Bottom line
- Total investment $1.1M – $1.8M including a $40K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $3.2M/year (median $3.7M).
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 65/100.
- Emerging franchise — only 3 years of franchising with 6 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 Sweet Chick unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
30%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Sweet Chick units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
28.1%
3.45× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
2.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$10.8M
on $22.6M purchase
Total debt
$11.8M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Sweet Chick franchisees operate casual-dining chicken concept locations, managing food preparation, customer service, staffing, and inventory across breakfast/brunch/lunch dayparts. Day-to-day operations include managing kitchen staff, maintaining food quality and brand standards, handling POS systems, and driving local marketing to capture high-traffic daytime customer bases.
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 · 6 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
Sweet Chick presents a high-risk profile due to minimal system size (6 units), undisclosed unit economics, lack of profitability transparency, and potential financial instability, making franchisee success validation impossible.
Score breakdown · what drove the 65 / 100 rating
- 01MINOROnly 6 units system-wide with unknown/stagnant growth trajectory raises viability concerns
- 02MEDNet income not disclosed in Item 19 makes ROI impossible to validate; average revenue of $3.2M doesn't guarantee profitability
- 03MINORHigh initial investment ($1.08M–$1.81M) against tiny franchise system creates liquidity risk if brand fails to scale
- 04MED6% royalty on gross sales (not net) is punitive in restaurant margins; combined with undisclosed profitability data, true take-home is opaque
- 05HIGHGoing Concern status 'False' suggests financial instability or recent restructuring; lack of transparency raises credibility issues
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
10 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Sweet Chick · FDD (2023) PDF