Verified — real FDD extraction
Not found in the SBA Franchise Directory under this name — though SBA loans to its franchisees exist; verify eligibility with your lender
SBARRO
Other · independent · est. —
Sbarro is an Italian-American fast-food chain known for large slices of pizza, pasta, and other Italian dishes served cafeteria-style, often in mall food courts. Customers grab quick pizza slices and hot entrees. A franchisee operates a counter location, managing food prep, display, and fast service.
SBARRO net unit count grew +25.2% from 2021–2025 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
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: owner turnover is low.
Exit rate · latest year
6.8%
fiscal 2025, per Item 20
Cost to open
$212K–$906K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
36.4%
11 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
2021–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 15 of 220 franchised outlets left the system — a 6.8% annualized exit rate. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 303 | 309 | 346 | 369 | 371 |
| Opened | 29 | 53 | 35 | 31 | 33 |
| Transfers | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| Non-renewals | 11 | 12 | 2 | 11 | 6 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 0 | 5 | 17 | 2 |
| Outlets at end | 309 | 346 | 369 | 371 | 387 |
| Net change | +6 | +37 | +23 | +2 | +16 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 17 SBA-backed loans to SBARRO franchisees since 1992. Only 11 have resolved so far — too thin for a reliable default rate, but 4 of them charged off.
—
11 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$707,680
what recent franchisees borrowed
100 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
2 vs 2
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 SBARRO BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
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 $212K–$906K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$212K–$906K
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 SBARRO with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 14 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $6K in back wages for 46 workers, including 8 child-labor cases. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
14
Back wages owed
$6K
Employees affected
46
Since 2020
2
8 of these cases involved child-labor violations, covering 21 minors across the system's franchised locations.
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual SBARRO franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not SBARRO 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
The public record puts this brand toward the middle of the systems we score — but the evidence is thin, so treat it as a range, not a number.
Risk percentile (range)
23–47 / 100
Directional
Modeled SBA charge-off
10.6%
Observed SBA charge-off
36.4%
Top drivers: Investment ceiling (log) (lowers) · System size (log units) (lowers) · Item 3 litigation (log) (raises) · Net unit growth (lowers). Thin loan history — treat this as a range, not a number. 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 SBARRO. 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 SBARRO's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →SBARRO franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of SBARRO franchises closed last year?
In SBARRO's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 15 of 220 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 6.8%. 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 SBARRO franchise cost?
Per SBARRO's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $30K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $212K–$906K (Item 7).
What royalty does SBARRO charge?
SBARRO charges an ongoing royalty of 5.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does SBARRO disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — SBARRO makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $724K. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.