Teriyaki Madness is a fast-casual restaurant known for its Japanese-inspired Teriyaki bowls, and distinct Asian cuisine with an in-your-face ambiance. The chain was founded in 2003 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and has over 100 locations to date.

How much does it cost to open a Teriyaki Madness? To start your own Teriyaki Madness location, you’ll need liquid capital of $100,000 and a net worth of more than $200,000 to qualify. You can expect an initial investment ranging from $327,200 – $678,260 with a franchising fee of $45,000. Try our 7-minute franchise business quiz to find out if Teriyaki Madness is right for you. 

If Teriyaki Madness is your dream business, I’ve broke down all the financial requirements, advantages and drawbacks of running this franchise. In my humble opinion this is everything you need to know before opening this franchise. Let’s get into it. 

Financial Requirements and Fees

One of the first things you should learn about if you want to buy a Teriyaki Madness franchise is the company’s financial requirements and costs to open a location. I want to save you time and effort, so I have included all the necessary financial criteria and any additional fees. But first, let me define a few financial terms you’ll encounter in this section.

1. Liquid capital – (also known as cash required) refers to the entire amount of money you have available and could access without a traditional loan.
2. Net worth – refers to the value of all your non-financial and financial assets minus the value of all your outstanding liabilities. 
3. Total investment – is the total capital or the total money you will need to put into the franchise overtime to get it up and running. 
4. Franchise fee – refers to the amount you must pay to the franchisor to use its brand and resources.

Here are the different Teriyaki Madness franchise packages to choose from:

As you can see there’s a volume discount when opening a Teriyaki Madness franchise. This is helpful to understand since the most successful franchise owners have multiple locations. This is the path to multiple six figures in annual profit with the food franchise model.  

To open your own Teriyaki Madness location, you’ll need $100,000 in liquid capital and a net worth of more than $200,000. An initial investment of $327,200 – $678,260 is expected and a range of $45,000-$150,000 franchising fee depending on the number of stores you plan to operate. Additionally, the chain has a royalty fee of 6 percent and a marketing fee of 3 percent of gross sales. Before signing on the dotted line with this franchise, make sure you’re okay with handing offer 9% of the gross sales right off the top. 

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It’s important to remember that before committing to a franchise, you should carefully consider the overall cost of ownership. Although some franchise opportunities promote low franchise fees, there are several other factors to consider like training, payroll, technology, brand awareness, and market saturation. 

Average Sales / Revenue Per Year

In 2020, the Teriyaki Madness had a system-wide sales of $60,820,458. This was a system-wide revenue increase of 48%. Wowza! In addition, sales for pre-pandemic grand openings grew 45 percent in 2020 compared to 2019. This is impressive considering the challenges other restaurant concepts experienced during the same time period. 

Perhaps most impressively, the fast-casual claims to be on the verge of a rapid expansion with 45 – 50 new locations planned for 2021. Teriyaki Madness boosted corporate staff by 50% and hired 27 additional employees to support the growth.

According to the corporation, 78 percent of franchisees are interested in opening new sites, indicating success for existing franchisees. If the franchise wants to hire “Restaurant Sherpas” to run sites, there is a signal of absentee potential. In other words, once you get a good manager in place, you could be good to go. 

Teriyaki Madness Franchise Facts

Teriyaki Madness was founded in 2003 when the founders brought the Seattle-style teriyaki they had enjoyed as students to Las Vegas to investigate if the concept would work in a different market. Soon, they had a sizable fan base and average unit volumes in excess of a million dollars. 

The fast-casual chain began expanding its proven business principles nationwide in 2012 with seven restaurants in operation. Fast forward to right now, the company is running in 20 states with over 200 franchise ownerships sold with no plans to slow down. 

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Teriyaki Madness won many awards in 2020. TMAD was placed #95 on Franchise Gator’s list of the Top 100 Franchises for 2020. The top 100 franchises were ranked based on information from each Franchise Disclosure Document, the franchise’s financial soundness, transparency, and sustainability. 

According to TMAD, their recent expansion was enabled by a three-year investment in the development of its leadership team, products, and processes, which allowed the brand to advance to the point where it can bring on a number of experienced people to teach and train franchisees.

How Much Profit Does A Teriyaki Madness Franchisee Make Per Year?

One of the highlights is that the company has an average unit volume (AUV) of $1,079,488. An AUV of $1.07 million means that Teriyaki Madness may have a strong profit potential. Average unit volume is a metric that gives insight on how restaurants are performing across their portfolios. Franchising brands often leverage AUV to give prospective operators a sense of their return on investment. 

Teriyaki Madness is transparent about its financial reports. Why wouldn’t they be? A winning franchise should have nothing to hide. On their website, you find detailed financial performance information about the company. They provide prospective franchisees the opportunity to view official income statements from all shops that have been in operation for at least two years and had no change of ownership.

Advantages of Franchising Teriyaki Madness

Teriyaki Madness’ rice bowls in various flavors.

There are numerous factors to consider before advancing with a franchise opportunity. Aside from the financial criteria, you need to consider if the franchisor provides solid training to franchisees or not. That being said, I’ve emphasized the advantages of owning your own Teriyaki Madness restaurant to assist you to make an informed decision. Here are some of the advantages as I see it. 

Number Transparency

Teriyaki Madness prides itself on number transparency and an Average Unit Volume (AUV) of $1,079,488. Teriyaki Madness offers access to their official income statements from their operating franchisees so that potential franchisees are free to decide whether buying a franchise is worth it or not. Shouldn’t all franchise concepts operate under this basic principle? I think so too. 

