Supreme Foods Franchising is offering common stock at a $20 million valuation. That’s an enormous valuation for a business that seems to have been formed in the past six months and has no revenue or even clear business model to evaluate. Supreme Foods is possibly raising at this huge valuation because the company is tied in some way to Supreme Foods Worldwide, which operates a chain of 10 fast food restaurants in the Atlanta area. However, it’s not clear if or how this value is tied to Supreme Foods Franchising. Overall, there’s no clear reason why Supreme Foods Franchising is worth $20 million, so the company’s price rating is very low. 

Supreme Foods Franchising gives extensive detail about the market opportunity in fast food, and on this point the company isn’t wrong. The market for fast food is gigantic and continues to grow steadily despite consumers’ purported desire for healthier alternatives. The global fast food market was valued at $647.7 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach $931.7 billion by 2027 thanks to a 4.6% CAGR over the next several years. 

The total market opportunity here isn’t difficult to assess. There are many fast food restaurants in virtually every urban neighborhood and a seemingly endless appetite for new options in burgers, chicken, pizza, and any other food that can be easily eaten in the car or brought home. Of course, new fast food entrants compete against the old standbys like McDonald’s, KFC, and Taco Bell. Still, relatively recent success stories like Chick-fil-A and Chipotle prove there is still room for new giants in fast food. 

In short, Supreme Foods Franchising is playing in a lucrative and growing market, and as a result, its market score is its highest. However, this high market score should be interpreted alongside the context of Supreme Foods’ lack of clear business model or specific plan of attack within the fast food industry, which dampens optimism. 

Supreme Foods Franchising is led by President Waleed Shamsid-Deen, an entrepreneur and author with a decade of experience in business. Promotional blurbs for Shamsid-Deen’s book indicate that he moved from “managing a multi-million dollar operation at the age of 22 to a chance real estate deal with a Libyan prince [… and] has spent the last 20 years gaining a stellar reputation as a shrewd business consultant, manager and community leader.” Shamsid-Deen appears to have inherited a stake in the Atlanta-area fast-food franchise business founded by his father. 

The Supreme Foods Franchising team also includes CFO Amin Aleem and Director of Operations Adeidra Washington. Aleem is an accounting professional with an MBA who has spent over a decade as a financial management consultant specializing in nonprofits. Washington has a similar background as a management consultant with her own firm and has served in previous director of operations roles, including at Shamsid-Deen & Associates, a consulting firm tied to the Supreme Foods Franchising CEO. 

The Supreme Foods Franchising team is relatively well-experienced in business. Shamsid-Deen has meaningful exposure to the fast food industry as the head of the family fast food business, and Aleem and Washington appear to have also played a role in that business over the years. That being said, none of these team members list Supreme Foods Franchising specifically on their LinkedIn profiles, and all seem to be involved in other ventures. While the Supreme Foods team score is decently high, it’s not stellar. 

It’s very difficult to assess Supreme Foods Franchising’s differentiators because it’s unclear what the company specifically plans to do within the fast food franchise space. Upon searching for possible distinguishing characteristics, Supreme Foods does seem to have emerged from an existing fast food franchise chain in Atlanta. The team has experience in this area and seemingly plans to use these existing restaurant concepts as the starters for new franchise opportunities. However, those restaurants (Supreme Fish Delight and Supreme Burger Brands) don’t seem to be particularly differentiated from standard fast food concepts. In sum, Supreme Foods doesn’t seem to offer clear differentiation or defensibility amid the competitive restaurant landscape. Thus, the company’s differentiation score is low. 

Supreme Foods Franchising was formed in December 2020 and thus has no financial data to assess. While this entity seems to be tied in some way to the existing Supreme Foods franchises in Atlanta, it’s not clear how, and specific performance metrics for those businesses aren’t offered with this raise. While Supreme Foods’ performance rating isn’t the lowest possible given that a separate but related entity seems to have some limited operating history, it’s impossible to specifically assess performance. Thus, this rating is quite low.

As crowdfunding investments go, Supreme Foods Franchising is rather risky. The company faces greatest risk in the funding and team areas. Supreme Foods hasn’t raised any capital thus far, and at this high valuation, it’s not clear that this crowdfunding raise will be successful. Team-wise, the company has three executives who seem to be only partially involved alongside running other businesses. Other notable risks come from investment terms (a rather egregious valuation for a brand-new business), financials (no financial data to assess operating performance), and market (it’s difficult to assess market potential for a business that has no clear mission). 

Supreme Foods Franchising simply doesn’t give prospective investors a good idea of how the company plans to operate. Is the business an extension of the franchise chain in Atlanta? If so, it’s difficult to assess its viability without more information about how those restaurants perform. Is Supreme Foods intending to reinvent the franchise model in some key way? If so, that’s not clear, and there’s no indication that the franchise model is in need of fixing. 

At this stage, it’s impossible to predict whether Supreme Foods Franchising could achieve success given that the business model is a total mystery.

Supreme Foods Franchising seems to be tied to an existing fast food franchise business in Atlanta with 10 restaurants nurtured over the last 40 years. If Supreme Foods Franchising intends to directly capitalize on the success of these restaurants, there’s a chance that the business could grow. However, it’s not yet clear if that’s Supreme Foods Franchising’s mission, and even if it were, investors can’t assess any data about those franchise restaurants. 

Supreme Foods Franchising intends to operate in the fast food restaurant franchising space. Beyond that, it’s unclear what the company plans to do or how it intends to make money. While this entity does seem to be related in some way to the pre-existing Supreme Foods franchise chain in Atlanta (10 fish and burger restaurants), investors don’t have the opportunity to evaluate the strength of that business. As a result, this investment is exceedingly risky, particularly at a $20 million valuation. Therefore, Supreme Foods Franchising has been rated an Underweight Deal.

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