{"as_of":"2026-09-24","methodology_version":"2026-09-24","counts":{"published_brands":4325,"graded_brands":3070,"sba_only_brands":1255,"fdd_brands":3070,"fdd_documents":3024,"fdd_year_brands":3070,"revenue_brands":1405,"brands_with_sba":3014,"sba_7a_records":126612,"sba_504_records":16915,"sba_records":143527,"owner_contacts":278585,"brands_with_contacts":2545,"categories":18,"fdd_brands_verified":3072,"item19_declined":1007,"item19_with_fpr":1596},"count_definitions":{"published_brands":{"label":"Brands","counts":"Brand pages the site actually publishes: is_published AND merged_into IS NULL. Excludes unpublished drafts and rows merged into a canonical duplicate.","live":true},"graded_brands":{"label":"Brands graded","counts":"Published, unmerged brands whose Verdict letter the site actually SHOWS: rating IS NOT NULL and not sba_only (the owner decision that lending-only brands show lending facts, no grade — GRADED_RATING_SQL). The column holds a rating on sba_only rows too, which is why this used to equal published_brands and print '4,327 brands graded' beside 3,071 graded pages (R22, 2026-09-12).","live":true},"sba_only_brands":{"label":"Lending-data-only brands","counts":"Published, unmerged brands with SBA lending history and NO FDD on file (data_quality = 'sba_only'). They browse behind a filter, carry no grade, and are the difference between '4,327 brands' and '3,071 with an FDD'.","live":true},"fdd_brands":{"label":"Brands with an FDD on file","counts":"Published, unmerged brands whose row NAMES a source FDD document (pdf_filename). This is a count of BRANDS, not documents. 3,072 of these are `verified` — the brand, the compiled index and the file on disk all agree.","live":true},"fdd_documents":{"label":"FDD filings","counts":"Distinct source FDD documents behind those brands (distinct lower(pdf_filename)). Lower than fdd_brands because 48 brands are covered by a document filed jointly with another brand. THIS is the number to quote as \"filings\" or \"documents\".","live":true},"fdd_year_brands":{"label":"Brands with an FDD year","counts":"Published, unmerged brands with fdd_year recorded. A YEAR is not a DOCUMENT: 19 brands carry a year with no file named. The unscoped version of this query (no published/unmerged filter) returns 3,188 and is what methodology used to print.","live":true},"revenue_brands":{"label":"With a revenue figure","counts":"Published, unmerged brands publishing an average gross-sales figure from Item 19 (avg_gross_sales IS NOT NULL). Gross sales are not profit.","live":true},"brands_with_sba":{"label":"With matched SBA history","counts":"Published, unmerged brands with at least one matched SBA loan from a named lender (sba_total_loans IS NOT NULL AND sba_unique_lenders > 0).","live":true},"sba_7a_records":{"label":"SBA 7(a) records","counts":"7(a) franchise loans in the FOIA extract, rolled up BY LENDING BANK (sba_banks). Per-brand charge-off is 7(a)-only; 504 is real-estate.","live":true},"sba_504_records":{"label":"SBA 504 records","counts":"504 franchise loans in the same FOIA extract, rolled up BY CDC (sba_cdcs).","live":true},"sba_records":{"label":"SBA loan records","counts":"Combined 7(a)+504, from the lender rollups. Each loan is counted once. THIS is the public SBA figure — it is the 143,527 on the homepage.","live":true},"owner_contacts":{"label":"Owner contacts","counts":"Franchisee owner contacts from FDD Item 20, summed over PUBLISHED, unmerged brands (sum(contact_count) WHERE contact_count > 0). The unscoped sum is 279,885 and equals count(*) FROM contacts; the difference is contacts sitting on rows that have no page. Personal due-diligence only — not for telemarketing or automated calls (TCPA).","live":true},"brands_with_contacts":{"label":"Brands with contacts","counts":"Published, unmerged brands with at least one Item 20 owner contact.","live":true},"categories":{"label":"Categories","counts":"Rows in the categories table.","live":true},"fdd_brands_verified":{"label":"Verified against the document","counts":"Of fdd_brands, those where all three sources agree: the brand names a document, the file is on disk, and text has been extracted from it. The 2 exceptions are year disagreements (skrimp-shack-food-truck, tapioca-express).","live":false},"item19_declined":{"label":"Item 19 declined","counts":"Filings we hold whose Item 19 EXPLICITLY makes no financial performance representation. Item 19 is voluntary, so these rows are correctly empty — counting them as an extraction gap inflates the backlog roughly threefold.","live":false},"item19_with_fpr":{"label":"Item 19 with an FPR","counts":"Filings we hold whose Item 19 makes a financial performance representation with real figures. Larger than revenue_brands (1,086) because an FPR is not always a stated average — some list per-outlet figures only, and deriving a mean from those would be fabricating a number the filing does not state.","live":false}},"freshness":{"last_fdd_extraction":"2026-07-12","last_cited_correction":"2026-09-24","last_sba_refresh":"2026-05-19"},"floors_overstating":[],"citations":[{"field":"investment_low","label":"Investment, low (Item 7)","published":3065,"cited":3036},{"field":"investment_high","label":"Investment, high (Item 7)","published":3063,"cited":3013},{"field":"franchise_fee","label":"Franchise fee (Item 5)","published":3045,"cited":2820},{"field":"avg_gross_sales","label":"Average gross sales (Item 19)","published":1405,"cited":1261},{"field":"median_gross_sales","label":"Median gross sales (Item 19)","published":1063,"cited":1022},{"field":"unit_count_total","label":"Total units (Item 20)","published":3017,"cited":2932},{"field":"royalty_rate","label":"Royalty rate (Item 6)","published":2804,"cited":2548},{"field":"ad_fund_rate","label":"Ad fund rate (Item 6)","published":2623,"cited":2097},{"field":"item19_lowest_sales","label":"Item 19 range, low","published":1464,"cited":1375},{"field":"item19_highest_sales","label":"Item 19 range, high","published":1464,"cited":1404}],"source":"https://franchiseverdict.com/data-status"}