Native Grill and Wings Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Native Grill and Wings is a casual-dining franchise serving wings, burgers, and American fare with a full bar and sports-bar atmosphere. Franchisees run the restaurants, managing the kitchen, bar, and dining service.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Native Grill and Wings franchise requires a total initial investment of $1.0M – $2.9M, including a $50K franchise fee and an ongoing 6.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2024 FDD, average unit revenue was $2.6M[2]. SBA 7(a) loans show a 0.0% charge-off rate across 10 loans[1]. FranchiseVerdict grade: A (Strongest tier), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified · figures per the 2024 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $1.0M – $2.9M
- 33rd pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $2.6M
- 11th pct Service Resta…
- Royalty
- 6.0%
- 24th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 20
- 19th pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- 0.0%
- % of SBA 7(a) loans not repaid · median varies by category
Quick verdict · Full-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Full-Service Restaurants avg · 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 $1.0M – $2.9M including a $50K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $2.6M/year (median $2.8M).
- RISKVerdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 60/100 (higher is better). SBA loan charge-off rate of 0.0% across 10 loans (well below the franchise average, based on all SBA 7(a) franchise lending, 2010–2025).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Native Grill and Wings Franchising, LLC
- Parent company
- FAT Brands, Inc.
- Predecessor
- NGW, LLC
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- Taylor Wiederhorn
- Incorporated in
- Delaware
- HQ
- 9720 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 500, Beverly Hills, California 90212
- Auditor
- Macias Gini & O'Connell LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $3.2M
- vs $3.7M prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Overview
About
- CEO
- Taylor Wiederhorn
- Headquarters
- CA
- Founded
- 2015
- FDD year
- 2024
- States available
- 2
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 68% above the typical full-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2024 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown19 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $50K | $50K | |
| Training Expenses (11 to 13 people) | $30K | $46K | |
| Pre-opening Payroll | $32K | $45K | |
| Lease Deposit & 3 Months' Rent | $40K | $72K | |
| Architect Fees | $19K | $35K | |
| Leasehold Improvements | $350K | $1.5M | |
| Furnishings, Fixture & Equipment | $230K | $675K | |
| TV/Audio Video/Security | $135K | $155K | |
| Signage | $10K | $100K | |
| Opening Inventory Food & Beverage | $20K | $28K | |
| Small Wares | $15K | $35K | |
| Utility Deposits | $5K | $10K | |
| Liquor Licensenot refundable | $5K | $10K | |
| Grand Opening Marketing | $8K | $8K | |
| Professional Fees | $6K | $11K | |
| Miscellaneous Costs | $10K | $20K | |
| Insurance (3 months' premium) | $3K | $6K | |
| Additional Funds (3 months) | $50K | $100K | |
| Development Fee (Area Development) | $150K | $200K | |
| Total initial investment | $1.2M | $3.1M |
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
- $1.0M – $2.9M
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $50K – $100K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $50K – $50K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 6.0%
- percentage · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 7.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 6.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $0 |
| Training fee | $30K |
| Transfer fee | $0 |
| Renewal fee | $5K |
| Inventory (initial) | $20K – $28K |
| Total fee load | 7.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 50% above the full-service restaurants norm.
Source: FDD 2024 · Item 19
Single-unit · estimated
Returns at a glance
Indicative numbers using FDD Item 7 / Item 19 inputs and category-benchmarked cost ratios. Full single-unit, 25-unit portfolio, and LBO models (with every input editable to stress-test your own scenario) live on the financials page.
Store EBITDA · annual
$288K
11.0% margin
Unlevered ROIC
14%
EBITDA / total invested capital
Payback
7.1 yrs
cash-on-cash, unlevered
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. The target band for an attractive franchise is 30–60% ROIC. Below that and a passive index fund likely outperforms; above that and the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses. It's the top line only. Operating costs below are category estimates. Override them to match your real lease quote, labor market, and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Native Grill and Wings unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Estimated return on your total franchise investment, before any debt financing.
14%
Below the 30–60% attractive-franchise band
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%.
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Native Grill and Wings units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
47.0%
6.85× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.93×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$2.3M
on $10.5M purchase
Total debt
$8.1M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
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: 2024 FDD
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $2.6M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $2.8M
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
- 17 outlets
- vs category median 18
- Range (low → high)
- $1.3M→$4.0M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2023
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2024
- Disclosed in the 2024 filing, covering 2023
- Transparency
- 7 / 10
- vs category median 3 / 10 · above
Compared against 805 Full-Service Restaurants brands
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 $2.6M/year in gross sales. Median ($2.8M) exceeds the average — distribution is bottom-heavy but most units perform well. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 1.3x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 7.0% (near the Full-Service Restaurants average).
Disclosure
Transparency score 7/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Operator retention
System contracting at -9.1% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven consolidation or franchisee exits.
Multi-unit rate
Only 1% of franchisees own multiple units. Could indicate challenging economics or a young system where operators haven't had time to expand.
