The Toasted Yolk CafeFranchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A The Toasted Yolk Cafe franchise requires a total initial investment of $1.1M – $1.7M, including a $50K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $2.2M[2]. SBA 7(a) loans show a 25.0% charge-off rate across 43 loans[1]. Verdict grade: C. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified June 18, 2026 · figures per the 2025 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $1.1M – $1.7M
- 43rd pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $2.2M
- 22nd pct Service Resta…
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 7th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 42
- 35th pct Service Resta…
- SBA default
- 25.0%
- system-wide median varies by category
Quick verdict · Full-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = >15% above Full-Service Restaurants avg · No shading = within ±15% · Red = >15% below avg · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
25.0% of SBA loans charged off across 43 loans, above the 16% franchise average.
Franchised units fell from 36 to 21 over 3 years. Investigate why operators are leaving.
Bottom line
- Total investment $1.1M – $1.7M including a $50K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $2.2M/year.
- Verdict C (Average) with a risk score of 68/100. SBA loan charge-off rate of 25.0% across 43 loans (well above the 16% franchise average, based on all SBA 7(a) franchise lending, 2010–2024).
- System growing at 71.4% CAGR over 3 years with 42 total units. Strong expansion trajectory.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
- Legal entity
- THE TOASTED YOLK FRANCHISE COMPANY, LLC
- Ultimate parent
- The Toasted Yolk Cafe, LLC
- Predecessor
- company
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer and Co-Owner
- Chris Milton
- CEO experience
- 13 yrs
- Years in role or industry
- Founder active
- Yes
- Original founder still leading the business
- Incorporated in
- TX
- HQ
- 20008 Champion Forest Drive, Suite 301, Spring, Texas 77379
- Auditor
- The Rascon CPA Firm PLLC
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $3.7M
- vs $3.6M prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Affiliated brands
- The Toasted Yolk Cafe
Other brands the franchisor or its parent operates (Item 1).
Overview
About
The Toasted Yolk Cafe is a breakfast and brunch-focused casual dining concept. Franchisees operate full-service restaurants serving eggs, pancakes, sandwiches, and beverages in a quick-casual to casual dining format. Daily operations include food preparation, front-of-house service, inventory management, and staff scheduling.
- CEO
- Chris Milton
- Headquarters
- TX
- Founded
- 2015
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 11
FDD Item 7 · 2025 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $50K | $50K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $75K | $125K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $933K | $1.5M |
| Total initial investment | $1.1M | $1.7M |
Source: The Toasted Yolk Cafe 2025 FDD, Items 5 and 7[2]. “Equipment, build-out, other” is computed as total minus disclosed line items above.
Single-unit · estimated
Returns at a glance
Indicative numbers using FDD Item 7 / Item 19 inputs and category-benchmarked cost ratios. Full single-unit, 25-unit portfolio, and LBO models (with every input editable to stress-test your own scenario) live on the financials page.
Store EBITDA · annual
$270K
12.5% margin
Unlevered ROIC
18%
EBITDA / total invested capital
Payback
5.5 yrs
cash-on-cash, unlevered
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $1.1M – $1.7M
- Near category avg vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $75K – $125K
- Near category avg vs category
- Franchise fee
- $50K – $50K
- Better than avg vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- Gross Revenue · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 0.5%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 5.5%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 0.5% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $1K |
| Training fee | $43K |
| Transfer fee | $25K |
| Renewal fee | $13K |
| Total fee load | 5.5% of rev |
A 5.5% total fee load is unusually lean. More of each revenue dollar stays with the franchisee.
