From the filed FDD — automated extraction, check the source
2026 FDD
SBA-eligible · directory code S1107 since 2017
Metal Supermarkets
Retail & Products · parent company: not identified
Metal Supermarkets is a small-quantity metals retailer selling cut-to-size steel, aluminum, and other metals with no minimum order. A franchisee operates a warehouse-style store with cutting equipment, serving maintenance departments, fabricators, machine shops, and hobbyists who need small amounts of metal quickly.
Metal Supermarkets net unit count grew 16.5% over 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. Most numbers on this page come from that document; others come from federal SBA loan records and labor and census data, each labelled with its source:
- 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, transferred and left the system, the main basis for our verdict, which rates how strong the disclosed record is, or says when the system is too new, the filing too old, or the disclosure too thin to judge.
Our rating · opinion
Proven & steady
A real track record, solid rather than standout. Units grew 16% (2023–2025: 85 → 99); the fiscal 2025 exit rate was 0.0%, below the 6.5% median across 23 comparable systems (retail & products). SBA loans to its franchisees approved FY1997–2020 charged off about as often as franchise loans of the same years (6 vs about 5.3 expected, 1.1×).
Exit rate · fiscal 2025
0.0%
vs 6.5% median across 23 comparable systems (retail & products)
Cost to open
$398K–$671K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan losses · vs same-year loans
1.1×
6 of 39 charged off vs ~5.3 expected
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Data as of 2026-10-29. Figures come from Metal Supermarkets's public FDD filings (latest: MN 2026, extracted 2026-07-30) and SBA FOIA loan records (through FY2026), extracted by us and possibly containing errors. The rating is our opinion, not investment, legal, or tax advice. Franchisor or owner and see something wrong? Report a correction — we review every request.
What each source says
FDD record · SBA loans · model · auditor
The sources broadly agree, and the verdict follows the FDD's operating record.
FDD record · Item 20
Steady operating record
Units grew 16% (2023–2025: 85 → 99); exit rate 0.0% (fiscal 2025) vs 6.5% median.
SBA loans · vs same-year loans
About as expected (1.1×)
6 charge-offs among 39 resolved loans approved FY1997–2020; about 5.3 expected.
Modeled risk
Moderate
Safer than 67% of scored systems.
Auditor opinion · Item 21
Clean opinion
Unqualified audit, 2026 FDD. Says nothing about franchisee results.
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
latest consecutive years · 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 · shown, not counted in the verdict
Systemwide units
2023–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 0 of 92 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 0.0% (fiscal 2025), vs a 6.5% median across 23 comparable systems (retail & products). An exit is not a failure: this counts terminations, non-renewals and "ceased — other reasons" as reported, and excludes transfers to new owners.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 84 | 85 | 93 |
| Opened | 4 | 11 | 6 |
| Transfers | 4 | 3 | 6 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Outlets at end | 85 | 93 | 99 |
| Net change | +1 | +8 | +6 |
The franchisor's own finances
FDD ITEM 21 · AUDITED STATEMENTS · 2026 FDD
MNP LLP gave an unmodified (clean) opinion on the statements in the 2026 FDD; revenue rose 11% from FY2024 to FY2025.
This is the company selling the franchise, not any franchisee. A clean opinion means the statements are fairly presented — not that the business is healthy.
Audit opinion
Unmodified (clean) opinion
MNP LLP
Revenue · FY2025
$19.5M
extracted · not cross-checked
Net income · FY2025
$3.6M
extracted · not cross-checked
Where FY2025 revenue came from
59% royalties
initial-fee share not extracted
Show the statement figures ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Fiscal year | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | $17.5Mextracted · not cross-checked | $19.5Mextracted · not cross-checked |
| Royalty revenue | $10.3Mextracted · not cross-checked | $11.4Mextracted · not cross-checked |
| Net income (loss) | $3.3Mextracted · not cross-checked | $3.6Mextracted · not cross-checked |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan outcomes · compared with franchise loans of the same years
Banks have made 81 SBA-backed loans to Metal Supermarkets franchisees since 1997. Of the 39 approved FY1997–2020 that have resolved, 6 charged off — where about 5.3 would be expected for franchise loans made in the same years. That is 1.1× the expected rate: these loans defaulted about as often as comparable franchise loans.
All-time, 6 of 46 resolved loans charged off (13.0%). That raw figure mixes every approval year since 1997 — loans made in 2006–08 failed at several times the rate of loans made in 2010–13 across all franchises — so it is shown as evidence, not as the score. 43% of the brand's loans have not resolved yet.
1.1×
6 of 39 resolved (FY1997–2020) vs ~5.3 expected
13.0%
6 of 46 resolved, every approval year
—
charged-off $ ÷ approved $, defaulted loans
$344,789
what recent franchisees borrowed
—
shown with 10+ defaults
19 vs 12
distinct banks still lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%) · dashed line = all franchise loans that year
Loan performance by state
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO METAL SUPERMARKETS BY SBA FRANCHISE NAME/CODE · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL · EXPECTED = SAME-YEAR RATE ACROSS ALL SBA FRANCHISE LOANS, LOANS ≥ ~6 YEARS OLD
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $49,500 franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $398K–$671K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$398K–$671K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$49,500
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
See Item 6
not a single flat % — read the fee table
This is not profit. It covers what the FDD fixes: what you put in, and the royalty you owe on sales. Your take-home depends on cost of goods, labor, rent, and the months to breakeven, none of which the FDD fixes for your unit (some Item 19s include cost data — read it).
