Bottom line
- Total investment $28K – $131K including a $39K franchise fee, 8.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $10K/year (median $11K). Estimated payback in 11.7 years.
- Rated CAUTION with a risk score of 70/100.
- 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
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 Starz Program unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
3%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Starz Program units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$42K
on $210K purchase
Total debt
$168K
SBA $0.1M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Starz Program franchisees appear to operate a service or product-based business generating approximately $10,000 in monthly revenue. Day-to-day operations likely involve client acquisition, service delivery or product fulfillment, and customer relationship management, though the specific business model is not disclosed in the provided data.
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
Starz Program presents a caution-to-high-risk investment with weak unit economics, unprotected territory, high entry costs relative to earnings potential, and minimal system growth despite 50% YoY unit expansion from a negligible base.
Score breakdown · what drove the 70 / 100 rating
- 01MINORUnprotected territory creates direct competition risk among 7 franchisees
- 02MINORFranchise fee ($39,000) represents 59% of initial investment floor, creating high cost-to-entry burden relative to $6,765 average net income
- 03MINORAverage net income of $6,765 annually yields only 5.2% ROI on $130,625 max investment in year one—far below franchise industry benchmarks
- 04MEDMinimal unit growth (7 total units) suggests limited brand scale, market acceptance, or franchisee recruitment success
- 05MINOR8% royalty on $10,007 average revenue generates only $801 annually per unit—indicates either weak sales performance or unsustainable unit economics
- 06MEDNo Item 19 (financial performance representations) disclosed—inability to validate claimed revenue/income figures independently
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
6 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Starz Program · FDD (2026) PDF