Highlights
- Every week, 10.0% of gross sales goes to the franchisor before rent, food or labor: royalty 4% of Gross Sales, advertising 5% - 6% of Gross Sales.p.23
- Opening one unit is estimated at $1,510,100 to $2,550,100, including a $45,000 initial fee.p.28
- Dairy Queen discloses unit performance in Item 19: Average Annual Gross Sales of $1,485,731.p.64
- The system went from 585 outlets at the start of 2023 to 524 at the end of 2025, a net loss of 61.p.83
- In 2025, closures of all kinds equalled 8.1% of the outlets open at the start of the year.
- Item 3 discloses 9 matters.p.18
Tools, from this filing's numbers
What Dairy Queen takes off the top
Royalty 4% of Gross Sales plus advertising 5% - 6% of Gross Sales, applied to your own sales estimate. The rates are the filing's; the sales are yours.
Preset to the filing's Item 19 figure, $1,485,731 a year.p.66
Cash you would need to open
The filing's Item 7 range, $1,510,100 to $2,550,100, is an estimate for one unit including only its first months. Slide between the low and high cases and add the months of runway you want beyond that.
Monthly operating cash is taken as one-twelfth of your weekly-sales figure above times 52, a placeholder for rent, labor and food until you have your own budget.
Where the units went in 2025
Every outlet that opened, and every one that left, drawn from Item 20 Table 3 to scale.p.83
Total outlets, 2022 to 2025
Compare Dairy Queen with another brand
Side by side, every figure cited.
Fees (Items 5 and 6)
| Initial franchise fee, standard | $45,000 | p.21 |
| Royalty | 4% of Gross Sales | p.23 |
| Advertising fund | 5% - 6% of Gross Sales | p.23 |
| Technology fee | held for review |
The filing lists every recurring and conditional fee in Item 6.
Estimated initial investment (Item 7)
| Expenditure | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee(3) | $45,000 | $45,000 | p.27 |
| ALTA Survey(4) and/or Site Investigation Report (SIR) | $0 | $10,000 | p.27 |
| Initial Training Fees and Costs(5) | $2,100 | $11,100 | p.27 |
| Travel and Living Expenses for Training Programs(6) | $0 | $31,500 | p.27 |
| Building, Construction and Leasehold Improvements(7) | $800,000 | $1,400,000 | p.27 |
| Construction Consultation Services(8) | $0 | $7,500 | p.27 |
| Building Plans, Design Intent Plans and Architectural Seal(9) | $15,000 | $60,000 | p.27 |
| Equipment (includes signs and point-of-sale systems)(10) | $550,000 | $700,000 | p.27 |
| Training Inventory(11) | $8,000 | $15,000 | p.27 |
| Opening Inventory | $25,000 | $40,000 | p.27 |
| Utility Deposits, Business Licenses and Government Charges(12) | $4,000 | $17,000 | p.28 |
| Additional Funds - 3 Months(14) | $51,000 | $198,000 | p.28 |
| Attorneys' Fees(13) | $10,000 | $15,000 | p.28 |
| Total | $1,510,100 | $2,550,100 | p.28 |
Revenue (Item 19)
Dairy Queen reports Average Annual Gross Sales of $1,485,731 across 286 outlets for 2025.p.66 What the figure measures, which units were excluded and what it leaves out are in the report.
Units (Item 20)
| Type | Year | Start | End | Net | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| franchised | 2023 | 585 | 579 | -6 | p.83 |
| company owned | 2023 | 0 | 0 | 0 | p.83 |
| total | 2023 | 585 | 579 | -6 | p.83 |
| franchised | 2024 | 579 | 568 | -11 | p.83 |
| company owned | 2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 | p.83 |
| total | 2024 | 579 | 568 | -11 | p.83 |
| franchised | 2025 | 568 | 524 | -44 | p.83 |
| company owned | 2025 | 0 | 0 | 0 | p.83 |
| total | 2025 | 568 | 524 | -44 | p.83 |
Openings and closures, system totals (Table 3)
| Year | Start | Opened | Terminated | Non-renewed | Reacquired | Ceased, other | End | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 583 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 577 | p.83 |
| 2024 | 577 | 3 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 566 | p.83 |
| 2025 | 566 | 4 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 524 | p.83 |
Litigation (Item 3)
9 pending cases described.p.18 4 cases brought by franchisees or former franchisees.p.18 Counts are of distinct matters as the filing describes them; the report carries each one in plain words.
Scorecard
Rank among the brands on this site that report the figure, on each list's own direction. No blended grade. How the lists work.
| Cost to open | $1,510,100 | 59 of 67 |
| Royalty plus ad fund | 10.0% | 39 of 54 |
| Three-year unit growth | -10.4% | 65 of 68 |
| Closure rate, 2025 | 8.1% | 10 of 64, 1 = most |
| Discloses unit revenue | yes | |
| Litigation disclosed | 9 | 5 of 61, 1 = most |
Source
Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions franchise filing 640430, effective 3/26/2026, expires 3/26/2027. Extracted 2026-09-05 by two independent readers; only figures both agreed on, whose quoted words appear on the cited page, are shown. How this works.