Verified — real FDD extraction
SBA-eligible · directory code S8101 since 2025
Slick City
Other · independent · est. —
Slick City is an indoor entertainment franchise built around large slides and dry action-park attractions rather than trampolines. A franchisee builds out and operates a warehouse-scale family entertainment venue with attractions staff and party hosts, selling admission, memberships, and birthday party packages.
Slick City net unit count grew +733.3% 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
Too new to judge
Distress
5 franchised units over 3 disclosed years is not a track record — systems this early have realized only a fraction of their eventual failures. Judge the disclosures, not a verdict.
Exit rate · latest year
Not disclosed
Cost to open
$1.5M–$4.7M
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
Too few resolved
9 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, 0 of 0 franchised outlets left the system. 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 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| Opened | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Transfers | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Outlets at end | 3 | 9 | 25 |
| Net change | +1 | +6 | +16 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 9 SBA-backed loans to Slick City franchisees since 2025. Most are still open, so there is not yet a resolved cohort large enough to rate.
—
0 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$2,712,677
what recent franchisees borrowed
—
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
—
distinct banks lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO SLICK CITY BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $75K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $1.5M–$4.7M (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$1.5M–$4.7M
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$75K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
7%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$70K
7% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$700K
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 Slick City with an independent CPALabor 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. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
1
Back wages owed
$0
Employees affected
0
Since 2020
0
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual Slick City franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not Slick City 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 2015.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for Slick City. 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 Slick City's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →Slick City franchise questions, answered from the filings
How much does a Slick City franchise cost?
Per Slick City's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $75K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $1.5M–$4.7M (Item 7).
What royalty does Slick City charge?
Slick City charges an ongoing royalty of 7.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does Slick City disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — Slick City makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $3.9M. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.