Food & Beverage · registry year 2024 · HQ GA
Chick-fil-A Franchise
A Chick-fil-A Inc brand operating in the food & beverage sector, franchising since 1967. According to the 2024 FDD filing for Chick-fil-A, this is an editorial comparison record; it does not reproduce the brand's current FDD.
- $343K – $2.0M
- Initial investment · Higher entry cost
- 15.0%
- Royalty rate · Above-average royalty
- 2,972
- Total locations · Large network
- $5.8M
- Avg unit revenue · Above-average unit revenue
FDD outlay schedule
Registry chick-fil-a Chick-fil-A
Chick-fil-A needs $343K–$2.0M to open and charges a 15.0% royalty - an entry cost below the typical food & beverage franchise.
- LO $343K
- HI $2.0M
- FEE $10K
- ROY 15.0%
- UNT 2,972
- I19 Disclosed
- INV# #74/223
- UNT# #39/223
Same-sector Item 7 peers
Nearest Item 7 peer: Arby's ($342K)
Same-sector Item 7 neighbourhood for Chick-fil-A (registry year 2024). Listed lows only - not a profit, cost-of-living, or suitability claim. Verify the current FDD before relying on these figures. How we place brands →
Franchise Opportunity Health Score
How healthy and transparent Chick-fil-A's franchise system looks, from 2 of 2 tracked dimensions.
- Network momentum 3.7% net unit growth (YoY) 62/100 · D
- Financial disclosure Item 19 disclosed 100/100 · A
Benchmarked against the 223-brand tracked corpus (p10-p90 range per dimension); a higher score means a growing unit count and a disclosed Item 19. See how we place brands.
Where Chick-fil-A's investment ranks nationally
Chick-fil-A's listed Item 7 low of $343K against every one of the 218 tracked franchise brands with a disclosed initial investment. Listed figures only, verify in the current FDD before relying on them.
Chick-fil-A vs all tracked franchise brands by listed investment
Initial investment low (FDD Item 7), PlainFranchise brand corpus
$342,990 Around the middle lower than 33% of 218 franchise brands
Franchise brands, banded by listed Item 7 low
Each bar is a $0.001K-wide band; taller bars hold more franchise brands. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source PlainFranchise editorial comparison registry · 2024-12-31
Investment Overview
- Franchise Fee
- $10K
Revenue Data (Item 19)
- Average Revenue
- $5.8M
- gross revenue per location
* Revenue figures are gross revenue (sales), not profit. This registry does not report operating costs or profit.
Network Size & Growth
Net Growth Rate
Year-over-year unit change
40 locations closed in the last reporting year
Quick Facts
- Sector
- Food & Beverage
- Subsector
- quick service restaurant
- Founded
- 1946
- Franchising Since
- 1967
- Headquarters
- GA
- FDD Year
- 2024
- Item 19
- Disclosed
Important Notice · Chick-fil-A
This Chick-fil-A page is a registry comparison record, not a verified FDD extract. It does not establish suitability, operating costs, profitability, or expected results for Chick-fil-A.
National footprint registry read for Chick-fil-A
Signature read: 2,972 locations · Item 7 low $343K
Chick-fil-A, a Chick-fil-A Inc franchise, has been franchising since 1967 - 21 years after the concept was founded in 1946 , currently with 2,972 total locations (2,866 franchised, 106 company-owned; 96% of the recorded total is franchised) in the food & beverage sector, headquartered in GA. The registry records a total initial investment between $343K and $2.0M, recorded as a low-to-high range in the registry. The registry records a separate franchise-fee field of $10K and does not list every Item 7 component in this summary.
The brand charges 15.0% of gross sales in ongoing royalties. Chick-fil-A has a recorded Item 19 financial-performance field; Item 19 disclosure is voluntary under the FTC Franchise Rule. The reported average gross revenue per location is $5.8M; multiplying the reported average by the listed royalty rate gives $870K as an arithmetic illustration only. This reported revenue field is not a profitability measure; operating costs are outside this registry.
Network momentum is currently positive: Chick-fil-A added units at a 3.7% net rate year-over-year (150 openings, 40 closures). The count describes the latest reported period only; the underlying Item 20 tables provide the fuller disclosure context.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a Chick-fil-A franchise cost?
How many Chick-fil-A locations are there?
What are the ongoing fees for a Chick-fil-A franchise?
Related reading for Chick-fil-A: Understanding FDDs , Chick-fil-A lists Item 19 revenue here, how Item 19 fits the 23-item FDD.
Snapshot uses the registry's listed Item 7 initial-investment low and Item 20 location-count fields. It is a descriptive comparison, not a ranking or investment recommendation.
How Chick-fil-A's Item 7 and Item 19 fields are labeled (expand)
Nationwide brands with similar investment or network size
Two data-derived peer sets for Chick-fil-A , both outside HQ state GA : nearest Item 7 lows and nearest total-location counts, not the same-sector roster below.
Similar listed investment
Nearest Item 7 lows ($343K here).
Similar network size
Nearest total location counts (2,972 here).
What to do with this
Chick-fil-A at a glance, drawn from the same figures above.
- Chick-fil-A scores 81/100 (B) on our composite opportunity read, combining net unit growth and Item 19 financial-disclosure transparency.
- Its $343K – $2.0M entry cost runs below the typical food & beverage franchise.
- Ranks #74 of 223 listed franchises by initial investment. See rankings
- Arby's sits at a comparable investment level ($342K) in the same sector. Compare
Editorial comparison registry, not a source-linked FDD record. Verify the current FDD before relying on any figure.
Read our methodology - what this registry can and cannot establish.
Source: PlainFranchise editorial registry Record-level FDD source link and retrieval date pending
| Publisher | PlainFranchise |
| Sources | Public state franchise disclosure registries and FDD filings |