The strongest defensible annual range is the 2025 average 4-Wall EBITDA reported for the bottom, middle, and top Net Sales thirds of mature U.S. franchised bakeries. The all-bakery median was $299,190 and the average was $314,561. These are business-level EBITDA figures, not a guaranteed owner salary, distribution, or after-tax take-home amount.
How to read the number: The range reproduces official cohort averages; it is not an independent forecast. The franchisor defines the measure as Gross Profit less specified unit-level expenses, while excluding owner salary or draw, interest, depreciation, amortization, taxes, and several other items. Actual cash available to an owner can differ materially with revenue, labor, occupancy, financing, owner involvement, location, and execution.
Item 19 directly reports an earnings measure for U.S. franchised bakeries rather than only reporting revenue. That makes it stronger than an industry-margin estimate.
The current disclosure defines the measure and provides a large cohort, but the population mixes active and delegated operating models and covers 46.8% of operating U.S. units.
How much can a Nothing Bundt Cakes owner make annually?
The most supportable answer is approximately $157,073 to $513,774 in annual unit-level EBITDA for a mature bakery, depending on the sales cohort. The middle-third average was $271,163, while the full 358-bakery population produced an average of $314,561 and a median of $299,190 during fiscal 2025. These are official disclosure figures for units operating at least 24 months.
Use the range as a description of three historical cohort averages, not as a probability band. A prospective bakery is not equally likely to land at each point, and the document does not identify the result of a specific owner, territory, lease, or financing structure.
2025 average for 358 mature franchised bakeries.
A better central reference when high performers lift the average.
Revenue, not owner earnings, for the same P&L cohort.
Reported EBITDA divided by the table's revenue figure.
358 P&L reporters divided by 765 operating U.S. franchised bakeries.
6% royalty plus 5% combined marketing contributions, included in the earnings table.
Official annual averages for mature franchised bakeries in fiscal 2025.
Interpretation: The difference is driven by both higher revenue and operating leverage. Average margin rises from 16.2% in the bottom third to 24.5% in the top third.
Source: 2026 Nothing Bundt Cakes FDD, Item 19, pp. 63–65. Values are official cohort averages, not forecasts for a new bakery.
| FDD cohort | Bakeries | Average Net Sales | Average 4-Wall EBITDA | EBITDA margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom Net Sales third | 119 | $971,903 | $157,073 | 16.2% |
| Middle Net Sales third | 119 | $1,353,396 | $271,163 | 20.0% |
| Top Net Sales third | 120 | $2,094,047 | $513,774 | 24.5% |
| All reporting bakeries | 358 | $1,474,849 | $314,561 | 21.3% |
What does 4-Wall EBITDA actually measure?
4-Wall EBITDA is an official unit-level operating measure, but it is not the same as owner earnings or cash deposited into an owner's personal account. For the 2025 P&L cohort, the document starts with revenue, subtracts cost of goods sold, specified variable expenses, fixed expenses, and an adjusted 11% royalty-and-marketing charge, then reports the residual as this measure.
The $1,474,849 average Net Sales figure is annual revenue. The official average operating result is $314,561 after the disclosed cost categories. Calling the sales figure an owner's income would overstate the evidence by more than $1.16 million.
The official P&L components reconcile $1,474,849 of average revenue to a $314,561 residual.
Interpretation: Labor is the largest named cost inside Total Variable Expenses. Occupancy becomes proportionally less burdensome as sales rise, helping explain the margin spread between the bottom and top thirds.
Source: 2026 Nothing Bundt Cakes FDD, Item 19, pp. 63–65. The bridge differs by $1 from arithmetic using displayed whole-dollar figures because the FDD rounds each value.
Item 6 lists additional technology and operating fees, including POS support, online ordering, refrigeration monitoring, music, digital menu board, VoIP, and technology services. The earnings table does not separately map every listed fee to a P&L line. Do not subtract them again from the reported result without confirming whether they are already classified in Office, Other Variable Expenses, Other Fixed Expenses, or another included category (2026 FDD, Item 6, pp. 16–18).
How does owner involvement change the result?
Owner involvement changes what the disclosed EBITDA represents, even when the reported dollar amount is the same. For the same fiscal 2025 cohort of 358 mature U.S. units, the disclosure treats owner and manager compensation differently. Item 15 generally requires a principal to devote full-time attention to the bakery, but it permits an approved non-principal Operator when no principal serves in that role. The official Nothing Bundt Cakes franchise opportunity page likewise describes candidates as owner/operators or investors with experienced operators.
Manager-run bakery
Residual EBITDAManager salary, bonuses, payroll taxes, and benefits are included in Labor. The remaining EBITDA is therefore closer to a business-level residual before owner pay, financing, taxes, depreciation, and excluded expenses.
Owner-operated bakery
Profit + labor valueOwner Payroll is removed from Labor before the measure is calculated. The resulting amount can combine return on the business with compensation for the owner's full-time work. It should not be described as passive profit.
Is the $80,457 Owner Payroll figure extra income?
