Verified — real FDD extraction
SBA-eligible · directory code S1523 since 2017
Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill
Food & Dining · independent · est. —
Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill is a fast-casual Mexican restaurant franchise serving build-your-own burritos, tacos, bowls, and nachos from a service line. A franchisee operates a counter-service restaurant serving lunch and dinner customers and catering orders in its trade area.
Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill net unit count declined -15.5% 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
Showing strain
Distress
The disclosed record shows weakness — shrinking units, elevated exits, or churn — worth reading closely before going further.
Exit rate · latest year
7.1%
vs 8.6% across 137 food & dining systems
Cost to open
$371K–$856K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
17.6%
17 loans resolved — directional only
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
In fiscal 2025, 4 of 56 franchised outlets left the system — a 7.1% 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) | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 73 | 71 | 65 |
| Opened | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Transfers | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 2 | 6 | 2 |
| Outlets at end | 71 | 65 | 60 |
| Net change | -2 | -6 | -5 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 27 SBA-backed loans to Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill franchisees since 2004. Only 17 have resolved so far — too thin for a reliable default rate, but 3 of them charged off.
—
17 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$180,800
what recent franchisees borrowed
43 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
—
distinct banks lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
Loan performance by state
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO SALSARITA'S FRESH MEXICAN GRILL BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
Who finances it
Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company
14.8% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 12.2% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.
Who buys it
Too few identified operators
Does experience help here?
Not enough resolved loans to split
Computed from 27 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill 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 $30K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $371K–$856K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$371K–$856K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$30K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
5%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$50K
5% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$500K
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 Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill with an independent CPAModeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
Modeled from the public record, this brand looks riskier than 81% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
81 / 100
Loan-corroborated
Modeled SBA charge-off
17.7%
Observed SBA charge-off
17.6%
Top drivers: System size (log units) (raises) · Single-lender dependence (raises) · Net unit growth (raises) · Item 3 litigation (log) (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 Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill. 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 Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill franchises closed last year?
In Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 4 of 56 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 7.1% — 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 Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill franchise cost?
Per Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $30K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $371K–$856K (Item 7).
What royalty does Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill charge?
Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill charges an ongoing royalty of 5.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.