FranchiseVerdict
Summer Moon logo
FV-02490·STRONGExcellent81

Summer Moon

Food & Beverage - Coffee & TeaFranchising since 2020Website
Investment
$616K – $1.0M
89th pct Coffee & Tea
Avg revenue
49th pct Coffee & Tea
Royalty
6.0%
50th pct Coffee & Tea
Units
36
72nd pct Coffee & Tea
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $616K – $1.0M including a $25K 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 54/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 59 loans (below the industry average).
  • System growing at 225.0% CAGR over 3 years with 36 total units — strong expansion trajectory.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Summer Moon Franchising LLC
Parent company
SUMMER MOON Holdings, LLC
Incorporated in
Texas
HQ
1800 Elder Hill Road, Driftwood, Texas 78619
Auditor
Henry & Peters, P.C.
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$658K
vs $1.1M 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 Summer Moon 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: $616K–$1.0M
Working capital
$
FDD reports $40K–$50K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

10%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$90K
EBITDA margin
12.0%
Total invested
$874K
Payback
117 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

Summer Moon franchisees operate specialty coffee retail locations, likely focused on iced coffee drinks and seasonal beverages. Day-to-day operations include customer service, beverage preparation, inventory management, staffing, and local marketing within their protected territory.

CEO
John Tarbox
Founded
2004
FDD year
2024
States available
11

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$616K – $1.0M
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$40K – $50K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$25K
Royalty
6.0%
Percentage of Gross Sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
0.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
6.0%
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
36
Opened
12
Last reporting year
Closed
0
Turnover rate
0.0%
Company-owned
10
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
72%
vs corporate-owned
Multi-unit owners
5.6%
Net growth (yr3)
+73.3%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
Outlier (see FDD)
Likely small-sample artifact
2022
26+11
Franchised units
2023
15
Franchised units
2024
8
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 11 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 · 11 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
59
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

54
Risk · 0-100
STRONG54 / 100

Early-stage franchise with explosive unit growth but opaque financials, franchisor going concern issues, and no Item 19 data to validate investment ROI.

Score breakdown · what drove the 54 / 100 rating

  1. 01MINORNo Item 19 financial disclosure (avg revenue/net income not provided) — impossible to validate ROI claims
  2. 02HIGHGoing Concern status is False, indicating potential financial instability at franchisor level
  3. 03MINORExtremely high unit growth (73.3% YoY) suggests either aggressive recruitment or system instability; unsustainable growth can precede contraction
  4. 04MEDInvestment range of $616k-$1.04M is substantial with no disclosed profitability benchmarks to justify the cost
  5. 05MEDOnly 36 total units is a very small system with limited track record and operational data
  6. 06MED6% royalty on undisclosed revenue makes it difficult to model actual franchisee cash flow

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
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
Optional
Governing law
Texas

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
2 hrs
On-the-job training
104 hrs
POS system
Toast
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

24 numbers

Locked
(936) 242-••••
Legacy Coffee, Inc. Coffee Legacy, LLC
TX
(864) 475-••••
SC
(405) 338-••••
OK

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Summer Moon · FDD (2024) PDF

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