No. The $80,457 average is an official contextual figure, but it should not be added to the reported result. Among 190 bakeries that reported Owner Payroll, the average was $80,457 per bakery. The franchisor then excluded Owner Payroll from Labor when calculating the measure, so that payroll is one possible use or classification of the resulting pool, not an additional layer on top of it.
A buyer comparing an actively operated bakery with a manager-run bakery should separate two returns: compensation for full-time Operator labor and residual return on invested capital. The disclosure does not split the 358-bakery cohort by owner role, so it cannot establish a precise passive-owner earnings figure.
Multi-unit owners require another adjustment. The document excludes 18 Hub locations that perform baking or other duties for nearby bakeries under common ownership. The per-unit result should not be multiplied across a portfolio without accounting for shared production, Area Manager payroll, central overhead, unit maturity, and development timing.
Why can actual owner earnings fall outside the official range?
Actual owner earnings can be below $157,073 or above $513,774 because the published endpoints are averages within sales thirds, not minimum and maximum outcomes. The figures are official for the fiscal 2025 cohort of 358 mature U.S. franchised bakeries. The document does not disclose the lowest or highest EBITDA, and it excludes new bakeries and several other groups from the P&L analysis.
- Maturity bias: every bakery in the P&L cohort had operated for at least 24 months, with an average operating age of 7.6 years. A new bakery may follow the separately disclosed revenue ramp rather than mature-unit economics.
- Reporting selection: the 358-bakery cohort excludes units without qualifying full-year P&Ls or with more thana 10% POS-to-P&L revenue discrepancy, along with younger bakeries and Hub locations.
- Unaudited source data: the franchisor states that franchisee-submitted data were not audited or independently verified.
- Owner-role mixing: manager salary remains in Labor, while Owner Payroll is removed. Without a role split, the result is not a uniform measure of passive residual profit.
- Below-the-line costs: interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, accounting fees, other expenses, debt principal, remodel reserves, and personal taxes can reduce cash available for distribution.
- Site economics: labor productivity, occupancy, delivery expense, product mix, ticket size, online sales, square footage, and local execution materially affect the result.
The disclosure says 409 bakeries were excluded, but the listed categories total 407: 167 reporting or reconciliation exclusions, 222 bakeries under 24 months, and 18 Hub locations. The 358 included bakeries plus 407 listed exclusions reconcile exactly to 765 operating franchised bakeries. A buyer should request written substantiation and clarification of the stated 409 count and the reference to 2024 P&Ls inside the 2025 analysis.
The broad revenue evidence is somewhat reassuring: Part I includes all 545 franchised bakeries operating at least 24 months and reports average 2025 Net Revenues of $1,477,163, while the 358-bakery P&L cohort reports average Net Sales of $1,474,849. The $2,314 difference is small, but similar average revenue does not eliminate cost-reporting selection bias or the owner-role issue.
What should a buyer verify before relying on the earnings figures?
A buyer should verify the earnings substantiation, the target bakery's owner-role structure, and every expense omitted or ambiguously classified in the disclosed measure. This applies to the 2026 document's fiscal 2025 mature-unit disclosure. The Federal Trade Commission's Franchise Rule defines a financial performance representation and requires a reasonable basis and written substantiation; the FTC Franchise Rule Compliance Guide provides additional context for evaluating disclosures.
- Request the written earnings substantiation and reconcile the 358-unit population, the 407 listed exclusion reasons, and the FDD's stated 409 exclusions.
- Ask for a breakdown of owner-operated, non-principal Operator, manager-run, multi-unit, and Hub-supported bakeries within the earnings population.
- Confirm whether the target site is at or below 1,800 square feet or larger, then test local rent, common-area charges, utilities, wages, payroll burden, and delivery costs.
- Map each Item 6 recurring fee to the target pro forma and confirm which fees are already included in the disclosed expense categories.
- Interview current and former franchisees in the bottom, middle, and top sales bands; ask separately about owner hours, Operator compensation, maintenance capital, remodels, and distributions.
- Model interest and principal payments separately from reported EBITDA, and do not convert the result into after-tax take-home without entity-specific tax advice.
What is the most defensible earnings answer?
The strongest defensible range is $157,073 to $513,774 of annual unit-level EBITDA, with a $299,190 median and $314,561 average for the fiscal 2025 mature U.S. cohort. It is an official earnings measure, not a scenario estimate, but it is still not identical to owner take-home pay.
The largest earnings driver is revenue combined with labor and occupancy leverage: the official EBITDA margin increases from 16.2% in the bottom sales third to 24.5% in the top third. The largest unresolved uncertainty is owner role, because Owner Payroll is removed while manager compensation remains in Labor and the disclosure does not separate the cohort by operating model.
A buyer should rely on the range only after reviewing the earnings substantiation, reconciling the exclusion-count inconsistency, mapping all recurring fees and below-the-line costs, and testing the target location with current and former franchisees. Debt service and personal taxes remain separate from the operating earnings reported here.
Primary FDD references: 2026 Nothing Bundt Cakes Franchise Disclosure Document, NBC Franchisor LLC, Item 1 pp. 1–3; Item 6 pp. 13–19; Item 15 pp. 51–52; Item 19 pp. 60–69; Item 20 pp. 70–84.