Burger King Franchise

Burger King, a Restaurant Brands Intl franchise, has been franchising since 1961 - 8 years after the concept was founded in 1953 , currently with 18,765 total locations in the food & beverage sector, headquartered in FL. According to the 2024 FDD, the total initial investment ranges from $1.8M to $4.7M, roughly a 154% gap between the low and high end once site size, local market, and buildout scope are factored in. That total bundles the franchise fee of $50K together with equipment, leasehold buildout, and the working capital needed to get through ramp-up.

The brand charges 4.5% of gross sales in ongoing royalties; add the 4.0% advertising-fund contribution and the combined ongoing draw reaches 8.5% of gross sales. Critically, Burger King does disclose financial performance data in Item 19, a voluntary disclosure that only about a third of U.S. franchisors make. The reported average gross revenue per location is $1.6M; at that revenue level the typical unit hands back roughly $72K a year in royalty alone. Revenue is not profit, actual franchisee take-home depends on rent, labor, cost of goods, and local demand.

Burger King's footprint shrank over the past year, down 0.5% with 600 closures on the record. Do not treat contraction as automatically disqualifying, but do dig in: saturation, thin unit profitability, disputes with the franchisor, and planned pruning all produce the same headline number. Item 20 contacts can tell you which one this is.