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
DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES
Food & Dining · independent · est. —
Dirty Dough is a cookie shop chain selling oversized, stuffed and layered gourmet cookies along with milk and other treats, for takeout and delivery. A franchisee operates a cookie bakery storefront, managing baking, packaging, and order fulfillment.
DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES net unit count grew +1280.0% from 2021–2024 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
A real track record with an unremarkable region of the ledger: neither the growth nor the exits stand out, for better or worse. The main concern in the record: owners are leaving at a high rate.
Exit rate · latest year
19.6%
vs 8.6% across 137 food & dining systems
Cost to open
$154K–$510K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
0.0%
10 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
2021–2024
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2024, 9 of 46 franchised outlets left the system — a 19.6% 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) | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 1 | 6 | 14 | 60 |
| Opened | 4 | 9 | 34 | 22 |
| Transfers | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| Outlets at end | 5 | 14 | 60 | 69 |
| Net change | +4 | +8 | +46 | +9 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 51 SBA-backed loans to DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES franchisees since 2022. Only 10 have resolved so far — too thin for a reliable default rate, but 0 of them charged off.
—
10 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$213,400
what recent franchisees borrowed
—
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
—
distinct banks lending
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 DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
Who finances it
the Huntington National Bank
66.7% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 10.1% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.
Who buys it
31.3%
first-time franchise owners
The rest already owned at least one other franchise. Across the corpus, brands bought mostly by repeat operators charge off at roughly 10% versus 17% for brands sold mostly to newcomers.
Does experience help here?
Not enough resolved loans to split
Computed from 51 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES franchisees joined to the brand's own FDD. Debt service assumes level amortization at the average disclosed term and rate. A lender's rate excludes its loans to this brand, so it reads the lender, not the brand.
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $35K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $154K–$510K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes no earnings claim (Item 19) — ask current and former franchisees for real numbers.
To open (Item 7)
$154K–$510K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$35K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
6%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — this brand discloses no Item 19 earnings; validate with current & former owners.
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 DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES with an independent CPAModeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
The public record puts this brand toward the safer end of the systems we score — but the evidence is thin, so treat it as a range, not a number.
Risk percentile (range)
14–38 / 100
Directional
Modeled SBA charge-off
9.5%
Observed SBA charge-off
0.0%
Top drivers: Single-lender dependence (lowers) · Share financed by high-loss lenders (lowers) · System size (log units) (raises) · Item 20 exit rate (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 DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES. 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 DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES franchises closed last year?
In DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2024), 9 of 46 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 19.6% — 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 DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES franchise cost?
Per DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES's 2024 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $35K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $154K–$510K (Item 7).
What royalty does DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES charge?
DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES charges an ongoing royalty of 6.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2024 FDD.
Does DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES disclose earnings (Item 19)?
No — DIRTY DOUGH COOKIES's 2024 FDD makes no financial performance representation in Item 19. That is legal and common, but it means the franchisor publishes no earnings claim; ask current franchisees for real numbers.