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3 brands side-by-side
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indicates the clear winner per row. Ties and missing data are not highlighted.
How winners are chosen
Lower is better for investment, liquid capital, franchise fee, royalty and ad-fund rates, SBA charge-off rate, and owner turnover.
Higher is better for disclosed revenue and owner earnings, verdict score, total units, net unit growth, and franchisee contacts. For the letter grade, A ranks highest.
A row is highlighted only when one brand clearly leads. Ties are never highlighted, and missing data never counts as a win. Some rows (earnings-metric type, loan counts, contract terms) are informational and have no winner.
These brands report different earnings metrics (Operating Income, Average Annual Gross Sales). Financial figures may not be directly comparable.
These figures come from FDDs of different years (2025, 2026). Costs, fees and unit counts change from one filing to the next, so the older column may be out of date.
Focus by buyer type
| Brand |  AStrongest tierMcDonald’s Quick-Service Restaurants 2026 FDD Remove |  AStrongest tierChick-fil-A Quick-Service Restaurants 2025 FDD Remove |  AStrongest tierWendy's Quick-Service Restaurants 2026 FDD Remove |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vitals | |||
FDD filing | FDD issued May 1, 2026 | 2025 FDD | FDD issued Mar 27, 2026 |
Investment range | $1.5M – $2.8M | $427K – $2.3M | $1.6M – $3.1M |
Liquid capital | $250K – $452K | $391K – $2.1M | $88K – $163K |
Franchise fee | $45K | $10K | $50K |
Royalty rate | 5.0% | 15.0% | 4.0% |
Ad fund rate | 4.0% | 0.0% | Not extracted |
| Performance | |||
Avg gross sales | $4.1M | $9.3MOutlet subset | $2.0M |
Median gross sales | $3.9M | $9.2MOutlet subset | $1.9M |
Avg owner earnings Metric varies by brand. Check type below | Not extracted | Not extracted | Not extracted |
Earnings metric | Operating Income | Not classified | Average Annual Gross Sales |
| Risk | |||
Rating | AStrongest tier | AStrongest tier | AStrongest tier |
Verdict score | 83 / 100 | 86 / 100 | 79 / 100 |
SBA charge-off rate | Limited · 24 loans | Under 10 loans (2) | 0.8% (n=200) |
SBA loans on record | 24 | 2 | 200 |
| Scale | |||
Total units | 13,706 | 2,684 | 5,969 |
Net change (latest yr) | +175 | +135 | -6 |
Signed, not yet open | Not extracted | Not extracted | 20 (0.00 per open outlet) |
Turnover rate | 0.3% | 4.0% | 1.8% |
| Contract | |||
Initial term (years) | 20 | 1 | 20 |
Renewal term (years) | Not extracted | 1 | 20 |
Initial training (hrs) | 548 | 102 | 540 |
| Contacts | |||
Franchisee phones | 12,345 | 2,139 | 5,958 |
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