Franchise cost researchU.S. filings
What a franchise costs, read from the filing, not the brochure.
Franchise Disclosure Documents record startup budgets, fee schedules, selected sales disclosures and outlet changes. We organize those figures so readers can compare the disclosed formats and follow the source links. Each record identifies the filing used and carries its review qualifications. Sales disclosures are not take-home owner income.
The five Items we read in every FDD
- Item 5Initial feesThe franchise fee and anything else paid to the franchisor before you open.
- Item 6Other feesRoyalties, brand funds and other charges in the disclosed fee schedule.
- Item 7Initial investmentThe startup budget, line by line, from low to high.
- Item 19Earnings claimsSales or profit figures, when the franchisor chooses to disclose them.
- Item 20OutletsThree years of openings, closures, buy-backs and transfers.
Across the 140 published franchises we cover
- Median startup cost, high end
- $689KItem 7 · 84 records
- Franchise fee as share of startup
- 7%Items 5 & 7 · 84 records
- Median royalty (percentage)
- 6%Item 6 · 17 records
- Median yearly franchise exit rate
- 2.6%Item 20 · 79 records
- Disclose financial performance
- 86%Item 19; sales or other disclosed measures
These are statistics for this site's published sample. The investment and exit-rate medians exclude source-review holds; the exit-rate median also excludes outlet tables that cannot be compared. The disclosure percentage counts all published records. Each record links to its FDD and identifies unresolved issues. How these are calculated.
Recently updated records
The last 10 brand records checked or updated on TrueFranchiseCost:
| Franchise | Category | Total investment | Franchise fee | Royalty / base service fee | Franchise exit rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-800-GOT-JUNK? Source review hold · 2026-10-22 · Provisional | Home Services | $182K – $304K | $65,000 – $97,500 | 8% of Gross Revenue Item 6 terms apply | — Source review |
| 7 Brew | Restaurants & Food | $941K – $2.28M | $35,000 | 4.5% – 7% of weekly Store Gross Sales Item 6 terms apply | 2.2% |
| Ace Hardware Painting Services Source review hold · 2026-10-19 · Provisional | Home Services | $89.3K – $153K | $50,000 – $80,000 | 6% of Gross Revenues Item 6 terms apply | — Source review |
| Blaze Pizza | Restaurants & Food | $757K – $1.3M | $30,000 | 5% of Gross Sales Item 6 terms apply | 11.3% |
| BODY20 Source review hold · 2026-11-02 · Provisional | Fitness | Source total unresolved | $65,000 | 8% of Gross Sales Item 6 terms apply | — Source review |
| Bojangles | Restaurants & Food | $2.85M – $3.95M | $35,000 | 4% of Gross Sales Item 6 terms apply | 1.3% |
| BrightStar Care | Senior & Home Care | $101K – $217K | $25,000 – $50,000 | 5.25% of monthly Net Billings from non-National Accounts + 6.25% of monthly Net Billings from National Accounts Item 6 terms apply | 3.3% |
| Camp Bow Wow Source review hold · 2026-10-23 · Provisional | Pet Services | $944K – $1.2M | $50,000 | 3.5% – 7% of Net Revenue Item 6 terms apply | — Source review |
| Caring Transitions Source review hold · 2026-11-02 · Provisional | Senior & Home Care | Source total unresolved | $58,900 | 6% of Gross Receipts Item 6 terms apply | — Source review |
| Chester's Source review hold · 2026-11-02 · Provisional | Restaurants & Food | $27.5K – $307K | $3,500 | $0 per month Item 6 terms apply | — Source review |
Explore by category & investment tier
- Education & Tutoring Compare 8 franchises in this category
- Fitness Compare 11 franchises in this category
- Home Services Compare 23 franchises in this category
- Restaurants & Food Compare 47 franchises in this category
- Franchises Under $150K Compare 33 franchises under $150k
- Franchises Under $250K Compare 56 franchises under $250k
Why the franchise fee is the wrong number to compare
Franchises are usually advertised by their franchise fee. The fee is paid once. A royalty can be a sales percentage, a fixed charge or a varying formula. Its collection schedule and conditions come from Item 6. Brand fund and technology fees sit on top of it. Build-out, equipment and the cash reserve for the first months are in a different Item altogether.
Where the disclosed figures support the calculation, a franchise page adds the startup budget from Item 7 to recurring fees from Item 6 over 10 years. When charges depend on sales mix, enrollment, minimums or contractual offsets, the page explains those terms and withholds a total that the available inputs cannot support.
How a franchise page gets made
- Find the filingUse a regulator-filed FDD, record its issue date and check for later amendments.
- Pull five ItemsItems 5, 6, 7, 19 and 20 go into a structured record, with the PDF page for each figure.
- Check the sourceCompare figures with the PDF and test Item 7 and Item 20 totals. Unresolved differences remain visible.
- Show the review statusPages link the FDD and its page numbers. A completed check has a real check date; a provisional page carries a warning.
Guides to the document
- How to Find a Franchise's FDD for FreeFind a free FDD in Minnesota CARDS and other state databases. Check its date and learn when to request the current copy from the franchisor.
- How to Read a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD)What each of the 23 Items in an FDD covers, which ones show cost, earnings and closures, and what the document leaves out.
- FDD Item 19: What Franchise Earnings Claims ShowRead FDD Item 19 earnings claims, sample limits, what they show about owner pay, and the two exceptions allowing figures outside the FDD.
- FDD Item 20: How to Check Franchise ClosuresHow to read the five Item 20 tables in an FDD to see how many franchise units opened, closed, were terminated or changed owners.
- SBA Loans for Franchises: Directory, Down Payment, TermsHow SBA 7(a) and 504 loans work for a franchise: the SBA Franchise Directory, the 10% equity rule, loan terms and guarantees.
- Franchise Royalty Fees: How to Read Item 6Find the royalty rate, sales definition, payment schedule and separate advertising charges in a franchise disclosure document.
Franchise data study & financial calculators
- Franchise cost dataset & data study Recorded fee terms, investment ranges and outlet figures from the published brands, with a free CSV download.
- Franchise exit rates by brand Item 20 exit rates for each published brand, with terminations, buybacks and transfers.
- Compare franchises tool Side-by-side interactive comparison of startup costs, royalties and franchise exit rates.
- Payback period calculator What’s left after costs each year, and how long it takes to earn back your investment.
- 10-year startup and fee model Startup investment plus selected recurring FDD fees under stated assumptions.
- SBA loan calculator Down payment, loan amount and monthly payment for financing a franchise.
We are not franchise brokers and we don’t collect leads. No franchisor pays to be listed or to change how its numbers appear. About this site