WHO IS BEHIND THIS
Don Drummond, CPA
I built Franchise Watch Desk because the honest numbers about franchising already exist — in FDD Item 20 outlet tables, in Item 21 audited financials, in thirty-four years of SBA loan outcomes — and almost nobody puts them in front of the person writing the check.
Why an auditor, specifically
My background is internal audit and controls. I ran SOX audit programs over financial reporting at XO Communications, and before that did governance and risk assessments at Deloitte, including internal-control work for a $3 billion federal agency. I trained in assurance at Ernst & Young, briefly, at the start of my career.
That is an unglamorous background and it is exactly the right one for this. Reading an FDD well is an audit problem, not a sales problem. The interesting parts of a franchise disclosure are the parts that are technically true and practically misleading: an Item 19 built from the top third of the system, a growth story that hides its terminations in the “ceased operations — other reasons” column, an Item 21 carrying going-concern language the franchisor’s recruiter has never read. Finding the gap between what a document says and what it means is the entire job of an auditor, and it is the entire job here.
In between, I spent six years as a U.S. Army officer and then managed a $300 million international logistics agreement across 11 sites. Franchise buyers are usually making the biggest operational commitment of their lives. I have some feel for what it costs to run something complicated when the consequences are real.
How I’m paid — and why it matters
A franchise broker or “consultant” is almost always paid a commission by the franchisor — typically $12,000 to $25,000 — when you sign. They are paid to place you in something, and they are paid nothing at all if the honest answer is “none of these.” That is not a character flaw; it is arithmetic.
No brand rated on this site has ever paid me a penny for its coverage — no commissions, no referral fees, no listing fees, no paid placement anywhere on this site. No brand can buy a better verdict, a higher ranking, or a mention. When I work for a buyer, that buyer is the only person paying me, which is exactly what leaves me free to say walk away. And I do.
I also advise businesses weighing whether to franchise their own company. That is separate work, and it buys nothing here. It is described here.
Credentials
Licensure is verifiable through the Virginia Board of Accountancy's public license lookup.
What this site is, mechanically
Franchise Disclosure Documents are collected from state registration portals and public sources, and their Item 20 outlet tables, Items 5–7 costs, Item 19 earnings claims and Item 21 audited financials are extracted and checked. Those are joined to the full SBA 7(a)/504 loan record since 1991, Department of Labor wage-and-hour enforcement, OSHA inspections and federal trademark filings. Every figure on a brand page links to the document it came from, and where a franchisor discloses nothing, the page says “Not Disclosed” rather than estimating. The full method is public, including the exact evidence gate that decides which brands are allowed a verdict at all.
Bring the brand you’re weighing. We’ll open its filings together and find the number you haven’t modelled yet.