Church’s Texas Chicken
Formerly known as Cajun Grill
Bottom line
- Total investment $644K – $1.8M including a $20K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.1M/year (median $936K).
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 48/100.
- System contracting at -6.9% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven (consolidation) or franchisee-driven (economics).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
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 Church’s Texas Chicken unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
11%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Church’s Texas Chicken units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$1.3M
on $6.6M purchase
Total debt
$5.2M
SBA $3.3M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Church's Texas Chicken franchisees operate quick-service chicken restaurants, managing daily operations including food preparation, inventory, staffing, customer service, and compliance with brand standards. Franchisees are responsible for local marketing, rent/utilities, labor costs, COGS, and achieving the $1.09M average revenue target while paying 5% royalties on gross sales to the franchisor.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 6 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 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.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Declining unit base, undisclosed profitability, active litigation history, and unfavorable revenue-to-investment ratio present material risks for new franchisees entering a contracting system.
Score breakdown · what drove the 48 / 100 rating
- 01MINORUnit count declining 4.0% YoY with 873 locations indicates shrinking system momentum and potential market saturation or operational challenges
- 02MEDNet income not disclosed in Item 19 prevents ROI validation; with $644k-$1.8M investment and only $1.09M avg revenue, profitability margin is opaque and concerning
- 03HIGHMultiple active litigations including franchisor-initiated enforcement cases (Carolina Café Services, Royal Texas LLC) and fraud settlements signal adversarial franchisor-franchisee relationships
- 04MINORRoyal Texas LLC ongoing dispute involving breach of contract, trademark infringement, and tortious interference suggests governance instability and potential brand/operational conflicts
- 05MEDHigh investment ceiling ($1.8M) relative to disclosed average revenue ($1.09M) creates unfavorable ROI floor even before accounting for 5% royalties, COGS, labor, and rent
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
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
100 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Church’s Texas Chicken · FDD (2025) PDF