove the 53 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDNet income not disclosed in FDD Item 19 — unable to validate profitability claims against $1.26M average revenue
  2. 02MINOROnly 9 units system-wide with unknown growth trajectory — suggests early-stage or stalled expansion
  3. 03MINORHigh investment range ($264.6K–$837.5K) with 5% royalty plus unknown additional fees — requires clarity on total cost of ownership
  4. 04MINORWide investment variance ($573K spread) indicates inconsistent unit economics or high customization costs
  5. 05HIGHNo disclosed litigation history may reflect insufficient system maturity rather than clean operations

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
10 years
Renewal term
10 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
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Optional
Governing law
Maryland

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
0 hrs
On-the-job training
280 hrs
POS system
TOAST Point Of Sale
Operating tech stack

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

Locked
(302) 751-••••
SQUISITO
DE
(401) 462-••••
RI
(608) 266-••••
WI

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Squisito® Pizza and Pasta · FDD (2024) PDF

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