Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $13.3M – $16.1M
- Disclosed sales
- partial, no system average
- SBA charge-off
- Under 10 loans (1)
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas is a dine-in movie theater franchise pairing curated film programming with full food and bar service at your seat. Franchisees run the cinemas, managing screenings, kitchen and bar, and events.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas franchise requires a total initial investment of $13.3M – $16.1M, including a $125K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. The 2023 FDD on file does not yield a unit-revenue figure we can publish. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: high - issued more than two years ago
Evidence: strong✓ Investment (Item 7)✓ Item 19 status✓ Units and owners (Item 20)✗ SBA loan coverage✓ Litigation (Item 3)✓ Financial statements (Item 21)✓ Franchisor identityhow this is scored5 of 5 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $13.3M – $16.1M
- 41st pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- N/A
- Incl. company outlets
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 8th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 38
- 25th pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Full-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Full-Service Restaurants median · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- COSTTotal investment $13.3M – $16.1M including a $125K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSItem 19 presents only ratio/per-unit performance metrics (Per Person Average, Fill Rate, Session Count, Gross Sales Per Available Seat Per Day, ticket channels, gross sales category breakdown percentages, and Season Pass frequency). No absolute annual gross sales dollar figure per venue is disclosed. Data is unaudited, for FY2022, covering Venues open and operating the full 2022 fiscal year (21 franchised and 17 company-owned at year-end).
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 53/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHFlat: no net change in franchised outlets in the latest year (2 opened, 2 closed) (Item 20).
- FLAGItem 4 discloses a bankruptcy of an officer or of a company an officer ran, not of the franchisor. Review Item 4 for details.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Alamo Intermediate II Holdings, LLC
- Parent company
- Alamo Intermediate I Holdings, LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 7 of the 2023 FDD
- Ultimate parent
- ALMO Holdings, LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 7 of the 2023 FDD
- Predecessor
- Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, LLC (formerly Alamo Newco, LLC)
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- Shelli Taylor
- Founder active
- Yes
- Original founder still leading the business
- Incorporated in
- Delaware
- HQ
- 3908 Avenue B, Austin, Texas 78751
- Auditor
- Maxwell Locke & Ritter LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $157.3M
- Most recent fiscal year
Overview
About
- CEO
- Shelli Taylor
- Headquarters
- Texas
- Founded
- 2021
- FDD year
- 2023
- States available
- 10
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 2072% above the typical full-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2023 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown13 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $125K | $125K | |
| Design or PIP Fee | $8K | $8K | |
| Land | — | — | |
| Carrying Costs | — | — | |
| Site Work & Building | $8.5M | $9.4M | |
| Furniture & Equipment | $3.6M | $4.5M | |
| Pre-Opening Marketing and Promotion | $150K | $300K | |
| Deposits | $100K | $150K | |
| Initial Inventory | $100K | $150K | |
| Training | $155K | $260K | |
| Business Licenses & Permits | $10K | $30K | |
| Liquor Licenses | $7K | $160K | |
| Additional Funds | $500K | $1.0M | |
| Total initial investment | $13.3M | $16.1M |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. Total is the sum of line-item lows / highs — actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $13.3M – $16.1M
- Middle of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $500K – $1.0M
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $125K – $125K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 0.5%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 5.5%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 0.5% of gross sales |
| Training fee | $5K |
| Transfer fee | $25K |
| Renewal fee | $63K |
| Inventory (initial) | $100K – $150K |
| Total fee load | 5.5% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Source: FDD 2023 · Item 19
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
No Item 19 revenue figure for Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas is on file. The return models need a revenue figure to start from, and the operating costs that turn gross sales into a profit are in no FDD. Enter your own and the calculator runs on your assumptions — nothing here is modelled until you do.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas unit return on the cash you put in?
Illustrative category typicals — not sourced to any filing, survey or sample. Replace them with figures from franchisee validation calls before you rely on the output.
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Your modelled return on total invested capital, before any debt financing.
—
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for annual revenue, COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2023 FDD
Financial Performance
Item 19 presents only ratio/per-unit performance metrics (Per Person Average, Fill Rate, Session Count, Gross Sales Per Available Seat Per Day, ticket channels, gross sales category breakdown percentages, and Season Pass frequency). No absolute annual gross sales dollar figure per venue is disclosed. Data is unaudited, for FY2022, covering Venues open and operating the full 2022 fiscal year (21 franchised and 17 company-owned at year-end).
Item 19 · by group
What the filing does disclose
Item 19 of this FDD reports performance in more than one group. We publish no single average for this brand; the groups the filing does disclose are listed below, quoted from its own Item 19 table.
Each row below is quoted from the FDD's own Item 19 table. Gross sales are not profit.
