Food & Beverage · registry year 2024 · HQ TX
Whataburger Franchise
A BDT & MSD Partners brand operating in the food & beverage sector, franchising since 2020. According to the 2024 FDD filing for Whataburger, this is an editorial comparison record; it does not reproduce the brand's current FDD.
- $1.1M – $2.2M
- Initial investment · Higher entry cost
- 5.0%
- Royalty rate · Mid-range royalty
- 1,000
- Total locations · Mid-size network
FDD outlay schedule
Registry whataburger Whataburger
Whataburger needs $1.1M–$2.2M to open and charges a 5.0% royalty - an entry cost above the typical food & beverage franchise.
- LO $1.1M
- HI $2.2M
- FEE $75K
- ROY 5.0%
- UNT 1,000
- I19 Silent
- INV# #29/223
- UNT# #97/223
Same-sector Item 7 peers
Nearest Item 7 peer: El Pollo Loco ($1.1M)
Same-sector Item 7 neighbourhood for Whataburger (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 Whataburger's franchise system looks, from 2 of 2 tracked dimensions.
- Network momentum 4.0% net unit growth (YoY) 65/100 · D
- Financial disclosure Item 19 not disclosed 0/100 · F
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 Whataburger's investment ranks nationally
Whataburger's listed Item 7 low of $1.1M 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.
Whataburger vs all tracked franchise brands by listed investment
Initial investment low (FDD Item 7), PlainFranchise brand corpus
$1,100,000 Higher than most higher than 87% 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
- $75K
- Ad Fund Rate
- 4.0%
Revenue Data (Item 19)
Item 19 Not Disclosed
This franchisor did not provide financial performance data in their FDD. This is common, disclosure is optional.
Network Size & Growth
Net Growth Rate
Year-over-year unit change
10 locations closed in the last reporting year
Quick Facts
- Sector
- Food & Beverage
- Subsector
- quick service restaurant
- Founded
- 1950
- Franchising Since
- 2020
- Headquarters
- TX
- FDD Year
- 2024
- Item 19
- Not Disclosed
Important Notice · Whataburger
This Whataburger page is a registry comparison record, not a verified FDD extract. It does not establish suitability, operating costs, profitability, or expected results for Whataburger.
Higher-band investment fields for Whataburger
Signature read: 1,000 locations · Item 7 low $1.1M
Whataburger, a BDT & MSD Partners franchise, has been franchising since 2020 - 70 years after the concept was founded in 1950 , currently with 1,000 total locations (150 franchised, 850 company-owned; 15% of the recorded total is franchised) in the food & beverage sector, headquartered in TX. The listed total initial investment is $1.1M to $2.2M, using the registry's listed low and high fields. The registry separately records a franchise-fee field of $75K; its summary does not reproduce every Item 7 line item.
Royalty payments here are set at 5.0% of gross sales with a separate 4.0% national advertising-fund field; the two listed percentages total 9.0%. No Item 19 financial-performance field is recorded for Whataburger. This registry does not infer a financial outcome from that absence.
The unit count trend here is positive -- Whataburger posted 4.0% net growth year-over-year (50 openings, 10 closures). This is a reported network-size change, not a measure of profitability, demand, or franchisee outcomes.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a Whataburger franchise cost?
How many Whataburger locations are there?
What are the ongoing fees for a Whataburger franchise?
Related reading for Whataburger: How to Evaluate a Franchise , Whataburger has no Item 19 in this registry, diligence without a financial performance representation.
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 Whataburger's Item 7 and Item 19 fields are labeled (expand)
Nationwide brands with similar investment or network size
Two data-derived peer sets for Whataburger , both outside HQ state TX : nearest Item 7 lows and nearest total-location counts, not the same-sector roster below.
Similar listed investment
Nearest Item 7 lows ($1.1M here).
Similar network size
Nearest total location counts (1,000 here).
What to do with this
Whataburger at a glance, drawn from the same figures above.
- Whataburger scores 33/100 (F) on our composite opportunity read, combining net unit growth and Item 19 financial-disclosure transparency.
- Its $1.1M – $2.2M entry cost runs above the typical food & beverage franchise.
- Ranks #29 of 223 listed franchises by initial investment. See rankings
- El Pollo Loco sits at a comparable investment level ($1.1M) 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 |