Wendy'sFranchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Wendy's franchise requires a total initial investment of $410K – $3.1M, including a $50K franchise fee. Per the 2026 FDD, average unit revenue was $2.1M[2]. SBA 7(a) loans show a 0.8% charge-off rate across 200 loans[1]. Verdict grade: A. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified June 18, 2026 · figures per the 2026 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $410K – $3.1M
- 74th pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $2.1M
- 54th pct Service Resta…
- Royalty
- N/A
- Units
- 7,397
- 99th pct Service Resta…
- SBA default
- 0.8%
- system-wide median varies by category
Quick verdict · Quick-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = >15% above Quick-Service Restaurants avg · No shading = within ±15% · Red = >15% below avg · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Only 0.8% of 200 SBA loans charged off, well below the 16% franchise average.
Franchising since 1971. Systems this mature have refined operations and brand recognition.
24% cash-on-cash return (based on P&L Bottom Line). Within the 15-30% range most franchise investors consider acceptable.
Large franchise systems benefit from brand recognition, supply chain leverage, and proven operations.
Bottom line
- Total investment $410K – $3.1M including a $50K franchise fee.
- Average unit revenue of $2.1M/year (median $2.0M), with an estimated 24% cash-on-cash return (based on P&L Bottom Line).
- Verdict A (Top Quintile) with a risk score of 21/100. SBA loan charge-off rate of 0.8% across 200 loans (well below the franchise average, based on all SBA 7(a) franchise lending, 2010–2024).
- No 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
- Legal entity
- Quality Is Our Recipe, LLC
- Parent company
- The Wendy's Company
- Predecessor
- WIL
- Prior franchisor entity
- Incorporated in
- DE
- HQ
- One Dave Thomas Boulevard, P.O. Box 256, Dublin, OH 43017
- Auditor
- Deloitte & Touche LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $562.0M
- vs $587.7M prior year
Independent franchisee associations
- Independent Franchisee Association
Franchisee-led councils or alliances disclosed in Item 20. Indicates operator voice.
Overview
About
Franchisees operate quick-service restaurant locations serving hamburgers, sandwiches, salads, and beverages. Daily operations include inventory management, food preparation, staff scheduling, customer service, marketing within territory, and compliance with Wendy's operational standards and food safety protocols.
- CEO
- Ken Cook
- Headquarters
- OH
- Founded
- 1969
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 50
FDD Item 7 · 2026 filing · 5 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Technical Assistance Fee | $50K | $50K | |
| Building | $1.0M | $2.2M | |
| Equipment | $380K | $650K | |
| Pre-Opening Expenses, Training Expenses, and Additional Operating Funds | $117K | $205K | |
| Real Property | — | — | |
| Total initial investment | $1.6M | $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.
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
$274K
13.0% margin
Unlevered ROIC
14%
EBITDA / total invested capital
Payback
7.0 yrs
cash-on-cash, unlevered
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $410K – $3.1M
- Below avg, review vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $111K – $192K
- Below avg, review vs category
- Franchise fee
- $50K
- Below avg, review vs category
- Royalty
- 4-6% of Gross Sales depending on restaurant type and deve…
- Ad fund
- 1.50-4.00% of Gross Sales for national advertising, 0.50%…
- Total fee load
- 10.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
- Payback period
- 4.1 yrs
- From FDD / Item 19
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Transfer fee | $5K |
| Renewal fee | $25 |
| Inventory (initial) | $25K – $141K |
| Total fee load | 10.0% of rev |
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $2.1M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $2.0M
- Avg p&l bottom line
- $426K
- Reported as P&L Bottom Line in FDD Item 19
- Cash-on-cash
- 24.2%
- Based on P&L Bottom Line / investment midpoint
- Item 19 type
- gross_sales
- Sample size
- 5325 units
- vs category median 28 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $345K→$8.3M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Transparency tier
- full
- Categorical assessment of disclosure depth
- Transparency
- 0 / 5
- vs category median 4 / 5 · below
Compared against 453 Quick-Service Restaurants brands
vs Quick-Service Restaurants averages
How Wendy's Compares
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 7,397
- Opened
- N/A
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- N/A
- Company-owned
- 423
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 94%
- vs corporate-owned
3-year detail · Item 20
- Opened (3yr)
- 42
- Closed (3yr)
- 4,033
- Terminated (3yr)
- 0
- Non-renewed (3yr)
- 32
- Transfers (3yr)
- 312
- Reacquired (3yr)
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Projected new
- 37
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Transfer rate
- 75.8%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
- Termination rate
- 21.5%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 50 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.
- Total loans
- 200
- Loan volume
- $151.4M
- Median loan
- $536K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- 0.8%
- 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)
- 98.7%
- 5-yr charge-off
- 0.0%
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 54
- Defaults
- 1
Vintage analysis
Wendy's charge-off rate by loan vintage
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Premium insight
SBA Lending Report
Deep-dive into Wendy's's SBA lending history: lender network, geographic footprint, interest rates, and more.
SBA Lending Report
- Principal loss rate and NAICS industry benchmark
- 10 lenders with concentration factor
- Per-state charge-off rates across 15 states
- Startup risk premium and job creation velocity
- 28-year lending trend
- SBA 504 real estate/equipment data
Instant access. No subscription.
With a 0.8% charge-off rate across 200 loans, banks have historically viewed this brand favorably for lending.
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Wendy's presents moderate-to-cautious risk due to non-disclosure of unit economics, unprotected territories, and lack of growth visibility, though the established brand and stable unit count provide some foundation.
Litigation (Item 3)
11 case reference(s): 1 pending, 2 settled.
Largest disclosed settlement: $950,000
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Deloitte & Touche LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- Must buy proprietary products: No
- Restricted to system-approved products: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 21 / 100 rating
- 01MEDNo Item 19 (Average Unit Volume) disclosed — impossible to assess profitability or ROI
- 02MINORUnprotected territory creates risk of cannibalization and direct competition from other franchisees
- 03MINORWide investment range ($409K-$3.1M) suggests highly variable unit economics with unclear cost drivers
- 04MINORRoyalty structure up to 6% is on higher end of QSR industry, reducing franchisee margins
- 05MINOR7,397 units with unknown growth trajectory — cannot determine if system is expanding or contracting
- 06MINORNo financial performance data provided limits ability to validate franchise sustainability
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 20 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 20 years |
| Territory type | Specific location |
| Protected territory | No |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Granted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 2 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 5 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Ohio |
| Litigation count | 4 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
11 case reference(s): 1 pending, 2 settled.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 20 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 520 hrs
- Training location
- On-site and pre-opening
- Site selection
- franchisor
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Aloha POS software supplied by NCR
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Aloha POS software supplied by NCR
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
5,959 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
Wendy's · FDD (2026) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Wendy's franchise?
The total investment to open a Wendy's franchise ranges from $410K – $3.1M, 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 Wendy's franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Wendy's FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $2.1M. The median is $2.0M. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
What is Wendy's's franchise failure rate?
Based on SBA 7(a) loan data, Wendy's has a charge-off rate of 0.8% across 200 loans, meaning 0.8% 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 Wendy's franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Wendy's has 7,397 total units in the United States, including 5,552 franchised units and 423 company-owned units.
Is Wendy's a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Wendy's as a A-grade franchise with a risk score of 21 out of 100, 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.
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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.