Sample data — illustrative, not for citation
SBA-eligible · directory code S0906 since 2017
Jimmy John's
sandwich · Inspire Brands · est. 1983
Jimmy John's, part of Inspire Brands, is a sandwich franchise built on quickly made subs and fast delivery. A franchisee operates a compact sandwich shop with a delivery radius, serving lunch-heavy demand from in-store, pickup, and delivery customers.
Jimmy John's net unit count grew +6.5% from 2023–2025 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
Not enough disclosure
Distress
No verified FDD extraction to judge from. Any figures shown are labelled sample data or independent federal records.
SBA loan defaults
5.8%
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
2023–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 2,626 | 2,710 | 2,797 |
| Opened | 130 | 134 | 138 |
| Transfers | 109 | 113 | 116 |
| Terminations | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| Non-renewals | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 19 | 19 | 20 |
| Outlets at end | 2,710 | 2,797 | 2,886 |
| Net change | +84 | +87 | +89 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 1,082 SBA-backed loans to Jimmy John's franchisees since 1994. Of the 808 that have resolved, 5.8% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.
5.8%
47 of 808 resolved defaulted
61.1%
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
3.6%
default rate × loss severity
$773,326
what recent franchisees borrowed
70 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
59 vs 74
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 JIMMY JOHN'S BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
Who finances it
Wells Fargo Bank National Association
13.2% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 15.7% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.
Who buys it
67.3%
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?
−4.8pp
multi-unit vs single-unit owners
Owners of multiple units default at 2.5%; single-unit owners at 7.3%.
Computed from 1,082 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to Jimmy John's 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
To open (Item 7)
$336K–$660K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$35K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
6%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — this brand discloses no Item 19 earnings; validate with current & former owners.
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 Jimmy John's with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 216 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $1.9M in back wages for 6,311 workers, including 55 child-labor cases. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
216
Back wages owed
$1.9M
Employees affected
6,311
Since 2020
23
55 of these cases involved child-labor violations, covering 187 minors across the system's franchised locations.
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual Jimmy John's franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not Jimmy John's 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.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
Salisbury's 7 Brew sets opening date, Jimmy John's closes, and more
news:MSN · 1mo ago
Salisbury's 7 Brew sets opening date, Jimmy John's closes, and more
news:AOL.com · 2mo ago
Salisbury's 7 Brew sets opening date, Jimmy John's closes, and more
news:DelmarvaNow.com · 2mo ago
Local Jimmy John's locations shutter amid wage lawsuit
news:WKRC · 5mo ago
Jimmy John's Uniforms Lawsuit Investigation
news:ClassAction.org · 5mo ago
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Jimmy John's's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →