Franchise Startup Cost Calculator
Pick a category and budget. Get a realistic cost breakdown based on FDD data from 52 franchises — including buildout, equipment, working capital, and time to breakeven.
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Where the Money Goes
Breakdown percentages are category averages from FDD Item 7 disclosures. Actual splits vary by brand and location.
Monthly Operating Costs
Based on category median revenue and typical cost structure. Royalties and ad fees applied at category average rate.
Breakeven Timeline
Estimated Annual Revenue
Estimated Annual Net Profit
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How This Category Compares
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What Goes Into Franchise Startup Costs
There are five numbers that matter: the franchise fee, real estate and buildout, equipment, inventory, and working capital. The franchise fee is the smallest line item in most budgets. A $45,000 McDonald's franchise fee on a $1.8M investment is 2.5% of total cost. Don't anchor on it.
Buildout is where food and fitness concepts get expensive fast. A drive-through fast food buildout in a major metro can run $800,000–$1.2M before you turn on the lights. Service franchises with no storefront skip this entirely. That's why Jan-Pro starts at $4,195 and Planet Fitness starts at $1.6M.
Working capital is the number most first-time franchisees underestimate. You need enough cash to cover 3–6 months of operating costs before revenue normalizes. For a franchise doing $500,000/year in revenue with 70% operating costs, that's $87,500–$175,000 sitting in reserve at signing. McDonald's FDD requires $275,000 in working capital on top of everything else.
The state multiplier matters for real estate and labor — California buildout can run 20–30% above national average for the same square footage. Mississippi and Alabama are often 10–15% below. Equipment costs are more uniform nationally.
More Franchise Budget Tools
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Franchise Costs by CategoryFood, retail, service, fitness, and automotive averages
Startup Cost BreakdownReal estate, equipment, inventory per brand from FDD data
Franchise ROI ComparisonBreak-even analysis for 20 top brands
Category averages derived from publicly available FDD disclosures across 52 franchise systems. Updated March 2026.
Data: Franchise Disclosure Documents (FDDs), SBA Franchise Loan Data, FRANdata Industry Benchmarks, IFA Economic Reports
Last updated: March 2025
How we calculate this · FDD Item 19 data, where shown, is historical. Past unit performance does not predict your results. Read the full FDD before signing.