Voodoo Brewing Co.Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Voodoo Brewing Co. franchise requires a total initial investment of $482K – $1.6M, including a $75K franchise fee and an ongoing 6.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $902K[2]. SBA 7(a) loans show a 0.0% charge-off rate across 38 loans[1]. Verdict grade: A. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified June 18, 2026 · figures per the 2025 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $482K – $1.6M
- 32nd pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $902K
- 8th pct Service Resta…
- Royalty
- 6.0%
- 26th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 23
- 28th pct Service Resta…
- SBA default
- 0.0%
- 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
Only 0.0% of 38 SBA loans charged off, well below the 16% franchise average.
Franchised units fell from 23 to 7 over 3 years. Investigate why operators are leaving.
Bottom line
- Total investment $482K – $1.6M including a $75K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $902K/year.
- Verdict A (Top Quintile) with a risk score of 42/100. SBA loan charge-off rate of 0.0% across 38 loans (well below the franchise average, based on all SBA 7(a) franchise lending, 2010–2024).
- 4 units terminated last reporting year (17.4% of the system). Ask existing franchisees why.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
- Legal entity
- Voodoo Licensing LLC
- CEO title
- President
- Mike Edwards
- CEO experience
- 25 yrs
- Years in role or industry
- Incorporated in
- PA
- HQ
- 24414 State Highway 8, Union City, Pennsylvania 16438
- Auditor
- Kezos & Dunlavy, LLC
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $1.3M
- vs $2.5M prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Affiliated brands
- Voodoo Licensing Southern
Other brands the franchisor or its parent operates (Item 1).
Overview
About
Voodoo Brewing Co. franchisees operate craft brewery taproom locations, managing on-premise beer production, sales, and service. Day-to-day operations include production scheduling, staff management, inventory control, point-of-sale transactions, and compliance with federal and state liquor regulations. Franchisees pay 6% royalty on gross sales and operate under a 10-year territorial protection agreement.
- CEO
- Mike Edwards
- Headquarters
- PA
- Founded
- 2018
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 11
FDD Item 7 · 2025 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $75K | $75K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $50K | $200K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $357K | $1.4M |
| Total initial investment | $482K | $1.6M |
Source: Voodoo Brewing Co. 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
$104K
11.5% margin
Unlevered ROIC
9%
EBITDA / total invested capital
Payback
11.4 yrs
cash-on-cash, unlevered
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $482K – $1.6M
- Better than avg vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $50K – $200K
- Better than avg vs category
- Franchise fee
- $75K – $75K
- Near category avg vs category
- Royalty
- 6.0%
- percentage · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 0.5%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 6.5%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 6.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 0.5% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $500 |
| Training fee | $500 |
| Transfer fee | $38K |
| Renewal fee | $23K |
| Inventory (initial) | $20K – $40K |
| Total fee load | 6.5% of rev |
A 6.5% total fee load is unusually lean. More of each revenue dollar stays with the franchisee.
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $902K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- N/A
- Item 19 type
- Historical Actual Sales
- Sample size
- 25 units
- vs category median 13
- Range (low → high)
- $63K→$1.7M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Transparency tier
- limited
- Categorical assessment of disclosure depth
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Transparency
- 0 / 5
- vs category median 4 / 5 · below
Compared against 1264 Full-Service Restaurants brands
Revenue is only 0.9x the investment. This means each unit may take 5+ years to recoup the initial outlay at typical margins.
vs Full-Service Restaurants averages
How Voodoo Brewing Co. Compares
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 23
- Opened
- 14
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 4
- Terminated
- 4
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 17.4%
- Company-owned
- 4
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 83%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (yr3)
- +76.9%
- Net unit change last year
- 3-yr CAGR
- Outlier (see FDD)
- Likely small-sample artifact
3-year detail · Item 20
- Closed (3yr)
- 2
- Transfers (3yr)
- 0
- Projected new
- 15
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Termination rate
- 14.8%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
- Ceased ops
- 18.5%
- Units that stopped operating
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).
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
- 38
- Loan volume
- $20.7M
- Median loan
- $544K
- average
- Charge-off rate
- 0.0%
- 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)
- N/A
- 5-yr charge-off
- 0.0%
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 7
- Defaults
- 0
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
With a 0.0% charge-off rate across 38 loans, banks have historically viewed this brand favorably for lending.
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
High-risk micro-franchise with going concern warning, active fraud litigation over liquor licenses, undisclosed financials, and insufficient unit scale to demonstrate system viability.
Litigation (Item 3)
Three litigation matters disclosed: (1) Rios Investment Group LLC v. Voodoo Licensing LLC (AAA arbitration settled March 11, 2025); (2) Shannon M. Shelton v. Voodoo Licensing LLC and Voodoo Licensing Southern LLC (AAA arbitration hearing scheduled May 3, 2025); (3) NERco LLC et al v. Voodoo Licensing Southern LLC et al (federal court, settlement conference scheduled April 29, 2025). Two franchisees currently in mediation.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Kezos & Dunlavy, LLC
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- 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 42 / 100 rating
- 01HIGHGoing concern warning indicates potential financial distress at franchisor level
- 02HIGHThree active/recent litigation cases including fraud/misrepresentation allegation regarding liquor licenses—critical operational asset
- 03MINOR76.9% YoY unit growth masks absolute unit count (23 total)—extremely small system with high volatility risk
- 04MEDNo disclosed average revenue or net income prevents ROI validation; 6% royalty on undisclosed sales is opaque
- 05HIGHLiquor license fraud litigation (NERco case) directly threatens franchisee's ability to operate core business
- 06MEDTwo prior arbitrations (settled/dismissed) suggest unresolved franchisee grievances and relationship deterioration
- 07MINORHigh investment range ($481.5K–$1.625M) combined with no performance benchmarks creates severe information asymmetry
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 | distance |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | Yes |
| Territory radius | 2 mi |
| Online sales rights | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 25 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 1 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 2 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Crawford County, Pennsylvania |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Pennsylvania |
| Litigation count | 3 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Three litigation matters disclosed: (1) Rios Investment Group LLC v. Voodoo Licensing LLC (AAA arbitration settled March 11, 2025); (2) Shannon M. Shelton v. Voodoo Licensing LLC and Voodoo Licensing Southern LLC (AAA arbitration hearing scheduled May 3, 2025); (3) NERco LLC et al v. Voodoo Licensing Southern LLC et al (federal court, settlement conference scheduled April 29, 2025). Two franchisees currently in mediation.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 7 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 61 hrs
- Training location
- certified training Restaurant location that we designate, at the grand opening of another franchisee's Voodoo Brewing Co. franchise location, and/or at your Restaurant Location
- Site selection
- franchisor
- POS system
- Toast
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Toast
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
54 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
Voodoo Brewing Co. · FDD (2025) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Voodoo Brewing Co. franchise?
The total investment to open a Voodoo Brewing Co. franchise ranges from $482K – $1.6M, with an initial franchise fee of $75K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Voodoo Brewing Co. franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Voodoo Brewing Co. FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $902K. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
What is Voodoo Brewing Co.'s franchise failure rate?
Based on SBA 7(a) loan data, Voodoo Brewing Co. has a charge-off rate of 0.0% across 38 loans, meaning 0.0% 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 Voodoo Brewing Co. franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Voodoo Brewing Co. has 23 total units in the United States, including 23 franchised units and 4 company-owned units. 14 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Voodoo Brewing Co. a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Voodoo Brewing Co. as a A-grade franchise with a risk score of 42 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.
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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.