Franchises · 2026 FDD · Wisconsin DFI filing 640430
Dairy Queen (DQ Grill & Chill) franchise cost, unit revenue and closures
Opening a Dairy Queen (DQ Grill & Chill) cost $1,510,100 to $2,550,100 in the 2026 FDD; the franchisor's revenue disclosure has no single unit figure; 4.8% of franchised units closed over three years.
Franchisor: American Dairy Queen Corporation. FDD issued 2026-03-26. Fiscal year end 2025-12-31. Figures re-found on the cited page 2026-11-03.
What a unit costs to open
What a unit pays the franchisor
| Initial franchise fee | $45,000 | Item 5, p. 13 |
|---|---|---|
| Royalty | Continuing License Fee 4% of Gross Sales, monthly | Item 6, p. 15 |
| Advertising fund | Sales Promotion Program Fee 5% to 6% of Gross Sales | Item 6, p. 15 |
$10,000 of it is a non-refundable application deposit; none for conversions or relocations.
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.
Item 19 present, no single unit figure. Annual Gross Sales of newly constructed freestanding DQ Grill & Chill restaurants developed under ADQ's new-restaurant programs, by year and by opening cohort (Schedules A and B); not all Grill & Chill or DQ restaurants (Item 19, p. 56, 57, 58).
Sample: the 2025 column covers 284 program restaurants (125, 44%, at or above the average); cohorts by opening year run from 157 (2022 openings) to 16 (2025 openings). Period: calendar 2022 to 2025.
Revenue to investment
Undefined: Item 19 covers a development-program cohort, not all units.
How many units open and close
| Franchised units | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start of year | 1,966 | 1,968 | 1,970 |
| Opened | 41 | 30 | 38 |
| Terminated | 41 | 28 | 24 |
| Not renewed | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased, other reasons | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| End of year | 1,966 | 1,970 | 1,983 |
| Company-owned, end of year | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Item 20, Table 1 p. 63; Table 3 totals p. 69.
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: Table 3 totals start 2023 at 1,966 and end 2024 at 1,970 while Table 1 prints 1,965 and 1,969; company-owned rows not captured and recorded as 0 pending a re-read.
all three rows sum; exits are booked as terminations.
Source and method
Every figure above comes from the Dairy Queen (DQ Grill & Chill) Franchise Disclosure Document issued 2026-03-26, as filed with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (filing 640430, 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 Dairy Queen registrations: 640430 DQ Grill & Chill (this record) and 640429 DQ Treat, a separate offering not fetched.
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.