FranchiseVerdict
The Happy Cat Hotel logo
FV-02649·STRONGExcellent86

The Happy Cat Hotel

Formerly known as Happy Cat Hotel & Spa

Personal Services - Pet CareFranchising since 2020Website
Investment
$465K – $781K
78th pct Pet Care
Avg revenue
$520K
23rd pct Pet Care
Royalty
6.0%
18th pct Pet Care
Units
7
35th pct Pet Care
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $465K – $781K including a $50K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $520K/year.
  • Rated STRONG with a risk score of 47/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 24 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

Legal entity
HAPPY CAT FRANCHISING, LLC
Parent company
Happy Cat Holdings, Inc.
Incorporated in
Connecticut
HQ
9 School Street, #6, East Granby, CT 06026
Auditor
Thoresen Diaby Helle Condon & Dodge, Inc.
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$208K
vs $148K prior year
⚠ Going-concern note
Disclosed in FDD 2026
Auditor flagged doubt about continued operations. Verify against the latest FDD before deciding.

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 Happy Cat Hotel unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $520,490
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: automotive
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $465K–$781K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $38K–$64K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

14%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$94K
EBITDA margin
18.0%
Total invested
$674K
Payback
86 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.

Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing

What would 25 The Happy Cat Hotel units return on equity?

Edit assumptions

Equity IRR · 5-yr

49.9%

7.57× MOIC

Year-1 DSCR

1.88×

EBITDA ÷ debt service

Equity required

$1.1M

on $5.7M purchase

Total debt

$4.6M

SBA $2.9M + senior + seller note

Overview

About

The Happy Cat Hotel is a boarding and care facility for cats, where franchisees manage daily operations including animal intake, feeding, medical monitoring, environmental enrichment, and customer communication. Day-to-day responsibilities include staffing a facility with proper HVAC and sanitation, handling customer check-ins/check-outs, maintaining health records, and ensuring 24/7 animal welfare standards.

CEO
Christopher Raimo
Founded
2020
FDD year
2026
States available
5

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$465K – $781K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$38K – $64K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$50K
Royalty
6.0%
Percentage of Gross Receipts · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
1.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
7.0%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$520K
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
Item 19 type
Historical Actuals
Sample size
5 units
vs category median 12 · small
Range (low → high)
$322K$695K
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
6 / 5
vs category median 4 / 5 · above
Revenue rank23th
vs Personal Services - Pet Care peers
Investment cost rank78th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank18th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank35th
vs Personal Services - Pet Care peers
Risk score rank15th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
7
Opened
1
Last reporting year
Closed
0
Turnover rate
0.0%
Company-owned
2
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
71%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+25.0%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
Outlier (see FDD)
Likely small-sample artifact
2024
5+1
Franchised units
2025
4
Franchised units
2026
1
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 8 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 · 8 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
24
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

47
Risk · 0-100
STRONG47 / 100

Minimal operational scale, undisclosed profitability, and absent earnings data create meaningful uncertainty around unit economics and franchisee ROI viability.

Score breakdown · what drove the 47 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDNet income not disclosed in FDD — unable to validate profitability claims against $520K avg revenue
  2. 02MEDHigh initial investment ($464.5K–$781K) relative to disclosed average revenue ($520.5K) creates thin margin for error
  3. 03MINOROnly 7 units system-wide — extremely small franchise network limits data reliability and support infrastructure
  4. 04MINORNo Item 19 financial performance representation — franchisor provides no earnings claims or profit benchmarks
  5. 05MINORRapid unit growth rate (25% YoY) from tiny base may indicate aggressive expansion before system maturity

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Demographic and radius based
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
10 years
Renewal term
10 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
Yes
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
Connecticut

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
14 hrs
On-the-job training
84 hrs
POS system
Gingr
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

13 numbers

Locked
(808) 586-••••
CA
(217) 782-••••
HI
(651) 539-••••
MI

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

The Happy Cat Hotel · FDD (2026) PDF

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