Verified — real FDD extraction
SBA-eligible · directory code S2320 since 2017
PLAYA BOWLS
Other · independent · est. —
Playa Bowls is a fast-casual chain serving acai, pitaya, and other superfruit bowls, smoothies, and juices. A franchisee operates a counter-service storefront with a prep line and small staff, serving health-conscious and younger customers.
PLAYA BOWLS net unit count grew +72.2% 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
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: the system is growing.
Exit rate · latest year
1.5%
fiscal 2025, per Item 20
Cost to open
$282K–$1.1M
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
Too few resolved
68 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, 4 of 262 franchised outlets left the system — a 1.5% 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 | 163 | 216 | 291 |
| Opened | 53 | 74 | 85 |
| Transfers | 2 | 1 | 19 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Outlets at end | 216 | 291 | 372 |
| Net change | +53 | +75 | +81 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 68 SBA-backed loans to PLAYA BOWLS franchisees since 2020. Most are still open, so there is not yet a resolved cohort large enough to rate.
—
5 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$365,852
what recent franchisees borrowed
—
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
24 vs 1
distinct banks still 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 PLAYA BOWLS BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
A typical PLAYA BOWLS buyer since 2020 borrowed $366K through SBA — about $56K a year in debt service. Against the brand's own disclosed median unit revenue of $1.1M, that is 5.1% of every dollar the store takes in — before rent, payroll, food, or royalty.
Who finances it
the Huntington National Bank
16.2% 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
60.0%
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 68 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to PLAYA BOWLS 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 $282K–$1.1M (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$282K–$1.1M
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$35K
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 PLAYA BOWLS with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 9 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $315 in back wages for 7 workers, including 9 child-labor cases. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
9
Back wages owed
$315
Employees affected
7
Since 2020
9
9 of these cases involved child-labor violations, covering 38 minors across the system's franchised locations.
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual PLAYA BOWLS franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not PLAYA BOWLS 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 2022.
Modeled 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)
0–24 / 100
Directional
Modeled SBA charge-off
7.7%
Observed SBA charge-off
0.0%
Top drivers: Share financed by high-loss lenders (lowers) · Net unit growth (lowers) · System size (log units) (lowers) · Investment ceiling (log) (lowers). 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 PLAYA BOWLS. 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 PLAYA BOWLS's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →PLAYA BOWLS franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of PLAYA BOWLS franchises closed last year?
In PLAYA BOWLS's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 4 of 262 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 1.5%. 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 PLAYA BOWLS franchise cost?
Per PLAYA BOWLS's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $35K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $282K–$1.1M (Item 7).
What royalty does PLAYA BOWLS charge?
PLAYA BOWLS charges an ongoing royalty of 6.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does PLAYA BOWLS disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — PLAYA BOWLS makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $1.1M. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.