Build a real pro-forma for Metal Supermarkets with a buyer-paid CPAHow the earnings claim is built
FDD ITEM 19 · BASIS · 2026 FDD
This filing makes an Item 19 earnings claim; we have not yet read how it is built. Open Item 19 and check which units it covers, which it leaves out, and whether it shows costs.
Show the basis ↓Hide the evidence ↑
Modeled risk
FDD Risk Score · a prediction from disclosure and loan-file features
Modeled from the public record, this brand looks safer than 67% of the systems we score (moderate band).
Observed · vs same-year loans
1.1×
6 of 39 seasoned loans charged off
Risk percentile
33rd
Checkable · higher = riskier
Modeled · vs same-year loans
1.0×
≈ 15.6% at the all-loan vintage mix
Top drivers: Item 20 exit rate (lowers) · Share financed by high-loss lenders (lowers) · System size (log units) (raises) · Share of buyers who are first-time operators (raises). The brand has 30+ seasoned resolved SBA loans, so the score can be checked against its own record. A linear scorecard trained on brands' vintage-adjusted SBA loss records; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.
Public records
Bankruptcy, closure & federal court records · coverage is selective · dockets are not scored
We have no verified public-record signals published for Metal Supermarkets. This is not evidence that no events exist. Check PACER, the FDD's Item 3 (litigation) and Item 4 (bankruptcy), and recent news yourself.
8 questions to ask a Metal Supermarkets franchisee
Built from this brand's own disclosures · take it to your validation calls
The franchisor will give you a list of owners to call. Most buyers ask whether they like it. These questions come from what Metal Supermarkets has disclosed. Each one carries the number it came from, so you can check the answer against the record.
- 01
6 units transferred to new owners in fiscal 2025. When you look at those, were they people cashing out a good business — or getting out of a bad one?
Item 20 counts transfers as neutral, but a transfer can be a good sale or a reluctant exit — the filing does not say which.
FDD Item 20 · FY2025
- 02
SBA loans to Metal Supermarkets franchisees approved 1997–2020 defaulted about as often as franchise loans made in the same years: 6 charge-offs among 39 resolved loans, where about 5.3 would be expected (1.1×). Did you finance with an SBA loan, and how close did your first two years come to trouble?
This is the lender's view of how these loans ended, from public federal records matched by SBA franchise code — independent of anything the franchisor discloses — compared with franchise loans made in the same years. A charge-off is a loan outcome, not proof the business closed.
SBA 7(a)/504 loan record, seasoned loans FY1997–FY2020 · 1.1× of same-vintage franchise loans
- 03
Metal Supermarkets makes an earnings claim in Item 19. Does your unit look like that number — and do you know which units they included to build it?
Item 19 is legal to build from a flattering subset. Ask whether they excluded new units, closed units, or company stores.
FDD Item 19 · 2026
- 04
How many months did it take to cover your own costs, and how much cash did you burn getting there?
Ramp-to-breakeven working capital is the most underestimated line in any franchise purchase, and the most common reason otherwise-good units fail.
Not disclosed in any FDD — ask an owner
- 05
Item 3 discloses 1 legal matter. Do you know what it was about, and was it brought by franchisees?
Franchisee-brought suits over territory, fees or support tell you how the franchisor behaves when there's a disagreement.
FDD Item 3 · 2026
- 06
What does the franchisor charge for that you didn't expect — required tech fees, mandatory remodels, approved-supplier pricing?
Required spending appears across Items 6, 8 and 11 rather than in one place, so buyers routinely miss the total.
FDD Items 6, 8, 11
- 07
If your agreement came up for renewal tomorrow at current terms, would you sign again?
The single most predictive question you can ask. A hesitation is the answer.
Ask every owner you speak to
- 08
Who else should I call — including someone who left?
The franchisor's list is curated by definition. Former franchisees are where the unflattering truth lives, and current owners usually know how to reach them.
Ask every owner you speak to
Want this as a checklist you can take to the calls?
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A broker is usually paid by the franchisor to place you. I'm paid only by you, never by a franchisor you're considering — and the job is pressure-testing Metal Supermarkets’ numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
This page is what buyers see before they call you for validation. If the record above is wrong — or right in a way the numbers can't show — say so. Franchisors: send corrections with the page reference and we will review them against the filing and update or annotate the page. Corrections are checked against the filings; nothing you write is published with your name unless you agree to it.
Metal Supermarkets franchise questions, answered from the filings
How many Metal Supermarkets franchised outlets left the system last year?
In Metal Supermarkets's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 0 of 92 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 0.0% — compared with a 6.5% median across 23 comparable systems (retail & products) tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons" as the franchisor reported them; it excludes transfers to new owners. The FDD does not say why each outlet left, and an exit is not the same as a failure.
How much does a Metal Supermarkets franchise cost?
Per Metal Supermarkets's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $49,500 (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $398K–$671K (Item 7).
Does Metal Supermarkets disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — Metal Supermarkets makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $1.9M. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.
How often do SBA loans for Metal Supermarkets franchises default?
SBA loans to Metal Supermarkets franchisees approved 1997–2020 defaulted about as often as franchise loans made in the same years: 6 charge-offs among 39 resolved loans, where about 5.3 would be expected (1.1×). All-time, 6 of 46 resolved loans since 1997 charged off (13.0%); that raw figure mixes every approval year, so we compare with same-year loans instead. A charge-off is a loan loss, not proof the business closed. Source: public SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA data.