Training And Support

All new franchise investors receive comprehensive training and support beginning with a three-stage training program covering all areas of the business. Initial training takes place over four days at our headquarters in Denver, CO, offered every six weeks throughout the year.

Hands-on training is then scheduled for five days in either Virginia Beach, VA or Lincoln, NE to engage owners and their designated managers one-on-one. Hands-on training is usually scheduled within eight weeks of the grand opening.

After that, special trainers are stationed at each location for 10-14 days to assist with the opening and staff training, with a variety of ongoing support options such as business coaching, operations updates, and extra training programs available. The training is second to none with this concept. 

Fastest Growing Segments

Teriyaki Madness blends the two fastest-growing segments: fast casual and Asian cuisine. According to Euromonitor International, the fastest-growing foodservice segment was fast-casual dining, which grew 10.4 percent from 2014 to 2015, bringing in USD $3.4 billion. 

Fast casual was followed by Asian restaurants, which grew by 9.3 percent, indicating the importance of the Chinese market. Despite the market’s slowdown, China remains the largest market for consumer foodservice, with sales exceeding USD $617 billion, up 9.5 percent from 2014 to 2015.

Continued Expansion

According to Technomic statistics, the chain is the fastest-growing restaurant chain in the United States. This means they beat out brands like Popeyes Louisiana Chicken, While Castle, and Wingstop. Despite the fact last year’s economic climate favored mega-chains, Teriyaki Madness with little over 100 locations still came out on top. 

The fast casual chain boasts to be on the verge of a rapid expansion, with 45-50 new sites planned for 2021. Teriyaki Madness increased its corporate workforce by 50% and added 27 new personnel to assist the expansion.

Healthy Eats

Teriyaki Madness has spent over 15 years mastering their craft in an effort to provide its one-of-a-kind teriyaki taste and health food franchise to people all over the world. In a food industry full of less-than-healthy options, the chain takes satisfaction in being on a mission to deliver a delicious, healthy alternative to consumers around the country. 

The fast-casual chain offers savory meals using only freshly made, all natural ingredients. Because there are no freezers on the premises, their meats are slowly marinated and their meals are prepared to order. The restaurant also serves a range of sauces cooked from scratch with only fresh ingredients. 

Challenges of Franchising Teriyaki Madness

Along with the benefits of owning a Teriyaki Madness franchise there are also downsides to consider too. To help you in decision-making, we enlisted some of the difficulties you may face as a Teriyaki Madness franchise owner.

Brand Name

Let’s face it: “Teriyaki Madness” is just not catchy enough, and some restaurant reviews agree. You’re probably wondering why the name is so important, and the answer is pretty simple: Having a strong brand name allows you to leave a lasting impact on customers.

Lack Of Manpower

Restaurants around the country are having difficulty finding employees. According to a Time magazine survey, restaurant workers are leaving the sector for a number of reasons, including low pay, concerns about health and safety, and animosity from customers and bosses.

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There is a chance that finding skilled people to assist you in your location will require some effort. One way restaurants are attempting to re-employ people is by raising wages. If you own this business, you may expect to spend a significant amount of time recruiting and training personnel.

Large Menu

There are numerous options on the Teriyaki Madness menu. A large menu offers guests a wide range of options. However, it also means that there will be more work to be done in terms of staff training.

Some restaurant owners believe that providing a wide array of items will be more enticing to customers. But it doesn’t take long for many new restaurateurs to find that an overly wide menu requires an inordinate amount of preparation time, increases the likelihood of food spoilage, and ultimately costs more money than a more streamlined menu. 

Is the Teriyaki Madness Franchise Right For You?

Teriyaki Madness’ noodles and veggies.

Aside from the financial requirements, there are still many other things you should consider before buying this franchise. As a form of self-reflection, here are some points to consider.

• Consider the quality of franchisor support. Owning a franchise necessitates familiarity with many different facets of business management, as well as managing the franchisee and franchisor relationship. You must decide whether the franchisor is willing to assist you in all elements of the business’s operation.
• Think about the hiring process. Finding the right employees is a big component of running a successful franchise. You must determine whether the franchisor will assist you in hiring experienced candidates. Before purchasing a franchise, learn about the employment procedure and whether they use recruiting firms or if you will be needed to locate appropriate people yourself.

Are there a lot of customer complaints about Teriyaki Madness? 

Many customers have expressed dissatisfaction with their Teriyaki Madness experience. However, there are many positive reviews, with some giving the fast-casual chain five stars. Some of the reviews can be found here.

What’s on the menu? How many locations are there?

Teriyaki Madness has more than 100 locations to date. The chain serves a wide array of items on their menu including Japanese food bowls, appetizers, noodles, and sides.

What is an alternative Teriyaki Madness franchise?

Some Teriyaki Madness alternatives you might want to look into are El Pollo Loco and Five Guys:

To operate El Pollo Loco, you’ll need $600,000 in liquid assets per unit and a total net worth of $1.5 million. The total investment ranges from $770,000 to $2,097,000 per unit, depending on location. The franchise cost for El Pollo Loco is $40,000 per unit.

Five Guys, on the other hand, requires an average of $315,000 and $700,000 to run a location. El Pollo Loco requires franchisees to have at least five years of experience in the restaurant sector as an owner or operator/manager. 

I hope this overview of the two alternatives was useful. These are also fast-casual chains and well-known restaurant franchises.