Chick-fil-A Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $427K – $2.3M
- Disclosed sales
- $9.3M
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Under 10 loans (2)
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
This Chick-fil-A program licenses quick-service, limited-menu units in captive-audience venues like schools, hospitals, workplaces, and airports, serving its signature chicken sandwiches. It is separate from Chick-fil-A's free-standing Operator restaurants; licensees run the in-venue unit managing food prep, service, and staff.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Chick-fil-A franchise requires a total initial investment of $427K – $2.3M, including a $10K franchise fee and an ongoing 15.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $9.3M[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: A (Strongest tier), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: 2025 filing · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: medium - a newer filing may exist
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 scored7 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $427K – $2.3M
- 68th pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $9.3M
- Outlet subset36th pct Service Resta…
- Royalty
- 15.0%
- 95th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 2,684
- 95th pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Quick-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Quick-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 $427K – $2.3M including a $10K franchise fee, 15.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $9.3M/year (median $9.2M) (reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system).
- RISKVerdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 86/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +135 franchised outlets in the latest year (243 opened, 108 closed) (Item 20).
- TERMSNo protected territory and the franchisor reserves the right to compete in your area. Clarify territorial boundaries before signing.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Chick-fil-A, Inc.
- CEO title
- Director and Chief Executive Officer
- Andrew T. Cathy
- Incorporated in
- Georgia
- HQ
- 5200 Buffington Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30349-2998
- Auditor
- PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $10.3B
- vs $9.1B prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Overview
About
- CEO
- Andrew T. Cathy
- Headquarters
- Georgia
- Founded
- 1964
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 49
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 185% above the typical quick-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown6 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $10K | $10K | |
| Opening Inventory | $22K | $84K | |
| First Month's Rental of Equipment | $750 | $5K | |
| First Month's Lease/Sublease of Premises | $3K | $96K | |
| First Month's Insurance Expense | $260 | $10K | |
| Additional Funds | $391K | $2.1M | |
| Total initial investment | $427K | $2.3M |
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
- $427K – $2.3M
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $391K – $2.1M
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Franchise fee
- $10K – $10K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 15.0%
- Set by a formula · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 0.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 15.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 15.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 0.0% |
| Technology fee | $15K |
| Transfer fee | $0 |
| Renewal fee | $0 |
| Inventory (initial) | $12K – $65K |
| Total fee load | 15.0% of rev |
At 15.0% total fee load, roughly $1398K per year goes to the franchisor before you pay a single operating expense.
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 856% above the quick-service restaurants norm.
Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
Single-unit · not modelled
Returns at a glance
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit, and the operating costs that turn one into the other are in no filing. We publish no modelled return for Chick-fil-A until someone supplies them — yours, in the models below.
—
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for 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.
Total invested capital · disclosed
$2.6M
Item 7 initial investment plus working capital, as filed — the one figure here that needs no assumption.
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit, read against the 30–60% reference band · Yale SOM, Post-MBA Path Exhibit 2 (2023). Below that band a passive index fund likely outperforms; above it the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses, and it is the top line only — gross sales are not profit. No FDD discloses the operating costs that turn one into the other, so those fields start empty and nothing is modelled until you supply them from your own lease quote, labor market and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Chick-fil-A 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 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.
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for 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.
A 25-unit return is built on a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in Model A above and this model runs on that figure, or take the whole scenario to the full ROI workbench, where the portfolio and LBO models accept your own per-unit economics directly.
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: 2025 FDD
Financial Performance
Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system
- Avg gross sales
- $9.3M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $9.2M
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- gross sales
- Sample size
- 2,179 outlets
- vs category median 19 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $1.9M→$19.3MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 82 of the 2025 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- Disclosed in the 2025 filing, covering 2024
- Transparency
- 4 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · typical
Compared against 781 Quick-Service Restaurants brands
Revenue is 6.7x the investment midpoint. At typical franchise margins, this suggests a payback under 3 years.
