Cicis Pizza franchise

2026 filing · June 1, 2026Fewer locationsShares sales figures

Cicis Pizza at a glance

A value-priced pizza buffet restaurant serving pizza, pasta, salads and desserts. At the end of 2025 there were 261 Cicis Pizza locations in the US, 242 franchised and 19 company-owned.

The business

Industry: Pizza; Also listed in restaurant and food
Franchisor: On Smile LLC; The company that sells the franchises
Who runs it: Manager; A trained manager can run it day to day
Franchisor based in: Dallas, Texas

What you pay

Cost to open: $758K–$2.07M; A Cicis Buffet restaurant
Franchise fee: $30,000; For a buffet restaurant
Royalty: 5% of net sales; 5% of net sales for a buffet restaurant (6% for a Cicis To Go), paid weekly
Renewal fee: See terms; $7,500, plus reimbursement of our reasonable costs and expenses
Agreement length: 10 years
SBA Franchise Directory: Listed; SBA-backed loans are possible

Where it is

US locations, 2025: 261; Franchised and company-owned
Franchised: 242
Company-owned: 19
Change in 3 years: −17; Franchised locations, 2023–2025
States: 20; Most in Texas, Florida and Tennessee

Support and records

Shares sales figures: Yes; $1.44M average per location
SBA loans approved: 424; 1992–2026
Lawsuits disclosed: Yes
Bankruptcy disclosed: Yes; The franchisor or a predecessor
Franchisor revenue, 2025: $43.3M; The company, not one location
Franchisor net income: $3.99M
Latest filing: Jun 1, 2026; 2026 filing

From On Smile LLC’s 2026 filing; revenue and net income from its audited financial statements, page 202; SBA status from the SBA Franchise Directory, October 28, 2026.

Franchisor revenue is the company that sells the franchises (royalties, fees and anything else it earns), not what a location makes.

Estimate your costs Model the payback

Where it ranks

Cicis Pizza among all franchises with the same figure.

Figure	Cicis Pizza	Among all franchises
Cost to open, midpointHalfway between the low and high estimate	$1,416,173	Costs more than 88% of franchises
Franchise feePaid once, when you sign	$30,000	Lower than 72% of franchises
RoyaltyShare of sales paid to the franchisor	5%	Lower than 69% of brands with a set rate
US locationsFranchised and company-owned	261	More than 89% of franchises
Sales per locationYearly, as the brand reports it	$1,439,231	Higher than 78% of brands that share sales figures
Sales against cost to openYearly sales over the cost midpoint	1.0×	Lower than 76% of brands that share sales figures

How much a Cicis Pizza franchise costs

Opening a Cicis Buffet restaurant costs an estimated $757,647 to $2,074,699. That covers the franchise fee and everything else needed to open, through the first months of working capital.

Source: On Smile LLC, 2026 filing, page 21

Cicis Pizza franchise fee

The franchise fee is $30,000, for a buffet restaurant. You pay it when you sign the franchise agreement.

Source: On Smile LLC, 2026 filing, page 11

Royalty and ongoing fees

Royalty	5% of net sales for a buffet restaurant (6% for a Cicis To Go), paid weekly.
Technology and Support Fee	$100 per month
Renewal Fee	$7,500, plus reimbursement of our reasonable costs and expenses

The typical franchise royalty is 6% of sales, plus 2% for marketing. See franchise fees and royalties to compare.

Source: On Smile LLC, 2026 filing, page 14

Other fees as filed, from pages 14–15. The filing lists every fee, including late fees and audit costs.

Sales and earnings

Shares figures Cicis Pizza publishes sales or earnings figures for its locations. The full tables, with notes on which locations are counted, are in its filing.

Average sales: $1,439,231
Median sales: $1,398,960
Average adjusted EBITDA: $162,485

Yearly figures for 2025, covering franchised Cicis Buffet restaurants open all of 2025 with full-year results (231 locations). The average is about 1 times the midpoint of the cost to open.

Sales are what a location takes in before rent, payroll, royalties and other costs, not what its owner keeps.

Source: On Smile LLC, 2026 filing, pages 54–57

SBA loans to Cicis Pizza franchisees

Lenders approved 424 SBA-backed loans for Cicis Pizza franchisees from 1992 to 2026, $134M in all: 418 7(a) loans and 6 504 loans. Of the 410 that have ended, 313 were paid in full and 97 were charged off (23.7%). The other 14 haven’t ended yet.

