Vocelli Pizza Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $156K – $598K
- Disclosed sales
- partial, no system average
- SBA charge-off
- Limited · 17 loans
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Vocelli Pizza is a quick-service pizza franchise serving hand-tossed pizzas, calzones, and subs for carryout and delivery. Franchisees run shops managing food prep, delivery, and staffing.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Vocelli Pizza franchise requires a total initial investment of $156K – $598K, including a $30K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. The 2025 FDD on file does not yield a unit-revenue figure we can publish. FranchiseVerdict grade: A (Strongest tier), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: medium - issued 12 to 24 months ago; a newer filing is likely on file
Evidence: strong✓ Investment (Item 7)✓ Item 19 status✓ Units and owners (Item 20)✓ SBA loan coverage✓ Litigation (Item 3)✓ Financial statements (Item 21)✓ Franchisor identityhow this is scored6 of 6 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $156K – $598K
- 13th pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- N/A
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 12th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 75
- 72nd pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Quick-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Quick-Service Restaurants median · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- COSTTotal investment $156K – $598K including a $30K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSItem 19 reports outlet revenue, but not in a form that yields a per-outlet average we can compare across brands.
- RISKVerdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 71/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +2 franchised outlets in the latest year (5 opened, 3 closed); 2 signed but not yet open (Item 20).
- DECLINESystem contracting at -8.6% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven (consolidation) or franchisee-driven (economics).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Vocelli, LLC
- Parent company
- Ablak Holdings, LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 7 of the 2025 FDD
- Predecessor
- Vocelli Pizza, L.P.
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer and Chief Marketing Officer
- Toni M. Bianco
- CEO experience
- 22 yrs
- Years in role or industry
- Founder active
- Yes
- Original founder still leading the business
- Incorporated in
- PA
- HQ
- 1005 South Bee Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15220
- Auditor
- Wilke CPAs & Advisors
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $2.9M
- vs $2.9M prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Independent franchisee associations
- Franchise Advisory Council (FAC)
Franchisee-led councils or alliances disclosed in Item 20. Indicates operator voice.
Overview
About
- CEO
- Toni M. Bianco
- Headquarters
- PA
- Founded
- 1993
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 7
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 22% below the typical quick-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2025 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $30K | $30K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $10K | $25K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $116K | $543K |
| Total initial investment | $156K | $598K |
Source: Vocelli Pizza 2025 FDD, Items 5 and 7[2]. “Equipment, build-out, other” is computed as total minus disclosed line items above.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $156K – $598K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $10K – $25K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $30K – $30K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 2.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 7.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 2.0% |
| Technology fee | $615 |
| Transfer fee | $6K |
| Renewal fee | $0 |
| Inventory (initial) | $3K – $9K |
| Total fee load | 7.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
No Item 19 revenue figure for Vocelli Pizza is on file. The return models need a revenue figure to start from, and the operating costs that turn gross sales into a profit are in no FDD. Enter your own and the calculator runs on your assumptions — nothing here is modelled until you do.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Vocelli Pizza unit return on the cash you put in?
Illustrative category typicals — not sourced to any filing, survey or sample. Replace them with figures from franchisee validation calls before you rely on the output.
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Your modelled return on total invested capital, before any debt financing.
—
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for annual revenue, COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2025 FDD
Financial Performance
- Item 19 type
- gross sales
- Sample size
- 70
- vs category median 19 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $216K→$1.6MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 46 of the 2025 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Quartile band
- $302K→$1.1M
- Bottom 25% → top 25%
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- Disclosed in the 2025 filing, covering 2024
- Transparency
- 4 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · typical
Compared against 781 Quick-Service Restaurants brands
Item 19 · by group
What the filing does disclose
Item 19 of this FDD reports performance in more than one group. We publish no single average for this brand; the groups the filing does disclose are listed below, quoted from its own Item 19 table.