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $2.2M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- N/A
- Item 19 type
- net_sales
- Sample size
- 38 units
- vs category median 13 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $820K→$4.2M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Quartile band
- $1.2M→$3.1M
- Bottom 25% → top 25%
- Transparency
- 3 / 5
- vs category median 4 / 5 · below
Compared against 1264 Full-Service Restaurants brands
vs Full-Service Restaurants averages
How The Toasted Yolk Cafe Compares
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 42
- Opened
- 9
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 1
- Terminated
- 1
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 2.4%
- Company-owned
- 6
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 86%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (yr3)
- +24.1%
- Net unit change last year
- 3-yr CAGR
- +71.4%
- Compounded over last 3 years
3-year detail · Item 20
- Transfers (3yr)
- 2
- Projected new
- 13
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Transfer rate
- 4.8%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
- Termination rate
- 2.4%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
- Ceased ops
- 2.4%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 25 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.
Fast growth in a small system. Newer franchisors expanding quickly may not yet have the support infrastructure of larger systems.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 43
- Loan volume
- $39.5M
- Median loan
- $820K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- 25.0%
- rates vary by category · see methodology
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- 75.0%
- 5-yr charge-off
- 50.0%
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 20
- Defaults
- 1
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Premium insight
SBA Lending Report
Deep-dive into The Toasted Yolk Cafe's SBA lending history: lender network, geographic footprint, interest rates, and more.
SBA Lending Report
- Principal loss rate and NAICS industry benchmark
- 10 lenders with concentration factor
- Per-state charge-off rates across 5 states
- Startup risk premium and job creation velocity
- 9-year lending trend
- SBA 504 real estate/equipment data
Instant access. No subscription.
A 25.0% charge-off rate means roughly 1 in 4 franchisees failed to repay their SBA loan. Investigate what changed.
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
The Toasted Yolk presents moderate-to-cautious risk: strong unit growth and no litigation are offset by undisclosed profitability, franchisor going concern status, and high capital requirements without transparent net income benchmarks.
Litigation (Item 3)
No litigation required to be disclosed
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · The Rascon CPA Firm PLLC
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- 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 68 / 100 rating
- 01MINORNo Net Income disclosure (Item 19) prevents accurate ROI assessment despite $2.16M average revenue
- 02HIGHGoing Concern status is False, indicating potential financial instability or franchisor operational issues
- 03MINORHigh initial investment range ($1.06M–$1.72M) with 5% royalty creates significant break-even pressure
- 04MINORRapid unit growth of 24.1% YoY raises questions about franchisee quality, support scaling, and sustainability
- 05MEDMissing critical profitability data makes it impossible to validate whether $2.16M revenue translates to viable unit economics
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 2 |
| Territory type | Geographic |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 25 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 5 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Governing law | Texas |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation required to be disclosed
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 25 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 25 hrs
- Training location
- On-site and off-site
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 10 mo
- From signing to launch
- POS system
- Revention POS
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Revention POS
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
52 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
The Toasted Yolk Cafe · FDD (2025) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a The Toasted Yolk Cafe franchise?
The total investment to open a The Toasted Yolk Cafe franchise ranges from $1.1M – $1.7M, 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 The Toasted Yolk Cafe franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the The Toasted Yolk Cafe FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $2.2M. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
What is The Toasted Yolk Cafe's franchise failure rate?
Based on SBA 7(a) loan data, The Toasted Yolk Cafe has a charge-off rate of 25.0% across 43 loans, meaning 25.0% of franchise loans were charged off. Charge-off rates are one proxy for franchise risk, though they do not capture all closures. This data comes from FOIA-sourced SBA lending records.
How many The Toasted Yolk Cafe franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, The Toasted Yolk Cafe has 42 total units in the United States, including 36 franchised units and 6 company-owned units. 9 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is The Toasted Yolk Cafe a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates The Toasted Yolk Cafe as a C-grade franchise with a risk score of 68 out of 100, based on our analysis of investment costs, revenue data, SBA loan performance, and growth trends. 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 The Toasted Yolk Cafe, you can request corrections or provide updated information.
Claim this brandOther Full-Service Restaurants franchises
Compare similar franchise opportunities in the Full-Service Restaurants category
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.