On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
On The Border is a casual-dining franchise serving Tex-Mex favorites, fajitas, enchiladas, and margaritas, with a full bar. Franchisees run full-service restaurants managing kitchen, bar, and a large service staff.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina franchise requires a total initial investment of $2.9M – $5.1M, including a $30K franchise fee and an ongoing 4.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2024 FDD, average unit revenue was $2.3M[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified · figures per the 2024 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $2.9M – $5.1M
- 52nd pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $2.3M
- 23rd pct Service Resta…
- Royalty
- 4.0%
- 2nd pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 134
- 45th 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 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
- Total investment $2.9M – $5.1M including a $30K franchise fee, 4.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $2.3M/year (median $2.2M).
- Verdict B (Above average), verdict score 58/100 (higher is better).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- OTB Acquisition LLC
- Parent company
- OTB Holding LLC
- Ultimate parent
- Border Holdings LLC
- Predecessor
- Golden Gate Capital Opportunity Fund, LP (prior to April 23, 2014)
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- Lyle D. Tick
- Incorporated in
- DE
- HQ
- 2201 West Royal Lane, Suite 170, Irving, Texas 75063
- Auditor
- Grant Thornton LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $255.8M
- vs $265.4M prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Overview
About
- CEO
- Lyle D. Tick
- Headquarters
- TX
- Founded
- 1994
- FDD year
- 2024
- States available
- 8
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 325% above the typical full-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2024 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown44 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franchise Fee | $30K | $30K | |
| Real Estate | — | — | |
| Legal & Closing Costs | $10K | $30K | |
| Environmental Reports | $10K | $50K | |
| Utilities | $10K | $50K | |
| Professional Fees | $75K | $130K | |
| Site Development | $250K | $500K | |
| Building Construction | $1.5M | $2.5M | |
| Equipment, Fixtures & Furniture | $500K | $820K | |
| Computer & Point of Sale System | $50K | $85K | |
| Signage | $50K | $100K | |
| Phone System | $1K | $5K | |
| Initial Training Expenses | $50K | $60K | |
| Opening Personnel | $100K | $150K | |
| Initial Inventory | $30K | $45K | |
| Opening Hourly Uniforms | $2K | $3K | |
| Opening Training Material | $3K | $5K | |
| Initial Smallwares-Bar, Kitchen & Dining Room | $45K | $60K | |
| Grand Opening Advertising | $10K | $15K | |
| Miscellaneous Opening Costs | $10K | $20K | |
| Total initial investment | $4.4M | $8.5M |
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
- $2.9M – $5.1M
- Middle of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $200K – $400K
- Middle of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $30K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 4.0%
- percentage · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 2.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 6.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 4.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 2.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $200 |
| Transfer fee | $25K |
| Renewal fee | $15K |
| Inventory (initial) | $30K – $45K |
| Total fee load | 6.0% of rev |
A 6.0% total fee load is unusually lean. More of each revenue dollar stays with the franchisee.
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 52% 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
$279K
12.0% margin
Unlevered ROIC
6%
EBITDA / total invested capital
Payback
15.4 yrs
cash-on-cash, unlevered
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $2.3M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $2.2M
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 (company-owned and franchisee locations; excludes real estate costs, royalties, advertising, and third-party fees for company-owned data)
- Sample size
- 109 units
- vs category median 16 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $934K→$4.7M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Quartile band
- $1.5M→$3.3M
- Bottom 25% → top 25%
- Transparency tier
- revenue_only
- Categorical assessment of disclosure depth
- Reporting year
- 2023
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Transparency
- 7 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 1273 Full-Service Restaurants brands
Revenue is only 0.6x the investment. This means each unit may take 5+ years to recoup the initial outlay at typical margins.
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 $2.3M/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 0.6x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 6.0% — below the Full-Service Restaurants average of 7.6%.
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 roughly stable (0.0% 3-year CAGR) with 134 units.
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 On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina Compares
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2024 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 134
- Opened
- 2
- 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
- 20.0%
- Company-owned
- 109
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 19%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +26.1%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +0.0%
- Compounded over last 3 years
3-year detail · Item 20
- Opened (3yr)
- 11
- Closed (3yr)
- 5
- Terminated (3yr)
- 0
- Non-renewed (3yr)
- 0
- Transfers (3yr)
- 0
- Reacquired (3yr)
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Ceased ops
- 4.0%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 8 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.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
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
Material profitability opacity combined with high capital requirement, sluggish unit growth, and exposure to declining casual-dining category presents meaningful risk despite no litigation or going concern flags.
Litigation (Item 3)
0 case reference(s): 0 pending, 0 settled.
Largest disclosed settlement: $150,000
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Grant Thornton LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
ⓘ These are the parent company's consolidated financials (the parent guarantees the franchisor), not this brand's standalone results — the figure reflects the whole corporate group, not this brand alone.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- 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 58 / 100 verdict
- 01MEDNet income not disclosed in Item 19 — inability to validate actual profitability despite $2.3M average revenue
- 02MINORHigh initial investment ($2.9M–$5.1M) with modest 4% royalty creates pressure to hit $2.3M revenue baseline to break even
- 03MINORSlow unit growth (8.7% YoY) suggests market saturation or franchisee satisfaction concerns in mature 134-unit system
- 04MED20-year term locks franchisees into long commitment with no disclosed performance benchmarks or exit clauses
- 05MINORCasual dining segment structurally challenged post-2020 with labor cost inflation and consumer traffic volatility
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 6.0% 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 | 20 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 2 |
| Territory type | protected |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory radius | 2 mi |
| 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 | 5 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 1 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 5 |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Arbitration location | Dallas County, Texas |
| Jury trial waiver | No |
| Governing law | TX |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
0 case reference(s): 0 pending, 0 settled.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 0 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 320 hrs
- Training location
- Dallas, Texas (company training restaurant)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 24 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- Franchisee selects; franchisor reviews and approves
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
16 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina · FDD (2024) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina franchise?
The total investment to open a On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina franchise ranges from $2.9M – $5.1M, with an initial franchise fee of $30K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $2.3M. The median is $2.2M. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
What is On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina (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 On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina has 134 total units in the United States, including 25 franchised units and 109 company-owned units. 2 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 58 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.