Each row below is quoted from the FDD's own Item 19 table. Gross sales are not profit.
Item 19 detail
top decile
| Segment | Sample | Avg |
|---|---|---|
| Top 10 franchised stores | 10 | $1.3M |
top quartile
| Segment | Sample | Avg |
|---|---|---|
| Top 18 franchised stores (25% of franchised stores) | 18 | $1.1M |
bottom decile
| Segment | Sample | Avg |
|---|---|---|
| Bottom 10 franchised stores | 10 | $267K |
bottom quartile
| Segment | Sample | Avg |
|---|---|---|
| Bottom 18 franchised stores (25% of franchised stores) | 18 | $302K |
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 7.0% (near the Quick-Service Restaurants median).
Disclosure
Item 19 reports outlet revenue, but not in a form that yields a per-outlet average we can compare across brands.
Operator retention
System contracting at -8.6% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven consolidation or franchisee exits.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Quick-Service Restaurants medians
How Vocelli Pizza Compares
Category median of published Quick-Service Restaurants brands that report the figure; the middle half spans the 25th to 75th percentile and n counts the brands behind it. Medians are used because a few very large systems pull an average far from the typical brand. Revenue is disclosed gross sales, not profit.
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 75
- Opened
- 5
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 3
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 4.0%
- Company-owned
- 1
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 99%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +2.8%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- -8.6%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 6
- Signed, not yet open
- 2
- 0.03 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 10
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Transfer rate
- 8.0%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
- Ceased ops
- 4.0%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 7 states reported
The Territory Map
FDD Item 12 reports the state count, but the specific list isn't in our current data. The map will appear once we re-extract from the FDD or enough franchisee contacts are available.
7
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 17
- Loan volume
- $2.8M
- Median loan
- $50K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- Limited · 17 loans
- Limited SBA coverage: 17 loans, rate hidden until 10 have resolved and loans reach 2% of franchised units
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- Limited · 17 loans
- 5-yr charge-off
- 0.0%
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 6
- Defaults
- 0
- Typical loan rate
- 7.2%
- avg rate to borrowers
- Franchised industry avg
- 10.8%
- n=12,827 loans
- Jobs supported
- 151
- 7.5 per loan
- Lender concentration
- 67%
- top lender's share
Borrower mix: 57% went to startups / new businesses, 43% to established operators
Franchise vs independent — in limited-service restaurants, franchised businesses charge off at 10.8% vs 10.0% for independents — franchising is associated with 8% higher SBA default risk in this category.
Top lenders financing Vocelli Pizza franchisees
Showing 3 of 6 lenders. The full breakdown — every lender, state distribution, interest rates & risk ratings — is in the SBA Lending Report below.
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Lender network · 7(a) + 504
SBA Lending Report
Full lending analysis for Vocelli Pizza from SBA 7(a) FOIA data.
- Principal loss rate
- 0.0%
- Avg SBA guarantee
- 61%
- Avg interest rate
- 7.15%
- Lender concentration
- 66.7%
- Job velocity
- 7.5 per $100K
- NAICS benchmark
- 8.7%
- NAICS 722513
- Jobs supported
- 151
Top SBA lendersTop lender holds 67% of loans
| # | Lender | Loans | Volume | Default % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Huntington National Bank | 10 | $1.2M | 0.0% |
| 2 | Dogwood State Bank | 2 | $325K | 0.0% |
| 3 | Citizens Bank, National Association | 1 | $50K | 0.0% |
| 4 | Capital One, National Association | 1 | $250K | 0.0% |
| 5 | Heritage Bank Inc | 1 | $150K | N/A |
Geographic failure vector
| State | Loans | Defaults | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| PAPennsylvania | 7 | 0 | 0.0% |
| OHOhio | 3 | 0 | 0.0% |
| GAGeorgia | 2 | 0 | -- |
| MDMaryland | 2 | 0 | 0.0% |
| VAVirginia | 1 | 0 | 0.0% |
SBA 7(a) lending trend
Borrower profile
Source: SBA 7(a) + 504 FOIA loan-level data, matched by FranchiseVerdict
What could kill this investment?
