FRANCHISE·WATCH·DESK

Verified — real FDD extraction

Not found in the SBA Franchise Directory under this name — though SBA loans to its franchisees exist; verify eligibility with your lender

SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB

Other · independent · est. —

Spitz is a fast-casual restaurant franchise serving Mediterranean street food centered on doner kebab meat carved from vertical rotisseries, in wraps, bowls, and fries plates, often with beer and wine. A franchisee operates a storefront restaurant with a service-line kitchen, serving lunch and dinner customers for dine-in, takeout, and delivery.

SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB net unit count grew +60.0% from 20232025 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

0
STABLE

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 main concern in the record: too many owners are failing outright rather than selling.

Exit rate · latest year

0.0%

fiscal 2025, per Item 20

Cost to open

$594K–$1.2M

Item 7 total investment range

SBA loan defaults

Too few resolved

22 loans exist; too few resolved to rate

Behind the verdict

the record, factor by factor · Item 20

hi-1.0.0
Net unit growth35%

3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1

Strong
Exit quality25%

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

Weak
Transfer / churn15%

transfers vs. base · Table 3

Strong
Promise-keeping10%

actual vs. projected openings · Table 5

Strong
Transparency15%

Item 19 disclosure + completeness

Strong

Systemwide units

2023–2025

+60.0%
202023252024322025

Survival record

FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year

In fiscal 2025, 0 of 20 franchised outlets left the system — a 0.0% annualized exit rate. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.

Show the outlet tables
Status (FTC)202320242025
Outlets at start152025
Opened568
Transfers000
Terminations010
Non-renewals000
Reacquired by franchisor000
Ceased — other reasons000
Outlets at end202532
Net change+5+5+7

The lender's view

SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present

Banks have made 22 SBA-backed loans to SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB franchisees since 2017. Most are still open, so there is not yet a resolved cohort large enough to rate.

Charge-off rate

4 resolved · too thin to rate

Loss given default

avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $

Expected loss

default rate × loss severity

Avg. loan · FY2020+

$419,947

what recent franchisees borrowed

Median time to default

approval → charge-off, defaulted loans

Lenders · FY21+ vs FY16–20

7 vs 3

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 SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL

The owner's side of the deal

FDD × federal loan record

Manageable debt load

A typical SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB buyer since 2020 borrowed $420K through SBA — about $60K a year in debt service. Against the brand's own disclosed median unit revenue of $1.6M, that is 3.8% of every dollar the store takes in — before rent, payroll, food, or royalty.

Who finances it

the Huntington National Bank

47.6% 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

Too few identified operators

Does experience help here?

Not enough resolved loans to split

Computed from 22 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB 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 $594K–$1.2M (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.

To open (Item 7)

$594K–$1.2M

all-in investment range

Franchise fee (Item 5)

$35K

upfront, one-time

Royalty (Item 6)

6%

of sales, ongoing

If a unit does this in annual sales…$1M/yr

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 SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB with an independent CPA

Modeled risk

FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record

Lower risk

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)

5–29 / 100

Directional

Modeled SBA charge-off

8.3%

Observed SBA charge-off

no resolved cohort

Top drivers: System size (log units) (raises) · Share financed by high-loss lenders (lowers) · Net unit growth (lowers) · Single-lender dependence (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 SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.

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SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB franchise questions, answered from the filings

What percentage of SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB franchises closed last year?

In SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 0 of 20 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 0.0%. 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 SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB franchise cost?

Per SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $35K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $594K–$1.2M (Item 7).

What royalty does SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB charge?

SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB charges an ongoing royalty of 6.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.

Does SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB disclose earnings (Item 19)?

Yes — SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $1.6M. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.

Is SPITZ - HOME OF THE DONER KEBAB a good franchise to buy? Health score, exit rate & costs (2026) · Franchise Watch Desk