FranchiseVerdict
VILLAGE JUICE & KITCHEN logo
FV-02898·MODERATEExcellent81

Village Juice & Kitchen

Food & Beverage - Full ServiceFranchising since 2018Website
Investment
$492K – $971K
64th pct Full Service
Avg revenue
57th pct Full Service
Royalty
7.0%
87th pct Full Service
Units
6
29th pct Full Service
SBA default

Bottom line

  • Total investment $492K – $971K including a $40K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 65/100.
  • 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
VILLAGE JUICE CO. FRANCHISING, LLC
Parent company
VJCO, INC.
Incorporated in
North Carolina
HQ
900 Northwest Blvd., Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27101
Auditor
Thomas, Judy & Tucker, P.A.
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$210K
vs $202K prior year
⚠ Going-concern note
Disclosed in FDD 2024
Status as of 2024; may have been resolved in a later filing we don't yet have.

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 VILLAGE JUICE & KITCHEN unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
Item 19 not disclosed — typing your own estimate
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: generic
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $492K–$971K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $25K–$50K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

15%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$113K
EBITDA margin
15.0%
Total invested
$769K
Payback
82 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.

Overview

About

Village Juice & Kitchen franchisees operate quick-service restaurants specializing in fresh-pressed juices, smoothies, and prepared healthy food items. Day-to-day operations include inventory management of perishable produce, food preparation, customer service, and point-of-sale management. Franchisees are responsible for staffing, local marketing, lease negotiation, and maintaining brand standards across a protected territory.

CEO
Nathan B. Atkinson
Founded
2017
FDD year
2024
States available
2

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$492K – $971K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$25K – $50K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$40K
Royalty
7.0%
7% of your Restaurant’s Gross Sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
1.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
8.0%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

This franchisor did not disclose financial performance representations in Item 19, or our extractor could not parse them.

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
6
Opened
0
Last reporting year
Closed
1
Turnover rate
16.7%
Company-owned
2
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
67%
vs corporate-owned
Multi-unit owners
33.3%
Net growth (yr3)
-20.0%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
-20.0%
Compounded over last 3 years
2022
4-1
Franchised units
2023
5
Franchised units
2024
5
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 19 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 · 19 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.

No SBA loan data available for this brand.

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

65
Risk · 0-100
MODERATE65 / 100

Contracting franchise system with severe financial opacity, declining unit count, and high investment burden relative to franchisor support capacity.

Score breakdown · what drove the 65 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDSystem contracting sharply: 6 units with -20% YoY decline indicates accelerating franchisee departures or closures
  2. 02MINORNo financial transparency: Franchisor refuses to disclose average unit revenue or net income (absent Item 19), preventing ROI validation
  3. 03MEDHigh capital requirement relative to system size: $491k-$970k investment in a 6-unit system suggests limited economies of scale and franchisor overhead burden on franchisees
  4. 04MEDRapid payback timeline unlikely: 7% royalty + high COGS for juice/prepared foods + undisclosed labor costs in small 6-unit system creates profitability risk
  5. 05MINORInadequate franchisee base for validation: Only 6 units makes it nearly impossible to find diverse references or identify systemic issues

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

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

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Radius or population-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
North Carolina

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
24 hrs
On-the-job training
178 hrs
POS system
Toast POS
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

26 numbers

Locked
(919) 962-••••
Aramark Educational Services, LLC
NC
(803) 777-••••
Aramark Educational Services, LLC
SC
(704) 705-••••
Queen Bee Juice
NC

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

VILLAGE JUICE & KITCHEN · FDD (2024) PDF

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