Tapioca Express Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $250K – $509K
- Disclosed sales
- $713K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Under 10 loans (3)
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Tapioca Express is a bubble tea franchise serving boba milk teas, smoothies, snacks, and made-to-order drinks. Franchisees run cafes or kiosks, managing drink prep, inventory, and counter service.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Tapioca Express franchise requires a total initial investment of $250K – $509K, including a $30K franchise fee and an ongoing 4.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $713K[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: C (Average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: medium - issued 12 to 24 months ago; a newer filing is likely on file
Evidence: strong✓ Investment (Item 7)✓ Item 19 status✓ Units and owners (Item 20)✗ SBA loan coverage✓ Litigation (Item 3)✓ Financial statements (Item 21)✓ Franchisor identityhow this is scored6 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $250K – $509K
- 36th pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $713K
- Outlet subset11th pct Service Resta…
- Royalty
- 4.0%
- 3rd pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 15
- 45th pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Quick-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Quick-Service Restaurants median · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- COSTTotal investment $250K – $509K including a $30K franchise fee, 4.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $713K/year (median $468K) (reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system).
- RISKVerdict C (Average), verdict score 40/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHNegative: net -4 franchised outlets in the latest year (1 opened, 4 closed); 1 signed but not yet open (Item 20).
- FLAG4 units terminated last reporting year (26.7% of the system). Ask existing franchisees why.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Tapioca Express, Inc.
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- Cheng Wei Lin
- Founder active
- Yes
- Original founder still leading the business
- Incorporated in
- California
- HQ
- 1908 Central Avenue, South El Monte, California 91733
- Auditor
- Yeh & Associates
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $1.7M
- vs $1.7M prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Overview
About
- CEO
- Cheng Wei Lin
- Headquarters
- California
- Founded
- 1999
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 3
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 22% below the typical quick-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2025 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $30K | $30K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $20K | $30K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $200K | $449K |
| Total initial investment | $250K | $509K |
Source: Tapioca Express 2025 FDD, Items 5 and 7[2]. “Equipment, build-out, other” is computed as total minus disclosed line items above.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $250K – $509K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $20K – $30K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $30K – $30K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 4.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.5%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 3.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 4.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.5% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $500 |
| Training fee | $2K |
| Transfer fee | $4K |
| Renewal fee | $3K |
| Inventory (initial) | $10K – $20K |
| Total fee load | 3.0% of rev |
A 3.0% total fee load is unusually lean. More of each revenue dollar stays with the franchisee.
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 27% below the quick-service restaurants norm.
Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
Single-unit · not modelled
Returns at a glance
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit, and the operating costs that turn one into the other are in no filing. We publish no modelled return for Tapioca Express until someone supplies them — yours, in the models below.
—
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
Total invested capital · disclosed
$405K
Item 7 initial investment plus working capital, as filed — the one figure here that needs no assumption.
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit, read against the 30–60% reference band · Yale SOM, Post-MBA Path Exhibit 2 (2023). Below that band a passive index fund likely outperforms; above it the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses, and it is the top line only — gross sales are not profit. No FDD discloses the operating costs that turn one into the other, so those fields start empty and nothing is modelled until you supply them from your own lease quote, labor market and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Tapioca Express unit return on the cash you put in?
Illustrative category typicals — not sourced to any filing, survey or sample. Replace them with figures from franchisee validation calls before you rely on the output.
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Your modelled return on total invested capital, before any debt financing.
—
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
A 25-unit return is built on a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in Model A above and this model runs on that figure, or take the whole scenario to the full ROI workbench, where the portfolio and LBO models accept your own per-unit economics directly.
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2025 FDD
Financial Performance
Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system
- Avg gross sales
- $713K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $468K
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- gross sales halves
- Sample size
- 15 outlets
- vs category median 19
- Range (low → high)
- $240K→$3.3MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 54 of the 2025 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Quartile band
- $324K→$1.2M
- Bottom 25% → top 25%
- Reporting year
- 2025
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- The FDD edition these figures were read from
- Transparency
- 3 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · below
Compared against 781 Quick-Service Restaurants brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $713K/year in gross sales. Median is $468K — top performers pull the average up, so a typical unit earns less. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 1.9x. Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 3.0% — below the Quick-Service Restaurants median of 7.5%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 3/10 — moderate disclosure depth. Average and range data are available but detailed cohort breakdowns may be limited.
Operator retention
System contracting at -48.0% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven consolidation or franchisee exits.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Quick-Service Restaurants medians
How Tapioca Express Compares
Category median of published Quick-Service Restaurants brands that report the figure; the middle half spans the 25th to 75th percentile and n counts the brands behind it. Medians are used because a few very large systems pull an average far from the typical brand. Revenue is disclosed gross sales, not profit.
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 15
- Opened
- 1
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 4
- Terminated
- 4
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 6
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 76.9%
- Company-owned
- 2
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 1%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- -48.0%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- -48.0%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 4
- Not renewed
- 6
- Transferred
- 1
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 1
- 0.07 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 0
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Termination rate
- 15.8%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
- Ceased ops
- 31.6%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 3 states reported
The Territory Map
FDD Item 12 reports the state count, but the specific list isn't in our current data. The map will appear once we re-extract from the FDD or enough franchisee contacts are available.
3
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA loan disclosures. This brand has only 3 7(a) loans on file; statistical reliability is limited below 10 loans.
- Total loans
- 3
- Loan volume
- $799K
- Median loan
- $184K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- Under 10 loans (3)
- Insufficient SBA coverage: 3 loans, rate hidden below 10
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- Under 10 loans (3)
- 5-yr charge-off
- Under 10 loans (3)
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 1
- Defaults
- N/A
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
What could kill this investment?
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
None disclosed - Item 3 states no litigation information is required to be disclosed
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Yeh & Associates
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: No
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 40 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORSharp unit contraction: net growth -29.2%
- 02MINORVery thin net income $21,695
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 3.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 5 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Online sales rights | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 25 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 2 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 2 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Los Angeles County, California |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | California |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
None disclosed - Item 3 states no litigation information is required to be disclosed
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 4 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 54 hrs
- Training location
- El Monte, California and Alhambra, California
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 9 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- franchisee_with_franchisor_approval
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Clover and Snackpass
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Clover and Snackpass
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
24 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Tapioca Express franchise?
The total investment to open a Tapioca Express franchise ranges from $250K – $509K, with an initial franchise fee of $30K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Tapioca Express franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Tapioca Express FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $713K. The median is $468K. Important context: Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Tapioca Express?
Tapioca Express is franchised by Tapioca Express, Inc.. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Tapioca Express FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the Tapioca Express FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Tapioca Express's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Tapioca Express (fewer than 10 loans on file). Charge-off rates are one way to gauge franchise risk, but not all franchise loans go through the SBA program. We recommend reviewing turnover and closure data in the FDD and speaking with current franchisees.
How many Tapioca Express franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Tapioca Express has 15 total units in the United States, including 13 franchised units and 2 company-owned units. 1 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Tapioca Express a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Tapioca Express as a C-grade franchise with a verdict score of 40 out of 100 (higher is better). The grade is a deterministic score built from six weighted dimensions — financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency — then calibrated against SBA loan charge-off rates and FDD age. Transparency is one of the six, so a filing that discloses less scores lower on that dimension than one that discloses more. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
Are you the franchisor?
If you represent Tapioca Express, you can request corrections or provide updated information.
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Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.