Highlights
- Every week, 10.0% of gross sales goes to the franchisor before rent, food or labor: royalty 5% of Gross Sales, advertising 4.6% to 5.0% of Gross Sales.p.29
- Opening one unit is estimated at $1,222,045 to $3,923,245, including a $50,000 initial fee.p.40
- Popeyes discloses unit performance in Item 19.p.89
- The system went from 2,946 outlets at the start of 2023 to 3,229 at the end of 2025, a net gain of 283.p.104
- In 2025, closures of all kinds equalled 1.6% of the outlets open at the start of the year.
Tools, from this filing's numbers
What Popeyes takes off the top
Royalty 5% of Gross Sales plus advertising 4.6% to 5.0% of Gross Sales, applied to your own sales estimate. The rates are the filing's; the sales are yours.
Popeyes discloses no unit revenue, so start from a number you believe.
Cash you would need to open
The filing's Item 7 range, $1,222,045 to $3,923,245, 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.112
Total outlets, 2022 to 2025
Compare Popeyes with another brand
Side by side, every figure cited.
Fees (Items 5 and 6)
| Initial franchise fee, standard | $50,000 | p.25 |
| Royalty | 5% of Gross Sales | p.29 |
| Advertising fund | 4.6% to 5.0% of Gross Sales | p.29 |
| Technology fee | $200 per Restaurant per month, plus 1% of Digital Sales, with an annual maximum per calendar year of $6,500 per Restaurant | p.29 |
The filing lists every recurring and conditional fee in Item 6.
Estimated initial investment (Item 7)
| Expenditure | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $50,000 | $50,000 | p.40 |
| Real Estate | None | None | p.40 |
| Soft Costs | $10,000 | $420,000 | p.40 |
| Site Work | $40,000 | $800,000 | p.40 |
| Building | $700,000 | $1,600,000 | p.40 |
| FF&E, Signage and Technology | $340,000 | $865,000 | p.40 |
| Initial Training | $17,200 | $24,200 | p.40 |
| Opening Supplies | $13,000 | $26,000 | p.40 |
| Insurance | $23,000 | $47,000 | p.40 |
| Utility Deposits | $3,000 | $50,000 | p.40 |
| Business Licenses | $1,300 | $6,500 | p.40 |
| Sitewise | $4,545 | $4,545 | p.40 |
| Additional Funds – 3 months | $20,000 | $30,000 | p.40 |
| Total | $1,222,045 | $3,923,245 | p.40 |
Revenue (Item 19)
Popeyes reports Arithmetic Average Sales.p.89 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 | 2,905 | 3,035 | 130 | p.104 |
| company owned | 2023 | 41 | 41 | 0 | p.104 |
| total | 2023 | 2,946 | 3,076 | 130 | p.104 |
| franchised | 2024 | 3,035 | 3,079 | 44 | p.104 |
| company owned | 2024 | 41 | 98 | 57 | p.104 |
| total | 2024 | 3,076 | 3,177 | 101 | p.104 |
| franchised | 2025 | 3,079 | 3,134 | 55 | p.104 |
| company owned | 2025 | 98 | 95 | -3 | p.104 |
| total | 2025 | 3,177 | 3,229 | 52 | p.104 |
Openings and closures, system totals (Table 3)
| Year | Start | