Verified — real FDD extraction
SBA-eligible · directory code S2659 since 2018
Carbone's Pizzeria and Carbone's Pizza
Food & Dining · independent · est. —
Carbone's Pizzeria is a pizza restaurant chain serving thin-crust pizza along with Italian-American dishes, sandwiches, and pasta, with both dine-in and takeout/delivery formats. It's a long-running regional pizza brand. A franchisee operates a pizzeria, running the kitchen and local delivery.
Carbone's Pizzeria and Carbone's Pizza net unit count declined -2.7% from 2019–2023 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
-5.7%
vs 8.6% across 137 food & dining systems
Cost to open
$151K–$328K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
Too few resolved
11 loans exist; too few resolved to rate
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
2019–2023
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2023, -2 of 35 franchised outlets left the system — a -5.7% 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) | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 36 | 36 | 37 | 37 | 37 |
| Opened | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Transfers | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | -2 |
| Outlets at end | 37 | 37 | 37 | 37 | 36 |
| Net change | +1 | +1 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 11 SBA-backed loans to Carbone's Pizzeria and Carbone's Pizza franchisees since 2014. Most are still open, so there is not yet a resolved cohort large enough to rate.
—
6 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$309,150
what recent franchisees borrowed
74 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
2 vs 5
distinct banks — pulling back
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 CARBONE'S PIZZERIA AND CARBONE'S 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 $151K–$328K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$151K–$328K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$25K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
4%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$40K
4% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$400K
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 Carbone's Pizzeria and Carbone's Pizza with an independent CPAModeled 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)
51–75 / 100
Directional
Modeled SBA charge-off
14.6%
Observed SBA charge-off
16.7%
Top drivers: System size (log units) (raises) · Item 20 exit rate (lowers) · Investment ceiling (log) (raises) · 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 Carbone's Pizzeria and Carbone's 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 Carbone's Pizzeria and Carbone's Pizza's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →Carbone's Pizzeria and Carbone's Pizza franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of Carbone's Pizzeria and Carbone's Pizza franchises closed last year?
In Carbone's Pizzeria and Carbone's Pizza's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2023), -2 of 35 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of -5.7% — 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 Carbone's Pizzeria and Carbone's Pizza franchise cost?
Per Carbone's Pizzeria and Carbone's Pizza's 2023 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $25K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $151K–$328K (Item 7).
What royalty does Carbone's Pizzeria and Carbone's Pizza charge?
Carbone's Pizzeria and Carbone's Pizza charges an ongoing royalty of 4.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2023 FDD.
Does Carbone's Pizzeria and Carbone's Pizza disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — Carbone's Pizzeria and Carbone's Pizza makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2023 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.