The Flying Biscuit Cafe
Bottom line
- Total investment $767K – $1.2M including a $45K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.9M/year.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 45/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 21 loans (below the industry average).
- 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 The Flying Biscuit Cafe 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 The Flying Biscuit Cafe units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
32.0%
4.01× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
2.52×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$6.8M
on $16.8M purchase
Total debt
$10.1M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Franchisees operate casual-dining breakfast and brunch-focused cafes serving made-from-scratch biscuits, sandwiches, and coffee. Daily operations include kitchen management, staff scheduling, inventory control, and customer service across a limited-service or full-service model with average unit volumes of ~$1.87M annually.
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 · 10 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.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Modest growth, historical litigation, and missing profitability disclosure create moderate-to-caution risk; requires detailed franchisee validation before investment.
Score breakdown · what drove the 45 / 100 rating
- 01MEDNet income not disclosed in FDD Item 19 — unable to validate profitability claims against $1.87M average revenue
- 02MINORSlow unit growth of 3.8% YoY suggests market saturation or franchisee satisfaction concerns
- 03HIGHSignificant litigation history (2012-2017) involving fraudulent transfer and fiduciary duty claims against parent company and officers raises governance red flags
- 04MEDHigh initial investment ($767K-$1.17M) combined with undisclosed net margins creates unclear ROI timeline
- 05MINOR5% royalty on gross sales (not net) compounds pressure when profitability data is absent
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
19 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
The Flying Biscuit Cafe · FDD (2025) PDF