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $9.3M/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 6.7x. Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 15.0% — above the Quick-Service Restaurants median of 7.5%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 4/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Operator retention
System expanding at 12.4% CAGR over 3 years across 2,684 units — operators are staying and new ones are joining.
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 Quick-Service Restaurants medians
How Chick-fil-A Compares
Category median of published Quick-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 2025 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 2,684
- Opened
- 243
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 108
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 4.0%
- Company-owned
- 55
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 100%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +12.4%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +12.4%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 102
- Franchisor bought back
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 49 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.
Available to sell in · Item 12
- California
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Maryland
- Michigan
- New York
- North Dakota
- Rhode Island
- South Dakota
States where the franchisor is registered to sell new franchises (FDD registration filings).
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
2,139 current owners across 49 states.
- TX 321
- FL 179
- GA 167
- CA 154
- NC 135
- VA 95
- PA 67
- SC 65
- TN 65
- AL 62
- OH 61
- MD 60
- +37 more states
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 2 7(a) loans on file; statistical reliability is limited below 10 loans.
- Total loans
- 2
- Loan volume
- $3.4M
- Median loan
- $1.7M
- average
- Charge-off rate
- Under 10 loans (2)
- Insufficient SBA coverage: 2 loans, 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 (2)
- 5-yr charge-off
- Under 10 loans (2)
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 2
- 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
Chick-fil-A presents a moderate-to-cautious risk profile with an attractive brand but concerning royalty structure, opaque profitability metrics, and weak contractual protections that warrant deep validation with current franchisees before investment.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: the franchisor is a named party (defendant).
Data breach class action (Stephens/Strawn) settled for $210,000; five consolidated delivery-fee misrepresentation class actions (Mayheu, Pittman, Ukpere, Goldstein, Ortega) settled for $4,400,000; Brown delivery-fee class action settled for $129,000 plus arbitration settlements of $58,500. No franchisees named as defendants in any case.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · PricewaterhouseCoopers 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: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 86 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORExtremely high royalty burden: 15% base fee plus 50% of net receipts creates potential 25-35% total fee exposure on typical QSR margins (6-9% net)
- 02MINOROne-year term with no territory protection creates renewal uncertainty and vulnerability to encroachment
- 03HIGHRecent litigation history (cybersecurity and delivery fee class actions) indicates compliance and transparency issues
- 04MINORModest unit growth of 5.4% YoY is below industry standards for mature QSR brands and suggests market saturation
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 15.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 1 year |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 1 year |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 0 |
| Territory type | No territory protection |
| Protected territory | No |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Granted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 1 year |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 5 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | No |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 15 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 7 |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Arbitration location | Atlanta, Georgia (litigation forum; no arbitration) |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Georgia |
| Litigation count | 7 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Data breach class action (Stephens/Strawn) settled for $210,000; five consolidated delivery-fee misrepresentation class actions (Mayheu, Pittman, Ukpere, Goldstein, Ortega) settled for $4,400,000; Brown delivery-fee class action settled for $129,000 plus arbitration settlements of $58,500. No franchisees named as defendants in any case.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 102 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 98 hrs
- Training location
- Chick-fil-A Support Center: Buffington, Atlanta, GA (in-person) and via Zoom (virtual)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Site selection
- franchisor
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
2,139 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 Chick-fil-A franchise?
The total investment to open a Chick-fil-A franchise ranges from $427K – $2.3M, with an initial franchise fee of $10K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Chick-fil-A franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Chick-fil-A FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $9.3M. The median is $9.2M. Important context: Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Chick-fil-A?
Chick-fil-A is franchised by Chick-fil-A, Inc.. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Chick-fil-A 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 Chick-fil-A FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Chick-fil-A's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Chick-fil-A (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 Chick-fil-A franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Chick-fil-A has 2,684 total units in the United States, including 2,629 franchised units and 55 company-owned units. 243 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Chick-fil-A a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Chick-fil-A as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 86 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?
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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.