Franchise Truth for Veterans has issued a warning to Veterans and military families regarding the CRAVE Hot Dogs & BBQ franchise opportunity. Crave Hot Dogs and BBQ is aggressively “searching for Veterans that are looking to own their own business.” Veterans, military families, and others should be aware that Crave Hot Dogs and BBQ has a disturbingly high franchise failure rate and a number of locations that have been resold (churned) multiple times. Crave franchisees & former franchisees are invited to share what prospective CRAVE owners should know. Your confidential experiences, opinions and support are invited. by Sean Kelly
(UnhappyFranchisee.Com) The Crave Hot Dogs & BBQ franchise is promoted as an opportunity to own a successful, engaging restaurant, food truck or a fast-casual location (some recently added inside Walmarts].
According to a company press release, Crave Hot Dogs and BBQ is currently “searching for Veterans that are looking to own their own business.”
The company claims that 85% – 90% of Crave franchise owners are Veterans or active duty service members.
In fact, they targeted Veterans from the start:
When Sal and Samantha Rincione founded Crave, they always knew they wanted to aim to help veterans and active duty members. Sal himself, being a veteran, saw the importance of offering an opportunity to our service men and women…
The dedication and training that our veterans and active duty members have, can help them succeed in business”
The initial investment necessary is $301,500 to $1,192,500 for a Crave restaurant franchise and $261,300 to $338,500 for the food truck franchise.
At that level of investment, Crave franchisees often are rolling their life savings, family money, 401Ks and/or committing to SBA loans to finance their dream of business ownership.
Sadly, many who put their trust in the Crave brand and leadership have lost everything as Crave’s franchise failure rate has risen to be one of the highest in the nation… Perhaps in history.
Due to the fact that many locations have failed, were resold to new owners, and failed again, company disclosure documents reveal an astronomical franchise turnover rate of 172%.
And yet the company continues to promote the Crave Hot Dogs & BBQ franchise dream to Veterans, military families and others.
According to the 2025 CRAVE Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), the chain had an average of 18 franchises open during the most recent three year period.
During the same period, 31 franchises exited the system through terminations, ceased operations or ownership transfers.
That amounts to a deeply disturbing turnover rate of 172% – one of the highest we’ve seen.
Our preliminary search of closed and/or transferred locations indicates this number may be understated, as some franchises have had several owners in a short amount of time (churning) and some failed locations and franchisee departures appear to have escaped disclosure.
The following list includes the franchise owners disclosed in recent Crave FDDs as having left the system.
We’ve then listed some we discovered that do not appear to have been disclosed in company FDDs.
These lists are preliminary and submitted for discussion, clarification and correction. Please share additions or corrections with a comment below or by emailing the author in confidence at UnhappyFranchisee[at]Gmail.Com.
ARIZONA
AZ Maricopa, Arizona Ray Jones
ARKANSAS
AR Bryant, Arkansas Justin Janney
CALIFORNIA
CA Simi Valley, California Cynthia Campbell, Richard Walters
COLORADO
CO Colorado Springs, CO Jamal Westry, Kelly Ann Westry [Bankruptcy Recorded] [AIR FORCE VETERAN]
CO Colorado Springs, CO Jason Davis [Bankruptcy Recorded]
CO Denver, Colorado Jason Davis (Lumberjack Hospitality LLC) [Bankruptcy Recorded]
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
DC Washington, DC Floyd Bui
FLORIDA
FL Orlando, Florida [Shoppes at South Orange] Justin Planinz, Tracy Planinz [AIR FORCE VETERAN]
FL Jensen Beach, Florida Charles Christy
FL Newberry, Florida Melissa Gray & Vance Gray
FL Venice, Florida John Brasch, James Laurie, Tracey O’Connell
GEORGIA
GA Dawsonville, Georgia Robert Bibb [Bankruptcy Recorded]
GA Dawsonville, Georgia [?]
GA Lawrenceville, Georgia Aneitra Shavers
GA Lionel Meyers
GA Terrell White
ILLINOIS
IL Bloomington, Illinois Darshan Patel, Kishan Patel, Viren Nayi
IL North Aurora, Illinois Tieman/Franciscy
IL Alex Brackenridge
IOWA
IA Bettendorf, IA James Ballard
LOUISIANA
LA Baton Rouge, Louisiana Felicia Hebert, Corey Hebert [Bankruptcy Recorded]
LA Kenner, Louisiana Karl Wulf [ARMY VETERAN]
LA Shreveport Heather LaGrange, Justin LaGrange
MICHIGAN
MI Michigan Garrett Palmer
MI Canton Melissa Capobianco
NEVADA
NV Henderson, Nevada Rick Davies
NORTH CAROLINA
NC Charlotte, North Carolina Daniel Morman*
NC Wilmington, North Carolina Wayne Decker & Laura Decker [MARINE CORPS VETERANS]
NC Shannon Schlatterer, Brian Schlatterer
OHIO
Raymond Deweese II
OKLAHOMA
OK Yukon, Oklahoma Eddie Steffensen, Kevyn Steffensen
PENNSYLVANIA
PA Bethel Park, Pennsylvania Mark Berry, Angie Berry
PA Williamsport, Pennsylvania Spencer Newman, Chris Smith*
SOUTH CAROLINA
SC Spartanburg, South Carolina Paul Gowan, Janene Gowan
SC *Double – Dash LLC Robert Kroon
TEXAS
TX Landon Houston, Kevin Houston, Misti Houston
TX Houston, Texas Tex L. Ridings & Brandi Ridings
TX Christopher Lewis
TX Arlington, Texas (Spring) Cynthia Kay, Mona Jones
TX Pflugerville, Texas Carl Moore, Shirley Moore [ARMY VETERAN]
Here are locations believed to be closed /owners who left the system that do not appear to be fully disclosed in company FDDs.
Invitation: All companies and individuals discussed on our website are invited to submit corrections, clarifications, rebuttals and/or statements of their points-of-view.
Documentation & Links:
CRAVE Hot Dogs 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD)
The JDog Report: An Urgent Call to End the Exploitation of Veterans in Franchising [UPDATED]
What Do You Think?
Are You Familiar with the Crave Hot Dogs & BBQ Franchise Opportunity?
Do You Have Corrections, Additions or Clarifications for Our Lists?
Leave a Comment Below or Email in confidence to UnhappyFranchisee[at]Gmail.Com.
Tags: CRAVE, CRAVE franchise, CRAVE Hot Dogs Franchise, CRAVE Hot Dogs & BBQ franchise, Veterans Franchise, CRAVE Walmart, Crave closed, Crave franchise failures, Crave Franchises Closed, CRAVE Franchising, LLC, Samantha Rincione, Salvatore Rincione, Sal Rincione, Jake Moran, Nicholas Stone, Rhett Batanides, Foundry Commercial Real Estate, veteran’s warning
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