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
Villa Pizza
Food & Dining · independent · est. —
Villa Pizza is a quick-service pizza and Italian food concept commonly found in mall food courts and other high-traffic venues. A franchisee operates a counter-service unit serving slices, pastas, and Italian entrees to shoppers and travelers.
Villa Pizza net unit count declined -17.5% 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
Proven & steady
Distress
The operating record is solid, but the FDD discloses a bankruptcy history (Item 4) — capped below a full endorsement. The main concern in the record: the system is shrinking.
Exit rate · latest year
7.0%
vs 8.6% across 137 food & dining systems
Cost to open
$374K–$1.4M
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
33.3%
12 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, 3 of 43 franchised outlets left the system — a 7.0% 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 | 83 | 80 | 71 |
| Opened | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| Transfers | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Terminations | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Non-renewals | 4 | 5 | 1 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Outlets at end | 80 | 71 | 66 |
| Net change | -3 | -9 | -5 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 16 SBA-backed loans to Villa Pizza franchisees since 2001. Only 12 have resolved so far — too thin for a reliable default rate, but 4 of them charged off.
—
12 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$676,100
what recent franchisees borrowed
84 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
—
distinct banks lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO VILLA PIZZA 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 $25K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $374K–$1.4M (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$374K–$1.4M
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$25K
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 Villa Pizza with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 12 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $8K in back wages for 47 workers, including 4 child-labor cases. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
12
Back wages owed
$8K
Employees affected
47
Since 2020
0
4 of these cases involved child-labor violations, covering 6 minors across the system's franchised locations.
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual Villa Pizza franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not Villa Pizza 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 2019.
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)
38–62 / 100
Directional
Modeled SBA charge-off
12.6%
Observed SBA charge-off
33.3%
Top drivers: System size (log units) (raises) · Investment ceiling (log) (lowers) · Item 3 litigation (log) (lowers) · Net unit growth (raises). 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 Villa Pizza. 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 Villa Pizza's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →Villa Pizza franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of Villa Pizza franchises closed last year?
In Villa Pizza's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 3 of 43 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 7.0% — 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 Villa Pizza franchise cost?
Per Villa Pizza's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $25K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $374K–$1.4M (Item 7).
What royalty does Villa Pizza charge?
Villa Pizza charges an ongoing royalty of 6.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does Villa Pizza disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — Villa Pizza makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $794K. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.