Taste Buds Kitchen Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $426K – $550K
- Disclosed sales
- $701K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Under 10 loans (7)
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Taste Buds Kitchen is a culinary experience franchise offering hands-on cooking classes and events for kids and adults. Franchisees run the studios, managing instructors, class scheduling, and bookings.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Taste Buds Kitchen franchise requires a total initial investment of $426K – $550K, including a $50K franchise fee and an ongoing 8.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2026 FDD, average unit revenue was $701K[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above 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: low - issued within the last 12 months
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 scored8 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $426K – $550K
- 61st pct Education
- Avg gross sales
- $701K
- 23rd pct Education
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- 44th pct Education
- Units
- 14
- 33rd pct Education
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Education · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Education 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 $426K – $550K including a $50K franchise fee, 8.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $701K/year (median $657K), with an estimated 19% cash-on-cash return (based on Net Operating Income).
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 49/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHNegative, pipeline stalled: 21 agreements signed but not yet open against 14 open outlets (Item 20).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Taste Buds Kitchen International, LLC
- CEO title
- Founder and Chief Executive Officer
- Jessi Walter Brelsford
- Incorporated in
- Maryland
- HQ
- 800-D Abruzzi Drive, Chester, MD 21619
- Auditor
- Muhammad Zubairy, CPA PC
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $1.1M
- vs $691K prior year
Overview
About
- CEO
- Jessi Walter Brelsford
- Headquarters
- MD
- Founded
- 2013
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 9
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 151% above the typical education franchise.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2026 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $50K | $50K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $25K | $40K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $351K | $460K |
| Total initial investment | $426K | $550K |
Source: Taste Buds Kitchen 2026 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
- $426K – $550K
- Middle of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $25K – $40K
- Middle of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $50K – $50K
- Middle of category vs category
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- Set by a formula · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.5%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 9.5%
- vs 9–13% typical
- Payback period
- 5.2 yrs
- From FDD / Item 19
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 8.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.5% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $425 |
| Transfer fee | $25K |
| Renewal fee | $10K |
| Inventory (initial) | $9K – $13K |
| Total fee load | 9.5% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 72% above the education norm.
Source: FDD 2026 · 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 Taste Buds Kitchen 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
$520K
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
FDD-reported earnings
The FDD reports $172K as Net Operating Income. This is a disclosed figure, not our estimate — we publish no modelled profit for Taste Buds Kitchen.
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 Taste Buds Kitchen 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: 2026 FDD
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $701K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $657K
- Avg net operating income
- $172K
- Reported as Net Operating Income in FDD Item 19
- Cash-on-cash
- 19.4%
- Based on Net Operating Income / investment midpoint
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
- Sample size
- 9 outlets
- vs category median 16
- Range (low → high)
- $293K→$1.5MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 63 of the 2026 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Quartile band
- $382K→$1.2M
- Bottom 25% → top 25%
- Reporting year
- 2025
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2026
- Disclosed in the 2026 filing, covering 2025
- Transparency
- 10 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 204 Education 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 $701K/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 1.4x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 9.5% (near the Education median).
Disclosure
Transparency score 10/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Operator retention
System expanding at 20.0% CAGR over 3 years across 14 units — operators are staying and new ones are joining.
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 Education medians
How Taste Buds Kitchen Compares
Category median of published Education 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 2026 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 14
- Opened
- 2
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- N/A
- Company-owned
- 2
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 83%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +20.0%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +20.0%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 1
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 21
- 1.50 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 22
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 21 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 contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
32 current owners across 21 states.
- CA 3
- MA 3
- IL 2
- KS 2
- MO 2
- NJ 2
- NY 2
- TX 2
- VA 2
- AZ 1
- CO 1
- CT 1
- +9 more states
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20. Names and phone numbers are for your own due diligence and are not shown here.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA loan disclosures. This brand has only 7 7(a) loans on file; statistical reliability is limited below 10 loans.
- Total loans
- 7
- Loan volume
- $1.9M
- Median loan
- $277K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- Under 10 loans (7)
- Insufficient SBA coverage: 7 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 (7)
- 5-yr charge-off
- Under 10 loans (7)
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 2
- 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
Cooking-class franchisor with negative net worth (-$137,268) and a substantial net loss (-$467,864) on $1.1M revenue, flagged for financial distress. No auditor going-concern note and unit growth is positive (+20%, 14 units). No litigation or bankruptcy.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation disclosed in Item 3.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Muhammad Zubairy, CPA PC
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Total Revenue includes franchise fees, royalties, marketing fees, brand fund contributions and other revenue per FY2025 audited Statement of Operations.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 49 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORNegative net worth -$137,268
- 02MINORLarge net loss -$467,864 on $1.1M revenue
- 03MINORFinancial distress flag (no going-concern note); offset by +20% unit growth
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 9.5% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 2 |
| Territory type | Exclusive territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | Yes |
| Territory radius | 4 mi |
| Territory population | 100,000 |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 20 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 25 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 3 |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Maryland |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation disclosed in Item 3.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 37 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 62 hrs
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Site selection
- franchisor-designated real estate broker with franchisee input; franchisee may select alternate broker if unable to locate site within 90 days
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- MAC OS computer system
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: MAC OS computer system
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
32 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 Taste Buds Kitchen franchise?
The total investment to open a Taste Buds Kitchen franchise ranges from $426K – $550K, with an initial franchise fee of $50K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Taste Buds Kitchen franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Taste Buds Kitchen FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $701K. The median is $657K. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Taste Buds Kitchen?
Taste Buds Kitchen is franchised by Taste Buds Kitchen International, LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2026 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Taste Buds Kitchen 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 Taste Buds Kitchen FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Taste Buds Kitchen's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Taste Buds Kitchen (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 Taste Buds Kitchen franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Taste Buds Kitchen has 14 total units in the United States, including 12 franchised units and 2 company-owned units. 2 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Taste Buds Kitchen a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Taste Buds Kitchen as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 49 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
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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.