Know Before You Sign — Run the Numbers on Any Franchise
Free ROI calculator that models total investment, royalties, and payback period using real Item 7 and Item 19 data from the Franchise Disclosure Document. Built for prospective franchisees doing real due diligence.
What you'll get
Total investment modeling from Item 7 ranges
Low, midpoint, and high scenarios adjusted for the 15-20% under-reporting common in franchisor disclosures.
Royalty and marketing fund fee projection
Full fee stack broken out as annual dollars — royalty, ad fund, tech fee — projected against a realistic revenue ramp, not franchisor pro formas.
Payback period and 5-year ROI
Month-by-month cash flow with trough-month callout shows exactly when you hit break-even and what your cumulative return looks like.
Working capital runway
Break-even month estimation with 6 months of operating expense buffer (not the franchisor-recommended "3 additional months").
Multi-scenario comparison
Compare multiple franchise opportunities side-by-side — optimistic, realistic, pessimistic scenarios for each.
Learn more
Practitioner guides for the work before, during, and after running the numbers.
How to Read a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD): A Practitioner's Guide
A practitioner walkthrough of the FDD Items that actually matter — 5, 6, 7, 12, 17, 19, 20, 21 — with red flags, cross-references, and what to do when an Item is missing or vague.
Franchise ROI: Why Franchisor Pro Formas Overstate Returns (and How to Correct Them)
The four corrections experienced franchise buyers apply to any franchisor pro forma: Item 7 × 1.15, Year 1 at 55% of Item 19, 6 months working capital, and fee stack as annual dollars.
Franchisee Validation Calls: The 15 Questions That Separate Good Brands from Bad
How to find franchisees to call, what to ask, how to interpret the answers, and the questions that consistently surface hidden problems — from the IFPG, Franchise Sidekick, and Emergent Growth Advisors practitioner consensus.
SBA Financing for Franchises: Default Rates, Lender Criteria, and Brand Vetting
How SBA 7(a) financing works for franchise purchases in 2026 — directory requirements, equity injection, credit score floors, per-brand default rates, and the red flags that make a brand SBA-ineligible.