Franchises · 2026 FDD · Wisconsin DFI filing 640453
Sonic Drive-In franchise cost, unit revenue and closures
Opening a Sonic Drive-In cost $1,485,200 to $2,522,900 in the 2026 FDD; the median unit sold $1,465,090 in the franchisor's fiscal 2025 figures; 5.8% of franchised units closed over three years.
Franchisor: Sonic Franchising LLC. FDD issued 2026-03-26. Fiscal year end 2025-12-28. Figures re-found on the cited page 2026-11-03.
What a unit costs to open
free-standing leased, excluding free-standing real estate costs; C-store leased $670,200 to $1,412,900; urban in-line $679,200 to $1,250,900.
What a unit pays the franchisor
| Initial franchise fee | $15,000 | Item 5, p. 20 |
|---|---|---|
| Royalty | 5% of Gross Sales, monthly | Item 6, p. 22 |
| Advertising fund | Sonic Brand Fund contribution 0.90% of Gross Sales (cooperative advertising separate) | Item 6, p. 22 |
traditional drive-in or non-drive-in location; fees paid in 2025 ranged $1,250 to $45,000.
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), 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Sample | 3,057 units: the 2025 Franchised Restaurants open the full year (Inspire template); free-standing 2,988 (median $1,472,566) and gas/c-store 69 (median $1,049,767); quartiles also given | |
| Period | fiscal 2025 | |
| High / low | $4,800,647 / $255,308 | |
Revenue to investment
Formula: Item 19 all-restaurants median AUV / Item 7 free-standing leased 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 | 3,220 | 3,194 | 3,144 |
| Opened | 23 | 30 | 32 |
| Terminated | 2 | 12 | 2 |
| Not renewed | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased, other reasons | 47 | 68 | 54 |
| End of year | 3,194 | 3,144 | 3,120 |
| Company-owned, end of year | — | — | — |
Item 20, Table 1 p. 66; 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.
franchised rows taken from Table 3 totals; company-owned and total rows not captured in this pass.
Source and method
Every figure above comes from the Sonic Drive-In Franchise Disclosure Document issued 2026-03-26, as filed with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (filing 640453, 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.