Bottom line
- Total investment $498K – $713K including a $35K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $577K/year.
- Rated CAUTION with a risk score of 71/100.
- System contracting at -43.5% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven (consolidation) or franchisee-driven (economics).
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 Z!Eats unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
13%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Z!Eats units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$808K
on $4.0M purchase
Total debt
$3.2M
SBA $2.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Z!Eats franchisees operate quick-service restaurants or food service concepts, likely involving food preparation, customer service, and point-of-sale management. Day-to-day operations include inventory management, staff scheduling, food safety compliance, and local marketing within a protected territory.
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 · 18 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
Z!Eats exhibits classic distress signals: collapsing unit base (-28.6% YoY), undisclosed profitability, and going concern status raise serious viability questions about franchisor sustainability and franchisee economics.
Score breakdown · what drove the 71 / 100 rating
- 01MINORUnit count collapsed 28.6% YoY (36 units) indicating system-wide distress and franchisee attrition
- 02MEDNet income not disclosed despite average revenue of $577k — suggests unprofitable or confidential poor performance
- 03HIGHGoing Concern status is FALSE — potential financial instability at franchisor level
- 04HIGHNo litigation disclosed but rapid unit decline suggests underlying operational/support failures
- 05MINOR6% royalty on $577k average revenue only yields $34.6k annually — insufficient to justify $497-712k investment
- 06MINORFranchise fee $35k is moderate but ROI horizon is unclear without net income disclosure
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
21 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Z!Eats · FDD (2025) PDF