Where to Get a Franchise Disclosure Document for Free

Every figure on this site comes from a Franchise Disclosure Document a franchisor filed with a state regulator, and those documents are public. The FTC Franchise Rule (16 CFR 436.2) requires a franchisor to furnish the FDD to a prospective franchisee at least 14 calendar days before any agreement is signed or payment made; it does not require the document to be published. A few states that register franchise offerings do publish what is filed with them, and that is where a copy can be read without asking a franchisor or paying a portal.

Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions runs a public franchise search. Enter a name, open the registration row, and the filed FDD is a download. Every brand page on this site links its Wisconsin filing record by number, so the document behind the page is one click from the figures. The search lists franchisors by legal name, which is often not the brand: the record for Wendy's is under Quality Is Our Recipe, LLC, Orangetheory under OTF Franchisor, LLC, and Hooters under HOA Future Franchising, LLC. A brand that seems to have no filing often does, under a name the search did not match.

Registrations are renewed yearly. Most franchisors file in the spring, after their fiscal year closes, which is why the FDD year on a brand page is usually the current calendar year and the Item 19 and Item 20 figures inside it describe the year before. A brand whose current registration is an older filing shows that year instead; Qdoba's is its 2025 FDD.

Minnesota

The Minnesota Department of Commerce publishes filings through its CARDS system. Choose the Franchise Registrations area, search by franchise name, and select the document type "Clean FDD" for the filed document without redlines. The site has verified it returns current filings (Nothing Bundt Cakes, Hooters, Pure Barre, Chicken Salad Chick and Del Taco each came back with a 2025 or 2026 document) and holds it in reserve as a second source for brands that file in Minnesota but not Wisconsin.

California

The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation keeps filed franchise documents in its DocQNet search. It is the largest registration state, and the brand pages' About page names it as a source the site may use. Its search is browser-only.

What the filed copy contains

The FDD is one document with 23 numbered items and exhibits, in an order the rule fixes. The items this site reads are 5 (initial fees), 6 (other fees, including the royalty), 7 (estimated initial investment), 19 (financial performance representations, where the franchisor chose to make one) and 20 (outlet counts). The franchise agreement itself and the audited financial statements are exhibits at the back. The guides on Item 7, Item 19 and Item 20 explain how to read each.

When there is no filing

A brand with no FDD in any state search is usually one of two things. It does not franchise, so there is no document to file: Chipotle, Dutch Bros, Raising Cane's, Waffle House, Shake Shack and Texas Roadhouse all show search demand for "franchise cost" and none of them sells franchises. Or it franchises but has not registered in that state, because registration is only required in the states that have a franchise law and only while the franchisor is offering there. A lapsed registration means the franchisor stopped renewing in that state, not that the brand stopped franchising.

This site never fills either gap. A brand without a current filing in a source the site reads has no page, rather than a page built from an article or a broker listing.

What this guide does not cover

Indiana, Maryland, New York and the other registration states have their own procedures, and some do not publish filed documents at all. Paid aggregators sell copies of the same public filings; they are not a source for this site and the guide does not compare them.

The brand index lists every brand with a page, each linked to the Wisconsin filing record its figures were read from.

Sources

• 16 CFR 436.2, Obligation to furnish documents
• Wisconsin DFI Franchise Search
• Minnesota Department of Commerce CARDS
• California DFPI DocQNet search

This guide is informational only. It is not financial, legal or investment advice, and Unitnomics is not affiliated with any franchisor, state regulator or the FTC. It reports what a franchisor filed and what the site computed from it; it does not advise on whether to buy a franchise.

Last reviewed: November 2026 · Against 16 CFR 436.2 and the Wisconsin and Minnesota searches named below.