Franchises · 2026 FDD · Wisconsin DFI filing 641233
Potbelly Sandwich Shop franchise cost, unit revenue and closures
Opening a Potbelly Sandwich Shop cost $628,938 to $999,371 in the 2026 FDD; the median unit sold $1,195,243 in the franchisor's fiscal 2025 (12 periods ending 2025-12-28) figures; 17.8% of franchised units closed over three years.
Franchisor: Potbelly Franchising, LLC. FDD issued 2026-04-23. Fiscal year end 2025-12-28. 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 | $40,000 | Item 5, p. 7 |
|---|---|---|
| Royalty | 6% of weekly Total Revenue | Item 6, p. 10 |
| Advertising fund | Brand Fund currently 3% of Total Revenue | Item 6, p. 11 |
fees received in fiscal 2025 ranged from $10,000 to $40,000 under incentives.
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 Unit Volume (Gross Sales), fiscal 2025, franchised Potbelly Shops (All column) | |
|---|---|---|
| Sample | 97 units: the 97 of 119 franchised shops open for all 12 periods of fiscal 2025 (24 not open the full year excluded; 7 non-traditional venues included); split by venue type, with 2024 and 2023 tables and a separate company-owned table (337 shops, median $1,245,773) | |
| Period | fiscal 2025 (12 periods ending 2025-12-28) | |
| High / low | $4,599,072 / $601,352 | |
Revenue to investment
Formula: Item 19 franchised median / Item 7 total (midpoint, low, high). 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 | 45 | 80 | 102 |
| Opened | 39 | 24 | 22 |
| Terminated | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Not renewed | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased, other reasons | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| End of year | 80 | 102 | 122 |
| Company-owned, end of year | 345 | 342 | 348 |
Item 20, Table 1 p. 67; Table 3 totals p. 71.
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.
all three rows sum; most 2023 openings were company shops refranchised (company-owned fell by 39).
Source and method
Every figure above comes from the Potbelly Sandwich Shop Franchise Disclosure Document issued 2026-04-23, as filed with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (filing 641233, 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.
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.