Franchises · 2026 FDD · Wisconsin DFI filing 640825
Chick-fil-A franchise cost, unit revenue and closures
Opening a Chick-fil-A cost $317,521 to $3,463,155 in the 2026 FDD; the median unit sold $9,087,673 in the franchisor's 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 figures; 0.9% of franchised units closed over three years.
Franchisor: Chick-fil-A, Inc.. FDD issued 2026-03-31, amended 2026-10-02. Fiscal year end 2025-12-31. Figures re-found on the cited page 2026-11-03.
What a unit costs to open
traditional franchised restaurant; Chick-fil-A funds land, building and equipment, which are outside this figure.
What a unit pays the franchisor
| Initial franchise fee | $10,000 | Item 5, p. 21 |
|---|---|---|
| Royalty | Franchise Fee by formula: a base fee of up to 15% of Gross Receipts plus an Additional Franchise Fee of 50% of the Operator's Net Profit, monthly | Item 6, p. 23, 29, 30 |
| Advertising fund | 0% to 3.25% of Gross Receipts at Chick-fil-A's determination; 0% charged since 1989 | Item 6, p. 23 |
$5,000 of it is held as a refundable working-capital deposit.
Chick-fil-A owns or leases the restaurant and equipment; the Operator's economics are a profit share, so the royalty column is not comparable to a sales royalty.
What a unit sells
Item 19 is optional and is the franchisor's own representation. It is shown here as filed, with the franchisor's measure, sample and period, and nothing is estimated where it is missing.
| Measure | annual sales volume, calendar 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Sample | 2,302 units: domestic non-captive-venue franchised Operator restaurants in non-mall environments (free-standing or drive-thru only) open and operated by Operators for at least one full calendar year as of 2025-12-31 (2,302 of 2,506 non-captive restaurants); mall restaurants (201, median $3,356,330) and delivery kitchens (3) reported separately | |
| Period | 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 | |
| High / low | $20,048,032 / $1,658,209 | |
Revenue to investment
Formula: Item 19 non-mall median / Item 7 total (midpoint, low, high); the Operator's investment excludes the real estate Chick-fil-A funds, so the ratio is not comparable to other brands. A ratio of 1.00 means one year of median unit revenue equals the investment; it says nothing about profit.
How many units open and close
| Franchised units | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start of year | 2,331 | 2,494 | 2,624 |
| Opened | 255 | 243 | 278 |
| Terminated | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Not renewed | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 84 | 102 | 99 |
| Ceased, other reasons | 8 | 6 | 8 |
| End of year | 2,494 | 2,629 | 2,863 |
| Company-owned, end of year | 58 | 55 | 68 |
Item 20, Table 1 p. 86; Table 3 totals p. 92.
Closures are the franchisor's Item 20 counts of units terminated, not renewed, or ceased for other reasons, summed over 2023–2025 and divided by franchised units at the start of 2023. Units the franchisor reacquired are not closures. This is an Item 20 count, not a failure rate.
As filed: 2025 start (2,624 franchised, 60 company) does not equal 2024 end (2,629, 55) as printed; a Licensed-unit table (395 to 424) follows.
As filed: 2025 printed end 2,863 equals Table 1's total-outlets end, not the franchised end (2,795); the arithmetic 2,624+278-99-8 gives 2,795. Recorded as printed; must be stated on the page.
Source and method
Every figure above comes from the Chick-fil-A Franchise Disclosure Document issued 2026-03-31 and amended 2026-10-02, as filed with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (filing 640825, registry record). The PDF is the franchisor's and is not hosted here; the item and page beside each figure is where to check it. Item 7 and Item 20 tables were read cell by cell; Item 19 was read by hand; each Item 20 year was checked to sum (start + opened − exits = end) before it was recorded.
Wisconsin holds two Chick-fil-A registrations: 640825 is the Operator (franchised restaurant) FDD, this record; 640826 is the Licensed Unit FDD (campus, hospital and airport licensees, 424 units, $585,500 to $3,437,000, no initial fee, 10% license fee), kept separately.
Informational only, not professional, legal or investment advice. Unitnomics computes from the filing and does not advise on, rank, or refer to any franchise. Last reviewed: November 2026.