FranchiseVerdict
Chili’s® Grill & Bar logo
FV-00523·MODERATEExcellent81

Chili’s® Grill & Bar

Formerly known as Brinker International

Food & Beverage - Full ServiceFranchising since 1984Website
Investment
$1.8M – $6.5M
96th pct Full Service
Avg revenue
57th pct Full Service
Royalty
1.3%
1st pct Full Service
Units
1,214
97th pct Full Service
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $1.8M – $6.5M including a $60K franchise fee, 1.3% ongoing royalty.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 62/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 2 loans (below the industry average).
  • No Item 19 financial performance representation. Without franchisor-disclosed revenue data, you'll need to gather unit economics directly from existing franchisees.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Brinker International Payroll Company, L.P.
Parent company
Brinker International, Inc.
Incorporated in
Delaware
HQ
3000 Olympus Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75019
Auditor
KPMG LLP
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$4.4B
vs $4.1B prior year

Yale framework · single-unit ROIC

Returns Analysis

Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.

The model · Yale framework

What would one Chili’s® Grill & Bar unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
Item 19 not disclosed — typing your own estimate
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: generic
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $1.8M–$6.5M
Working capital
$
FDD reports $20K–$30K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

3%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$146K
EBITDA margin
19.5%
Total invested
$4.2M
Payback
343 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Overview

About

Franchisees own and operate casual dining restaurants serving American grill fare (burgers, ribs, Tex-Mex items) with full-service bar operations. Day-to-day responsibilities include managing 50-150+ employees, food/inventory procurement, P&L management, marketing compliance, and maintaining Chili's brand standards across dining room, kitchen, and bar service.

CEO
Kevin Hochman
Founded
1987
FDD year
2024
States available
26

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$1.8M – $6.5M
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$20K – $30K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$60K
Royalty
1.3%
Gross Sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
2.2%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
6.2%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

This franchisor did not disclose financial performance representations in Item 19, or our extractor could not parse them.

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
1,214
Opened
0
Last reporting year
Closed
4
Turnover rate
0.3%
Company-owned
1,117
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
8%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+0.0%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+4.1%
Compounded over last 3 years
2022
101-16
Franchised units
2023
101
Franchised units
2024
97
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 20 · 10 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).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 10 states
Not registered

States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

Total loans
2
Loan volume
Avg loan
Default rate
0.0%
vs <3% typical · system-wide
5-yr default

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

62
Risk · 0-100
MODERATE62 / 100

Chili's presents meaningful investment risk due to lack of financial transparency, active litigation, unprotected territory, and uncertain unit growth in a declining casual dining sector.

Score breakdown · what drove the 62 / 100 rating

  1. 01MINORNo Item 19 financial performance disclosure (average revenue/net income) makes ROI projections impossible to validate
  2. 02HIGHActive class action litigation involving parent company BII over data breach affecting customer payment card information creates reputational and potential operational risk
  3. 03MEDHigh capital requirement ($1.8M–$6.5M) combined with unknown unit growth trajectory and no disclosed profitability benchmarks
  4. 04MINORUnprotected territory allows parent company or other franchisees to saturate local market and cannibalize sales
  5. 05MINOR1214 units with unknown growth pattern suggests potential system contraction; no disclosure of unit closures or sales velocity
  6. 06MED20-year term locks franchisee into long commitment during period of casual dining sector decline and competitive pressure from fast-casual alternatives

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Protected territory
No
Initial term
20 years
Renewal term
20 years
Online sales rights
Granted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
1
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
No
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Optional
Governing law
Texas

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
147 hrs
On-the-job training
324 hrs
POS system
Aloha POS
Operating tech stack

Item 20

Franchisee Contacts

Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.

Franchisee contacts

98 numbers

Locked
(701) 856-••••
ND
(256) 760-••••
AL
(773) 686-••••
IL

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Chili’s® Grill & Bar · FDD (2024) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above