Bottom line
- Total investment $484K – $985K including a $40K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.5M/year (median $1.4M). Estimated payback in 4.8 years.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 46/100.
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 Vitamin Shoppe unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
14%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 The Vitamin Shoppe units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$295K
on $1.5M purchase
Total debt
$1.2M
SBA $0.7M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Franchisees operate retail health supplement and vitamin stores, managing inventory, customer service, point-of-sale operations, and local marketing. Day-to-day responsibilities include staff supervision, product merchandising, compliance with franchisor protocols, and driving foot traffic in a competitive nutritional products market.
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 · 15 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.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Rapidly expanding vitamin retail franchise with regulatory history and pending litigation creates moderate-to-high risk despite strong unit growth, warranting careful validation of franchisee profitability claims and renewal practices.
Score breakdown · what drove the 46 / 100 rating
- 01MINORExtreme unit growth of 550% YoY suggests either aggressive recent acquisition/rebranding or unsustainable expansion that may indicate instability
- 02MINORPending arbitration from MMS Group regarding breach of contract and non-renewal creates precedent risk for franchisee renewal negotiations
- 03MINORFTC settlement regarding reciprocal purchase agreements signals regulatory scrutiny of franchisor's business practices and potential conflicts of interest
- 04MINORNet income of $153,070 against $483,900-$984,900 investment yields only 15-32% annual return, below typical franchise benchmarks, with high royalty drag at 5%
- 05MINORNo Item 19 financial performance representations limits ability to validate claimed average revenue figures independently
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
32 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
The Vitamin Shoppe · FDD (2024) PDF