FranchiseVerdict
Wild Bill's logo
FV-02962·MODERATEExcellent81

Wild Bill's

OtherFranchising since 2014Website
Investment
$156K – $215K
53rd pct Other
Avg revenue
50th pct Other
Royalty
Units
21
49th pct Other
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $156K – $215K including a $40K franchise fee.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 59/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 1 loans (below the industry average).
  • System growing at 75.0% CAGR over 3 years with 21 total units — strong expansion trajectory.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Wild Bill's Soda Franchising, LLC
Parent company
Bluewater, LLC
Incorporated in
New Jersey
HQ
50 Division Avenue, Building 1, Suite 42, Millington, New Jersey 07946
Auditor
WithumSmith+Brown, PC
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$1.3M
vs $1.1M prior year

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 Wild Bill's 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: $156K–$215K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $11K–$15K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

53%

In Yale's "attractive" band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$105K
EBITDA margin
14.0%
Total invested
$199K
Payback
23 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

Wild Bill's franchisees operate specialty retail or service locations (likely outdoor/sporting goods, jerky, or novelty merchandise based on brand name). Day-to-day operations involve inventory management, point-of-sale transactions, customer service, and compliance with brand standards while remitting royalties on third-party product sales.

CEO
Michael Quilty
Founded
2014
FDD year
2025
States available
12

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$156K – $215K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$11K – $15K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$40K
Royalty
Up to 5% of Gross Revenues for Third Party Products
Ad fund
2000 per stand per year
Total fee load
5.0%
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
21
Opened
3
Last reporting year
Closed
2
Turnover rate
9.5%
Company-owned
7
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
67%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+7.7%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+75.0%
Compounded over last 3 years
2023
14+1
Franchised units
2024
13
Franchised units
2025
8
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 3 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 · 3 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.

Total loans
1
Loan volume
Avg loan
Default rate
0.0%
vs <3% typical · system-wide
5-yr default

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

Risk & Legal

59
Risk · 0-100
MODERATE59 / 100

Wild Bill's presents caution-level risk due to lack of financial transparency, anemic unit growth, and ambiguous royalty terms that obscure true profitability potential.

Score breakdown · what drove the 59 / 100 rating

  1. 01MINORNo financial performance disclosure (Item 19) — cannot validate $155-215K investment ROI claims
  2. 02MINORMinimal unit growth of 7.7% YoY with only 21 locations suggests weak system momentum or saturation
  3. 03MINORVague royalty structure ('Up to 5%') creates uncertainty around actual take-home margins for franchisees
  4. 04HIGHNo going concern statement is a yellow flag for financial stability of franchisor support infrastructure
  5. 05MINORHigh franchise fee ($40K) relative to small unit base raises questions about franchisor revenue model dependency

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

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

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
population and geography
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
5 years
Renewal term
5 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
No
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Optional
Governing law
New Jersey

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
12 hrs
On-the-job training
20 hrs
POS system
iPad Cash Register
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

3 numbers

Locked
(217) 782-••••
RI
(317) 232-••••
IN
(808) 586-••••
HI

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Wild Bill's · FDD (2025) PDF

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