Verified — real FDD extraction
SBA-eligible · directory code S2179 since 2017
DUCK DONUTS
Food & Dining · independent · est. —
Duck Donuts sells warm, made-to-order cake donuts that customers customize with coatings, toppings, and drizzles, along with coffee and breakfast sandwiches. A franchisee runs a donut shop, managing the made-fresh production line and counter service.
DUCK DONUTS net unit count grew +27.6% from 2021–2023 per its FDD Item 20.
New to franchising? Start here
A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.
Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:
- Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
- Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
- Item 20 — how many locations opened and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).
The verdict
Proven & strong
Distress
Enough units and history to judge, and the record is good: growing or stable units with clean exits by the standards of its disclosed record. The standout in the record: the system is growing.
Exit rate · latest year
4.5%
vs 8.6% across 137 food & dining systems
Cost to open
$497K–$706K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
21.4%
vs 14.8% avg across rated brands
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1
terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3
transfers vs. base · Table 3
actual vs. projected openings · Table 5
Item 19 disclosure + completeness
Systemwide units
2021–2023
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2023, 5 of 111 franchised outlets left the system — a 4.5% annualized exit rate, vs 8.6% across 137 food & dining systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 99 | 105 | 112 |
| Opened | 9 | 10 | 28 |
| Transfers | 5 | 11 | 11 |
| Terminations | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Outlets at end | 105 | 112 | 134 |
| Net change | +6 | +7 | +22 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 106 SBA-backed loans to DUCK DONUTS franchisees since 2016. Of the 42 that have resolved, 21.4% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.
21.4%
9 of 42 resolved defaulted
37.1%
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
8.0%
default rate × loss severity
$426,483
what recent franchisees borrowed
55 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
27 vs 19
distinct banks still lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO DUCK DONUTS BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
Who finances it
the Huntington National Bank
17.0% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 10.1% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.
Who buys it
61.1%
first-time franchise owners
The rest already owned at least one other franchise. Across the corpus, brands bought mostly by repeat operators charge off at roughly 10% versus 17% for brands sold mostly to newcomers.
Does experience help here?
Not enough resolved loans to split
Computed from 106 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to DUCK DONUTS franchisees joined to the brand's own FDD. Debt service assumes level amortization at the average disclosed term and rate. A lender's rate excludes its loans to this brand, so it reads the lender, not the brand.
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $40K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $497K–$706K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$497K–$706K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$40K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
6%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$60K
6% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$600K
royalties alone, excl. ad fund
This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.
Build a real pro-forma for DUCK DONUTS with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 2 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $0 in back wages for 0 workers, including 1 child-labor case. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
2
Back wages owed
$0
Employees affected
0
Since 2020
2
1 of these cases involved child-labor violations, covering 20 minors across the system's franchised locations.
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual DUCK DONUTS franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not DUCK DONUTS itself. The franchisor is not the respondent and in most cases is not a party. What the record shows is how this system's operators run their payrolls, which is worth knowing before you become one of them. Counts rise with system size and with age: a 20-year-old, 10,000-unit system will out-count a young one regardless of conduct. Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division concluded compliance actions, FY2005–present, most recent finding 2025.
Modeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
Modeled from the public record, this brand looks safer than 71% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
29 / 100
Loan-corroborated
Modeled SBA charge-off
9.9%
Observed SBA charge-off
21.4%
Top drivers: Share financed by high-loss lenders (lowers) · Net unit growth (lowers) · Single-lender dependence (raises) · System size (log units) (raises). 15+ resolved loans stand behind this estimate. A linear scorecard built from this brand's own disclosure figures plus the federal loan record behind its franchisees; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for DUCK DONUTS. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing DUCK DONUTS's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →DUCK DONUTS franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of DUCK DONUTS franchises closed last year?
In DUCK DONUTS's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2023), 5 of 111 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 4.5% — compared with 8.6% across 137 food & dining systems tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons." There is no official failure rate, and not every exit is a failure, but this is the measurable floor.
How much does a DUCK DONUTS franchise cost?
Per DUCK DONUTS's 2024 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $40K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $497K–$706K (Item 7).
What royalty does DUCK DONUTS charge?
DUCK DONUTS charges an ongoing royalty of 6.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2024 FDD.
Does DUCK DONUTS disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — DUCK DONUTS makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2024 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.
How often do SBA loans for DUCK DONUTS franchises default?
Across 106 SBA-backed loans to DUCK DONUTS franchisees since 2016, 9 of the 42 that have resolved were charged off — a 21.4% default rate, versus about 14.8% across all rated franchise brands. This is the lender's-eye view of franchisee failure, drawn from public SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA data and independent of the franchisor's own disclosures.