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 averages
How Native Grill and Wings Compares
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2024 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 20
- Opened
- 0
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 0.0%
- Company-owned
- 0
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 100%
- vs corporate-owned
- Multi-unit owners
- 1.0%
- Net growth (3-yr)
- -9.1%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- -9.1%
- Compounded over last 3 years
3-year detail · Item 20
- Opened (3yr)
- 0
- Closed (3yr)
- 0
- Terminated (3yr)
- 0
- Non-renewed (3yr)
- 0
- Transfers (3yr)
- 0
- Reacquired (3yr)
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Projected new
- 2
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Continuity rate
- 95.2%
- Units that stayed open
- Ceased ops
- 5.0%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 2 states reported
The Territory Map
FDD Item 12 reports the state count, but the specific list isn't in our current data. The map will appear once we re-extract from the FDD or enough franchisee contacts are available.
2
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 10
- Loan volume
- $9.9M
- Median loan
- $812K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- 0.0%
- rates vary by category · see methodology
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- 100.0%
- 5-yr charge-off
- 0.0%
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 6
- Defaults
- 0
- Typical loan rate
- 7.9%
- avg rate to borrowers
- Franchised industry avg
- 13.2%
- brand beats franchise avg ↓
- Jobs supported
- 198
- 2.9 per loan
- Lender concentration
- 43%
- top lender's share
Borrower mix: 14% went to startups / new businesses, 86% to established operators
Franchise vs independent — in full-service restaurants, franchised businesses charge off at 13.2% vs 9.7% for independents — franchising is associated with 36% higher SBA default risk in this category.
Top lenders financing Native Grill and Wings franchisees
Showing 3 of 6 lenders. The full breakdown — every lender, state distribution, interest rates & risk ratings — is in the SBA Lending Report below.
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Premium insight
SBA Lending Report
Deep-dive into Native Grill and Wings's SBA lending history: lender network, geographic footprint, interest rates, and more.
SBA Lending Report
- Principal loss rate and NAICS industry benchmark
- 5 lenders with concentration factor
- Per-state charge-off rates across 2 states
- Startup risk premium and job creation velocity
- 4-year lending trend
Instant access. No subscription.
With a 0.0% charge-off rate across 10 loans, banks have historically viewed this brand favorably for lending.
What could kill this investment?
SBA loans charge off at 0.0% — 100% below the 16.0% national norm, i.e. lower lender-observed risk.
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Declining franchise system with unproven unit-level profitability, parent company litigation history, and missing financial transparency creates elevated investment risk.
Litigation (Item 3)
Two concluded cases: (1) In re FAT Brands Inc. Securities Litigation (securities class action settled for $3M); (2) Commonwealth of Virginia v. Fatburger North America (affiliate registration violation, settled with $27,000 payment).
Largest disclosed settlement: $3,000,000
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Macias Gini & O'Connell LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- 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 60 / 100 verdict
- 01MEDUnit decline of 4.8% YoY (20 units) indicates contracting franchise system and weak unit economics or support
- 02MEDNet income not disclosed in Item 19 — cannot verify profitability claims; average revenue of $2.6M does not guarantee positive returns after 6% royalty, labor, COGS, and rent
- 03HIGHParent company FAT Brands settled $3M securities litigation in 2023 for allegedly false/misleading statements; raises credibility concerns about franchisor disclosures
- 04HIGHAffiliate litigation for unregistered franchise sales in Virginia (2023) suggests compliance and legal risk within corporate structure
- 05MEDHigh capital requirement ($1M–$2.9M) paired with shrinking unit base and undisclosed profitability creates significant downside risk
- 06MINOR10-year term with $50K fee in a declining system suggests weak franchisee attraction and retention
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 7.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2024 · 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 |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory population | 70,000 |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 10 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Arbitration location | Phoenix, Arizona |
| Jury trial waiver | No |
| Governing law | AZ |
| Litigation count | 2 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Two concluded cases: (1) In re FAT Brands Inc. Securities Litigation (securities class action settled for $3M); (2) Commonwealth of Virginia v. Fatburger North America (affiliate registration violation, settled with $27,000 payment).
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 27 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 191 hrs
- Training location
- Franchised Restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Field support
- 16 hrs/yr
- On-site visits per year
- Time to open
- 9 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- Franchisee with franchisor approval
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Aloha
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Aloha
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
20 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
Native Grill and Wings · FDD (2024) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Native Grill and Wings franchise?
The total investment to open a Native Grill and Wings franchise ranges from $1.0M – $2.9M, with an initial franchise fee of $50K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Native Grill and Wings franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Native Grill and Wings FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $2.6M. The median is $2.8M. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
What is Item 19 in the Native Grill and Wings 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 Native Grill and Wings FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Native Grill and Wings's franchise failure rate?
Based on SBA 7(a) loan data, Native Grill and Wings has a charge-off rate of 0.0% across 10 loans, meaning 0.0% of franchise loans were charged off. Charge-off rates are one proxy for franchise risk, though they do not capture all closures. This data comes from FOIA-sourced SBA lending records.
How many Native Grill and Wings franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Native Grill and Wings has 20 total units in the United States, including 20 franchised units and 0 company-owned units.
Is Native Grill and Wings a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Native Grill and Wings as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 60 out of 100 (higher is better), based on our analysis of investment costs, revenue data, SBA loan performance, and growth trends. 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
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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.