Food & Beverage · registry year 2024 · HQ OH
Wendy's Franchise
A The Wendy's Co brand operating in the food & beverage sector, franchising since 1972. According to the 2024 FDD filing for Wendy's, this is an editorial comparison record; it does not reproduce the brand's current FDD.
- $336K – $3.7M
- Initial investment · Mid-range entry cost
- 4.0%
- Royalty rate · Below-average royalty
- 7,056
- Total locations · Large network
- $1.6M
- Avg unit revenue · Above-average unit revenue
FDD outlay schedule
Registry wendy-s Wendy's
Wendy's needs $336K–$3.7M to open and charges a 4.0% royalty - an entry cost below the typical food & beverage franchise.
- LO $336K
- HI $3.7M
- FEE $40K
- ROY 4.0%
- UNT 7,056
- I19 Disclosed
- INV# #76/223
- UNT# #20/223
Same-sector Item 7 peers
Nearest Item 7 peer: Wingstop ($336K)
Same-sector Item 7 neighbourhood for Wendy's (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 Wendy's's franchise system looks, from 2 of 2 tracked dimensions.
- Network momentum 0.7% net unit growth (YoY) 28/100 · F
- 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 Wendy's's investment ranks nationally
Wendy's's listed Item 7 low of $336K 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.
Wendy's vs all tracked franchise brands by listed investment
Initial investment low (FDD Item 7), PlainFranchise brand corpus
$336,100 Around the middle lower than 34% 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
- $40K
- Ad Fund Rate
- 4.0%
Revenue Data (Item 19)
- Average Revenue
- $1.6M
- 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
150 locations closed in the last reporting year
Quick Facts
- Sector
- Food & Beverage
- Subsector
- quick service restaurant
- Founded
- 1969
- Franchising Since
- 1972
- Headquarters
- OH
- FDD Year
- 2024
- Item 19
- Disclosed
Important Notice · Wendy's
This Wendy's page is a registry comparison record, not a verified FDD extract. It does not establish suitability, operating costs, profitability, or expected results for Wendy's.
National footprint registry read for Wendy's
Signature read: 7,056 locations · Item 7 low $336K
Wendy's, a The Wendy's Co franchise, has been franchising since 1972 - 3 years after the concept was founded in 1969 , currently with 7,056 total locations (6,648 franchised, 408 company-owned; 94% of the recorded total is franchised) in the food & beverage sector, headquartered in OH. This editorial registry lists a total initial investment from $336K to $3.7M, with separate listed low and high values. The registry records a separate franchise-fee field of $40K and does not list every Item 7 component in this summary.
The brand charges 4.0% of gross sales in ongoing royalties; the registry also records a 4.0% advertising-fund field, for a 8.0% arithmetic total. Wendy's 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 $1.6M; the listed royalty rate multiplied by the reported average equals $64K, which is not a total-cost or profit calculation. This reported revenue field is not a profitability measure; operating costs are outside this registry.
The unit count trend here is positive -- Wendy's posted 0.7% net growth year-over-year (200 openings, 150 closures). The registry records both the reported percentage and the count of openings and closures when those fields are available.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a Wendy's franchise cost?
How many Wendy's locations are there?
What are the ongoing fees for a Wendy's franchise?
Related reading for Wendy's: Understanding FDDs , Wendy's 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 Wendy's's Item 7 and Item 19 fields are labeled (expand)
Nationwide brands with similar investment or network size
Two data-derived peer sets for Wendy's , both outside HQ state OH : nearest Item 7 lows and nearest total-location counts, not the same-sector roster below.
Similar listed investment
Nearest Item 7 lows ($336K here).
Similar network size
Nearest total location counts (7,056 here).
What to do with this
Wendy's at a glance, drawn from the same figures above.
- Wendy's scores 64/100 (D) on our composite opportunity read, combining net unit growth and Item 19 financial-disclosure transparency.
- Its $336K – $3.7M entry cost runs below the typical food & beverage franchise.
- Ranks #76 of 223 listed franchises by initial investment. See rankings
- Wingstop sits at a comparable investment level ($336K) 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 |