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FranchiseVerdict

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2 brands side-by-side

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indicates the clear winner per row. Ties and missing data are not highlighted.

How winners are chosen

Lower is better for investment, liquid capital, franchise fee, royalty and ad-fund rates, SBA charge-off rate, and owner turnover.

Higher is better for disclosed revenue and owner earnings, verdict score, total units, net unit growth, and franchisee contacts. For the letter grade, A ranks highest.

A row is highlighted only when one brand clearly leads. Ties are never highlighted, and missing data never counts as a win. Some rows (earnings-metric type, loan counts, contract terms) are informational and have no winner.

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These figures come from FDDs of different years (2023, 2025). Costs, fees and unit counts change from one filing to the next, so the older column may be out of date.

Focus by buyer type

Brand
Johnny Rockets logoDBelow average
Johnny Rockets
Full-Service Restaurants
2025 FDD
Remove
First Watch logoAStrongest tier
First Watch
Full-Service Restaurants
2023 FDD
Remove
Vitals
FDD filing
2025 FDD
FDD issued Mar 7, 2023
Investment range
$517K – $2.7M
$1.2M – $2.0M
Liquid capital
$25K – $40K
$30K – $100K
Franchise fee
$50K
$40K
Royalty rate
6.0%
4.0%
Ad fund rate
2.0%
1.5%
Performance
Avg gross sales
$1.6MNet sales
No Item 19 representation
Median gross sales
$1.1M
Not disclosed
Avg owner earnings
Metric varies by brand. Check type below
Not extracted
Not disclosed
Earnings metric
Not classified
Not classified
Risk
Rating
DBelow average
AStrongest tier
Verdict score
31 / 100
74 / 100
SBA charge-off rate
41.2% (n=39)
Limited · 12 loans
SBA loans on record
39
12
Scale
Total units
100
474
Net change (latest yr)
-2
+14
Signed, not yet open
Not extracted
12 (0.03 per open outlet)
Turnover rate
4.0%
0.0%
Contract
Initial term (years)
15
10
Renewal term (years)
10
5
Initial training (hrs)
300
475
Contacts
Franchisee phones
92
97

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