Incl. company outletsItem 19 detail
Item 19 presents only ratio/per-unit performance metrics (Per Person Average, Fill Rate, Session Count, Gross Sales Per Available Seat Per Day, ticket channels, gross sales category breakdown percentages, and Season Pass frequency). No absolute annual gross sales dollar figure per venue is disclosed. Data is unaudited, for FY2022, covering Venues open and operating the full 2022 fiscal year (21 franchised and 17 company-owned at year-end).
combined
| Segment | Sample | Avg |
|---|---|---|
| Gross Sales Per Available Seat Per Day - Combined Company-Owned and Franchised Venues | 35 | $27 |
franchised
| Segment | Sample | Avg |
|---|---|---|
| Gross Sales Per Available Seat Per Day - Franchised Venues | 19 | $21 |
company
| Segment | Sample | Avg |
|---|---|---|
| Gross Sales Per Available Seat Per Day - Company-Owned Venues | 16 | $36 |
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 5.5% — below the Full-Service Restaurants median of 7.0%.
Disclosure
Item 19 reports outlet revenue, but not in a form that yields a per-outlet average we can compare across brands.
Operator retention
System contracting at -4.5% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven consolidation or franchisee exits.
Multi-unit rate
43% of franchisees own multiple units, a moderate multi-unit rate.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Full-Service Restaurants medians
How Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas Compares
Category median of published Full-Service Restaurants brands that report the figure; the middle half spans the 25th to 75th percentile and n counts the brands behind it. Medians are used because a few very large systems pull an average far from the typical brand. Revenue is disclosed gross sales, not profit.
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2023 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 38
- Opened
- 2
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 2
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 5.3%
- Company-owned
- 17
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 55%
- vs corporate-owned
- Multi-unit owners
- 42.9%
- Net growth (3-yr)
- -4.5%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- -4.5%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Ceased ops
- 5.3%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 5 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator. Not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
21 current owners across 5 states; 2 former (terminated, transferred or not renewed) listed separately.
- TX 11
- VA 6
- MO 2
- MN 1
- NE 1
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20. Names and phone numbers are for your own due diligence and are not shown here.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA loan disclosures. This brand has only 1 7(a) loan on file; statistical reliability is limited below 10 loans.
- Total loans
- 1
- Loan volume
- $2.5M
- Median loan
- $2.5M
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- Under 10 loans (1)
- Insufficient SBA coverage: 1 loan, rate hidden below 10
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- Under 10 loans (1)
- 5-yr charge-off
- Under 10 loans (1)
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 1
- Defaults
- N/A
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
What could kill this investment?
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
Item 3 states no litigation is required to be disclosed.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
Subject: an officer. An officer’s own bankruptcy or a company an officer ran, not the franchisor’s
On March 3, 2021, the Predecessor (Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, LLC) and certain affiliates filed voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petitions in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 21-10474 MFW). ALMO Holdings acquired substantially all assets via a Section 363 sale that closed May 28, 2021. As of the issuance date the case remained pending.
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Maxwell Locke & Ritter LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: No
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 53 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORNo average revenue or net income disclosure prevents realistic ROI analysis and benchmarking
- 02MINOROnly 38 units with unknown growth trajectory suggests stagnation or contraction in franchise system
- 03MINOR5% royalty on gross (not net) sales means fees are owed regardless of profitability
- 04MEDNo disclosed litigation history raises questions about transparency; prior Alamo Drafthouse bankruptcies (2020, 2022) suggest operational/financial vulnerability
- 05MINOR10-year term locks franchisees into relationship with financially unstable franchisor
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 5.5% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2023 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 2 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory radius | 3 mi |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 50 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Arbitration location | Travis County, Texas (courts; no arbitration) |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Texas |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Item 3 states no litigation is required to be disclosed.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Training location
- Austin, Texas (or other certified training venue)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Vista and Aloha
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Vista and Aloha
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
23 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas franchise?
The total investment to open a Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas franchise ranges from $13.3M – $16.1M, with an initial franchise fee of $125K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas franchise owners earn?
Item 19 of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas FDD discloses figures for part of the system but no single average across all outlets. These are gross sales figures, not profit; the Revenue section shows what the filing reports and on what basis. Item 20 of the FDD lists current and former franchisees; asking them directly is the standard way to fill this gap.
Who owns Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas?
Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas is franchised by Alamo Intermediate II Holdings, LLC. Its parent company is Alamo Intermediate I Holdings, LLC. The ultimate parent named in the FDD is ALMO Holdings, LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2023 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas (fewer than 10 loans on file). Charge-off rates are one way to gauge franchise risk, but not all franchise loans go through the SBA program. We recommend reviewing turnover and closure data in the FDD and speaking with current franchisees.
How many Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas has 38 total units in the United States, including 21 franchised units and 17 company-owned units. 2 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 53 out of 100 (higher is better). The grade is a deterministic score built from six weighted dimensions — financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency — then calibrated against SBA loan charge-off rates and FDD age. Transparency is one of the six, so a filing that discloses less scores lower on that dimension than one that discloses more. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
Are you the franchisor?
If you represent Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, you can request corrections or provide updated information.
Other Full-Service Restaurants franchises
Compare similar franchise opportunities in the Full-Service Restaurants category
Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.