A charged-off loan is one written off as uncollectible. See SBA franchise loans for how 7(a) and 504 loans work.

Source: SBA 7(a) and 504 loan data, as of September 30, 2026

Growth and closures

Share of franchised locations, 2025 / 2023–2025. Typical means the median: half of brands are above it, half below.

Measure	Cicis Pizza	Typical pizza brand	Typical franchise
GrowthNet change in franchised locations	−1.2% / −6.6%	0% / −3%	+1.2% / +10%
ClosuresTerminated, not renewed or stopped operating	3.7% / 8.5%	2.8% / 9.1%	3.9% / 16%
Bought backLocations the franchisor took back	0% / 0.8%	0% / 0%	0% / 0%

Typical pizza brand is the median of the 49 brands in pizza franchises with three years of counts.

How Cicis Pizza compares

Of the 122 pizza franchises on this site, Cicis Pizza is the 99th cheapest to open and the 14th largest by number of locations.

Figure	Cicis Pizza	Typical pizza brand	Typical franchise
Cost to open, low end	$758K	$349K	$222K
Cost to open, high end	$2.07M	$787K	$477K
Franchise fee	$30K	$30K	$40K
Royalty	5%	5%	6%
Sales per location	$1.44M	$1.02M	$794K
US locations	261	26	21
Shares earnings figures	Yes	63 of 122	2,147 of 3,352

Typical is the median across the 122 brands in pizza franchises; typical franchise, across every brand here.

Locations opened and closed

7 opened

24 closed or left

Franchised locations, last 3 years

2023

1 opened5 closed or left

255 (−4)

2024

0 opened10 closed or left

245 (−10)

2025

6 opened9 closed or left

242 (−3)

Year	Franchised	Company-owned	Opened	Closed
2023	255 (−4)	18	+1	−5
2024	245 (−10)	19	0	−10
2025	242 (−3)	19	+6	−9

Closed or left counts terminations, non-renewals, locations bought back by the franchisor and locations that stopped operating. Counts are buffet restaurants; the filing lists six franchised Cicis To Go restaurants separately.

See which brands grew most in the fastest-growing franchises rankings.

Cicis Pizza passes four of the five tests on our list of the best franchises to own; it had no more US locations than three years earlier.

More in the guides: pizza franchise costs and franchise failure rates.

Source: On Smile LLC, 2026 filing, page 59

Source filing (2026, PDF)

Where Cicis Pizza locations are

At the end of 2025, Cicis Pizza had locations in 20 states. The most are in Texas, Florida and Tennessee.

Texas128
Florida23
Tennessee14
North Carolina13
Georgia12
Alabama11

State	Franchised	Company-owned	Total
Texas	119	9	128
Florida	23	0	23
Tennessee	14	0	14
North Carolina	9	4	13
Georgia	12	0	12
Alabama	7	4	11
Oklahoma	11	0	11
South Carolina	9	1	10
Louisiana	7	0	7
Virginia	6	1	7

All 20 states

Arkansas	6
Missouri	6
Kansas	3
Kentucky	2
Mississippi	2
Ohio	2
Illinois	1
Indiana	1
New Mexico	1
Pennsylvania	1

Source: On Smile LLC, 2026 filing, page 61

Who owns Cicis Pizza?

Cicis Pizza franchises are sold by On Smile LLC. It is a subsidiary of CiCi Acquisition Company.

From On Smile LLC’s 2026 filing, page 6.

Lawsuits and bankruptcy

Lawsuits and regulatory actions	Yes. The filing describes past or pending cases involving the franchisor, its affiliates or its executives on pages 9–11.
Bankruptcy	The franchisor's affiliates, including the Cicis holding companies and the restaurant distribution company, filed a pre-packaged Chapter 11 in January 2021; the plan was approved in March 2021 and the company emerged that month. The last case was closed in August 2024.

Franchisors must disclose lawsuits and bankruptcies involving the company, its parents and affiliates, and its executives. Many cases are routine disputes with franchisees over fees or contracts; read the descriptions in the filing and ask current owners about anything that worries you.

Source: On Smile LLC, 2026 filing, litigation on pages 9–11, bankruptcy on page 11

Source filing (2026, PDF)