Franchise Facts Report → brands → Crafty Crab
Crafty Crab franchise — is it worth it?
Medium risk No franchised units open yet
Crafty Crab Franchising LLC is a full-service restaurant concept requiring an initial investment between $952,800 and $1,831,399.
Everything below is free, read straight off Crafty Crab's registered filing. The $99 report is the part a single FDD can't give you: the fee and churn detail, and where every number lands against full-service restaurant peers.
The numbers above tell you what Crafty Crab discloses. The report tells you whether that's good:
- What the missing Item 19 means here — how many full-service restaurant franchisors do disclose, so you know whether this silence is ordinary or not.
- Where every number ranks — investment, fees, royalty, earnings and churn against full-service restaurant median and quartile. This is the part no single FDD, and no AI reading one, can produce.
- What's driving the medium risk read — the specific figures behind it, not the label.
- The litigation, split properly — each case, and which ones franchisees brought against the franchisor rather than the reverse.
- The questions to ask before you sign — drawn from what Crafty Crab's own filing leaves open, in the words to use on the call.
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Compare 3 brands — $249 See a sample reportFigures above are as disclosed in Crafty Crab's most recent FDD (registered 2023). Source: California Dept. of Financial Protection and Innovation — Franchise Registration · filing app-28954 — check it yourself. The Item 19 figures, where each number ranks against peers, and the litigation & churn detail are in the full report.
Crafty Crab franchise profit — what the FDD discloses
Plainly: Crafty Crab does not disclose franchise profit or revenue. Its most recent FDD makes no Item 19 financial performance representation, so there is no franchisor-backed earnings figure for Crafty Crab — any number quoted elsewhere is an estimate, not a disclosure. The absence is itself worth weighing (many full-service restaurant franchisors do disclose), and the full report reads the risk signals Crafty Crab's FDD does contain — fees, litigation, and outlet churn — against peers. For brands that put earnings on paper, see Full-service restaurant franchises with disclosed Item 19 earnings.
Crafty Crab lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)
Crafty Crab's most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2023) discloses no litigation in Item 3. That is a real signal rather than a gap: the FTC Franchise Rule requires a franchisor to disclose material litigation involving itself, its predecessors, parents, affiliates and management, so an empty Item 3 in a current filing means there was nothing it was required to report. It is worth reading alongside the churn numbers — a system can have a clean Item 3 and still be losing franchisees, which is what Item 20 shows.
Crafty Crab closures & failure rate
Before you sign, Crafty Crab will hand you a list of current owners to call as references — and they choose who's on that list. It won't include the owners who quit, got bought out, or were forced out last year. The FDD does report that number, even though the reference list leaves those people off. Below is what Crafty Crab's most recent filing shows, and whether it's normal for a full-service restaurant of this kind.
The closest thing an FDD has to a failure rate is Item 20 — outlet openings, closures, terminations and non-renewals, reported by the franchisor. Crafty Crab reports no franchised units open yet — there is no operating track record to churn. The actual closure and termination counts, and how Crafty Crab's churn ranks against full-service restaurant peers, are in the full report.
What the fee, litigation and churn signals imply, every number ranked against full-service restaurant peers, and the litigation and churn detail — delivered instantly, yours to keep.
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Who owns Crafty Crab?
Crafty Crab's franchise is offered by Crafty Crab Franchising LLC — the franchisor named on the cover of its most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2023), and the entity a franchisee actually signs with. That name comes straight off the filing at CA DFPI; it identifies the franchisor, not necessarily the ultimate parent company behind it.
Full-service restaurant franchises at a similar investment level
Anyone weighing Crafty Crab is really weighing it against the other brands their money could go into. These are the closest by total initial investment (FDD Item 7), each with its own FDD-based page.
Crafty Crab franchise — frequently asked
Who owns Crafty Crab — who is the franchisor?
Crafty Crab's most recently filed FDD (2023) names Crafty Crab Franchising LLC as the franchisor — the entity you would actually sign the franchise agreement with, as stated on the disclosure document itself. A registry filing names the franchisor, not necessarily its ultimate parent company.
How much does a Crafty Crab franchise cost?
Crafty Crab's most recently filed FDD (Item 7) puts the total estimated initial investment at $952,800 – $1,831,399 and a 1.5% royalty. That price is the franchisor's own estimate of what it takes to open, not a quote. The full report breaks down every fee line and benchmarks it against full-service restaurant peers.
How much profit does a Crafty Crab franchise make?
Crafty Crab makes no Item 19 financial performance representation, so there is no franchisor-disclosed revenue or profit figure for Crafty Crab at all — and profit would never be disclosed even where earnings are, because it depends on your rent, labor and how you operate. Any profit figure quoted elsewhere is an estimate, not a disclosure.
Does Crafty Crab disclose financial performance (Item 19)?
No — Crafty Crab's most recent FDD makes no Item 19 financial performance representation. Its absence is worth weighing; the report focuses on the verifiable risk signals instead.
Are there lawsuits against Crafty Crab?
No — Crafty Crab's most recently filed FDD (2023) discloses no litigation in Item 3. Franchisors must disclose material litigation involving themselves, their predecessors, parents, affiliates and management, so an empty Item 3 is a genuine signal rather than an omission.
Is Crafty Crab a good franchise to buy?
Nobody can answer that from Crafty Crab's numbers alone — it comes down to how its investment, earnings, litigation and franchisee churn stack up against full-service restaurant peers, which is what the full report is for. Our read on this filing is medium risk, stated free above. For $99 you get the figures driving that read, the actual Item 19 earnings (absent from this FDD — and how unusual that is for the category), where every figure ranks against peers, and the specific questions to ask the franchisor before you sign.
A Crafty Crab franchise is a $952,800 – $1,831,399 decision you make once, on a ten-year agreement, usually with a personal guarantee behind it. For $99 you get an independent read of the document that decides it: what the absent Item 19 earnings imply, and how unusual that absence is for the category, every figure ranked against full-service restaurant peers, the litigation split into franchisee and corporate matters, the churn behind the outlet count — and the questions to put to the franchisor before you sign. If it tells you nothing new, reply within 14 days and we'll refund it.
Not useful? Reply to your delivery email within 14 days for a refund — no forms, no argument.
Compare 3 brands — $249Get a free email when something changes on Crafty Crab or full-service restaurant: a new FDD registration, a new lawsuit, an outlet count that shifts, or Item 19 earnings going from undisclosed to disclosed. Pulled straight from the same registries every report is built on.