FRANCHISE·WATCH·DESK

From the filed FDD — automated extraction, check the source

2024 FDD · 1+ year old

SBA-eligible · directory code S8474 since 2025

Roni's Mac Bar

Pasta & Italian fast casual · parent company: not identified

Roni's Mac Bar is a fast-casual restaurant centered on macaroni and cheese, serving customizable mac-and-cheese bowls with various mix-ins and toppings. Customers order build-your-own comfort-food dishes to eat in or take out. A franchisee runs a small restaurant, managing kitchen prep and counter service.

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

Not enough disclosure

The latest FDD we hold has no usable Item 20 outlet history (or our extraction of it is low-confidence), so there is no operating record to judge.

Exit rate · fiscal 2023

No franchised base

no franchised outlets at the start of the year

Cost to open

$139K–$218K

Item 7 total investment range

SBA loan losses

Too few to rate

0 seasoned resolved loans; 30 needed

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Data as of 2026-10-29. Figures come from Roni's Mac Bar's public FDD filings (latest: MN 2024, extracted 2026-06-18) 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

Our answer: Not enough disclosure

Without a usable FDD there is no disclosed record to rate; any loan figures are context.

FDD record · Item 20

No usable Item 20

No outlet history to judge.

SBA loans · vs same-year loans

Too few seasoned loans

0 resolved loans approved by FY2020; 30 needed.

Modeled risk

Not scored

Too little evidence for the model.

Auditor opinion · Item 21

Not extracted

We did not extract the audit opinion.

Behind the verdict

the record, factor by factor · Item 20

hi-1.0.0
Net unit growth41%

latest consecutive years · Item 20 Table 1

Fair
Exit quality29%

terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3

Strong
Transfer / churn18%

transfers vs. base · Table 3

Fair
Promise-keeping12%

actual vs. projected openings · Table 5

Weak
Transparencynot in verdict

Item 19 disclosure + completeness · shown, not counted in the verdict

Strong

Systemwide units

2022–2023

1 → 1 units
1202212023

Survival record

FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year

The franchisor reported no franchised outlets at the start of fiscal 2023, so there is no franchised exit rate to report; the outlet tables below show what it does operate.

Show the outlet tables ↓
Status (FTC)20222023
Outlets at start01
Opened00
Transfers00
Terminations00
Non-renewals00
Reacquired by franchisor00
Ceased — other reasons00
Outlets at end11
Net change+10

The lender's view

SBA 7(a)/504 loan outcomes · compared with franchise loans of the same years

Banks have made 2 SBA-backed loans to Roni's Mac Bar franchisees since 2026. Only 0 of its loans approved by FY2020 have resolved — fewer than the 30 we need to compare it fairly with other franchise loans, so we don't rate it.

All-time, 0 of 0 resolved loans charged off (—). That raw figure mixes every approval year since 2026 — 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. 100% of the brand's loans have not resolved yet.

Loss vs same-year loans

—

0 seasoned resolved · 30 needed

All-time charge-off · raw

—

0 of 0 resolved, every approval year

Loss given default

—

charged-off $ ÷ approved $, defaulted loans

Avg. loan · FY2020+

$259,750

what recent franchisees borrowed

Median time to default

—

shown with 10+ defaults

Lenders · FY21+ vs FY16–20

—

distinct banks lending

Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%) · dashed line = all franchise loans that year

SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO RONI'S MAC BAR 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 $49,000 franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $139K–$218K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.

To open (Item 7)

$139K–$218K

all-in investment range

Franchise fee (Item 5)

$49,000

upfront, one-time

Royalty (Item 6)

5.9%

of sales, ongoing

If a unit does this in annual sales…$900K/yr

Starts at a placeholder of $900K — a round figure for the sector, not from Roni's Mac Bar’s filings. Set your own figure and check it against this brand's Item 19 and what owners tell you.

Royalty you'd pay / yr

$53K

5.9% of sales, before profit

Over a 10-yr term

$531K

royalties alone, excl. ad fund

This estimate is computed by software from the brand's public filings and any inputs you enter. No CPA prepared it for you and no assurance is provided on it. Actual results will differ, and the differences may be material.

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 food and packaging cost, 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 Roni's Mac Bar with a buyer-paid CPA

How the earnings claim is built

FDD ITEM 19 · BASIS · 2024 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 ↓

Labor record

US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present

Federal investigators have concluded 1 wage case against operators of this system, recovering $0 in back wages for 0 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

$0

Employees affected

0

Since 2020

1

Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual Roni's Mac Bar franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not Roni's Mac Bar 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. Cases are matched to the brand by trade name and may include misattributed employers. Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division concluded compliance actions, FY2005–present, most recent finding 2025.

Public records

Bankruptcy, closure & federal court records · coverage is selective · dockets are not scored

We have no verified public-record signals published for Roni's Mac Bar. This is not evidence that no events exist. Check PACER, the FDD's Item 3 (litigation) and Item 4 (bankruptcy), and recent news yourself.

7 questions to ask a Roni's Mac Bar 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 Roni's Mac Bar has disclosed. Each one carries the number it came from, so you can check the answer against the record.

  1. 01

    Item 7 puts the cost to open at $139K–$218K, yet the average recent SBA loan to Roni's Mac Bar franchisees was $260K — above the whole range. What did those loans pay for: new units, resales, real estate, several units at once? And what did you actually spend to open, all in?

    A loan above the disclosed range can mean buyers routinely overspend Item 7, or that SBA money in this system funds resales, property or multi-unit deals. The filing doesn't say which; an owner can.

    FDD Item 7 vs SBA approvals FY2020+

  2. 02

    You pay 5.9% 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

  3. 03

    Roni's Mac Bar 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

  4. 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

  5. 05

    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

  6. 06

    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

  7. 07

    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 Roni's Mac Bar’s numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.

Don Drummond, CPA — Virginia #43775 · what I charge

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Own or owned a Roni's Mac Bar — or represent the franchisor?no appointment · read by a person

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.

Roni's Mac Bar franchise questions, answered from the filings

How much does a Roni's Mac Bar franchise cost?

Per Roni's Mac Bar's 2024 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $49,000 (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $139K–$218K (Item 7).

What royalty does Roni's Mac Bar charge?

Roni's Mac Bar charges an ongoing royalty of 5.9% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2024 FDD.

Does Roni's Mac Bar disclose earnings (Item 19)?

Yes — Roni's Mac Bar makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2024 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.