Verified — real FDD extraction
Not found in the SBA Franchise Directory — SBA financing may be unavailable; verify with your lender
Qdoba Mexican Eats
Food & Dining · independent · est. —
Qdoba Mexican Eats is a fast-casual restaurant chain serving build-your-own burritos, bowls, tacos, quesadillas, and nachos with customizable toppings like guacamole and queso. Customers order assembly-line style and eat in or take out. A franchisee operates a restaurant, managing kitchen and counter staff, food prep, and daily service.
Qdoba Mexican Eats net unit count grew +6.0% from 2022–2024 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 & 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
1.8%
vs 8.2% across 146 food & dining systems
Cost to open
$546K–$1.3M
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
No loan record
no SBA 7(a)/504 loans found for this brand
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
2022–2024
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2024, 10 of 571 franchised outlets left the system — a 1.8% annualized exit rate, vs 8.2% across 146 food & dining systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 739 | 733 | 747 |
| Opened | 57 | 140 | 52 |
| Transfers | 21 | 5 | 1 |
| Terminations | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 12 | 13 | 9 |
| Outlets at end | 733 | 747 | 777 |
| Net change | -6 | +14 | +30 |
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 $546K–$1.3M (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$546K–$1.3M
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$40K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
5%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$50K
5% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$500K
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 Qdoba Mexican Eats with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 5 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $5K in back wages for 32 workers, including 2 child-labor cases. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
5
Back wages owed
$5K
Employees affected
32
Since 2020
1
2 of these cases involved child-labor violations, covering 11 minors across the system's franchised locations.
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual Qdoba Mexican Eats franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not Qdoba Mexican Eats 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 2025.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
Qdoba Mexican Eats closes its doors in Herndon
news:The Burn · 8mo ago
Qdoba Mexican Eats closes at Twelve Corners in Brighton
news:Democrat and Chronicle · 94mo ago
8 questions to ask a Qdoba Mexican Eats 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 are the questions built from what Qdoba Mexican Eats has actually disclosed — each one carries the number it came from, so you can tell whether the answer squares with the record.
- 01
Qdoba Mexican Eats’ own Item 20 shows 10 of 571 franchised outlets left the system in fiscal 2024 — about 1.8%. Do you know any of those owners, and do you know why they left?
A franchisor will call these “transitions.” An owner three doors down usually knows whether they sold at a profit or handed the keys back.
FDD Item 20 · FY2024
- 02
1 units transferred to new owners in fiscal 2024. When you look at those, were they people cashing out a good business — or getting out of a bad one?
Transfers count as neutral in every ranking. They are the single easiest place to hide distress.
FDD Item 20 · FY2024
- 03
You pay 5.0% royalty on gross sales, plus the ad fund, before any of your own costs. On your actual revenue last year, what did you take home as the owner — not revenue, take-home?
Royalty is charged on sales, not profit. This is the number the brochure never shows and the one your life actually runs on.
FDD Item 6
- 04
Qdoba Mexican Eats 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 · 2024
- 05
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
- 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?
I'll email you the printable version, and tell you if Qdoba Mexican Eats’ numbers move — a new filing, a rising exit rate, a distress signal. Unsubscribe in one click.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. I'm paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Qdoba Mexican Eats's 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. Corrections are checked against the filings; nothing you write is published with your name unless you agree to it.
Qdoba Mexican Eats franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of Qdoba Mexican Eats franchises closed last year?
In Qdoba Mexican Eats's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2024), 10 of 571 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 1.8% — compared with 8.2% across 146 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 Qdoba Mexican Eats franchise cost?
Per Qdoba Mexican Eats's 2024 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $40K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $546K–$1.3M (Item 7).
What royalty does Qdoba Mexican Eats charge?
Qdoba Mexican Eats charges an ongoing royalty of 5.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2024 FDD.
Does Qdoba Mexican Eats disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — Qdoba Mexican Eats makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2024 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.