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Single franchisor-initiated suit against a terminated franchisee (settled Feb 2024, $150K to franchisor) and no bankruptcy or going-concern. Item 19 disclosed, audited; the soft spot is a -8.6% net unit decline across 75 units.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: the franchisor is a named party (plaintiff).
Vocelli, LLC v. JAF3, Inc., Adeel Asad and Farhat Seraj (U.S.D.C. E.D.Va., Case No. 1:23-cv-1284). Franchisor sued terminated franchisee and owners for breach of contract, non-compete violations, non-payment of royalties, and failure to honor guarantees. Preliminary injunction granted in December 2023. Settled February 2024 with consent injunction barring defendants from operating competing restaurant within 50 miles for three years (January 17, 2023 to January 17, 2026) and $150,000 settlement payment.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Wilke CPAs & Advisors
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Vocelli, LLC derived $679,160 from required purchases in FY2024, representing 23% of total FY2024 revenue of $2,923,067.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: No
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 71 / 100 verdict
- 01HIGH1 litigation matter, franchisor-favorable settlement ($150K)
- 02MINORNet unit growth -8.6%
- 03MEDItem 19 disclosed, audited, no distress
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 7.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | No territory protection |
| Protected territory | No |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory sizeℹ | Delivery Zone |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Granted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 3 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 50 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 60 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 1 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 2 |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Arbitration location | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (mediation under National Franchise Mediation Program; litigation in federal or state court in Pittsburgh, PA) |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Pennsylvania |
| Litigation count | 1 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Vocelli, LLC v. JAF3, Inc., Adeel Asad and Farhat Seraj (U.S.D.C. E.D.Va., Case No. 1:23-cv-1284). Franchisor sued terminated franchisee and owners for breach of contract, non-compete violations, non-payment of royalties, and failure to honor guarantees. Preliminary injunction granted in December 2023. Settled February 2024 with consent injunction barring defendants from operating competing restaurant within 50 miles for three years (January 17, 2023 to January 17, 2026) and $150,000 settlement payment.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 65 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 180 hrs
- Training location
- On-site and corporate
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 5 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- franchisee
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Microworks
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Microworks
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
32 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Vocelli Pizza franchise?
The total investment to open a Vocelli Pizza franchise ranges from $156K – $598K, with an initial franchise fee of $30K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Vocelli Pizza franchise owners earn?
Item 19 of the Vocelli Pizza FDD discloses outlet figures from $216K to $1.6M but no single average across all outlets. These are gross sales figures, not profit; the Revenue section shows what the filing reports and on what basis. Item 20 of the FDD lists current and former franchisees; asking them directly is the standard way to fill this gap.
Who owns Vocelli Pizza?
Vocelli Pizza is franchised by Vocelli, LLC. Its parent company is Ablak Holdings, LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Vocelli Pizza FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the Vocelli Pizza FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Vocelli Pizza's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Vocelli Pizza (fewer than 10 loans on file). Charge-off rates are one way to gauge franchise risk, but not all franchise loans go through the SBA program. We recommend reviewing turnover and closure data in the FDD and speaking with current franchisees.
How many Vocelli Pizza franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Vocelli Pizza has 75 total units in the United States, including 74 franchised units and 1 company-owned units. 5 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Vocelli Pizza a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Vocelli Pizza as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 71 out of 100 (higher is better). The grade is a deterministic score built from six weighted dimensions — financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency — then calibrated against SBA loan charge-off rates and FDD age. Transparency is one of the six, so a filing that discloses less scores lower on that dimension than one that discloses more. 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 Vocelli Pizza, you can request corrections or provide updated information.
Other Quick-Service Restaurants franchises
Compare similar franchise opportunities in the Quick-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.