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
COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER
Other · independent · est. —
Cousins Maine Lobster sells Maine-style lobster rolls and seafood through food trucks and some brick-and-mortar locations. Franchisees typically operate one or more food trucks, working events, catering jobs, and scheduled public stops.
COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER net unit count declined -60.0% 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
Too new to judge
Distress
5 franchised units over 3 disclosed years is not a track record — systems this early have realized only a fraction of their eventual failures. Judge the disclosures, not a verdict.
Exit rate · latest year
50.0%
fiscal 2025, per Item 20
Cost to open
$267K–$966K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
Too few resolved
10 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
2023–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 2 of 4 franchised outlets left the system — a 50.0% annualized exit rate. 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 | 7 | 5 | 4 |
| Opened | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Transfers | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Non-renewals | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Outlets at end | 5 | 4 | 2 |
| Net change | -2 | -1 | -2 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 10 SBA-backed loans to COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER franchisees since 2016. Most are still open, so there is not yet a resolved cohort large enough to rate.
—
4 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$499,600
what recent franchisees borrowed
68 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
5 vs 4
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 COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER 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 $40K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $267K–$966K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$267K–$966K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$40K
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 COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 1 wage case against operators of this system, recovering $2K in back wages for 10 workers. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
1
Back wages owed
$2K
Employees affected
10
Since 2020
1
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER 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 2026.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER. 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 COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER franchises closed last year?
In COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 2 of 4 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 50.0%. 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 COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER franchise cost?
Per COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $40K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $267K–$966K (Item 7).
What royalty does COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER charge?
COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER charges an ongoing royalty of 6.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — COUSINS MAINE LOBSTER makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $1.3M. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.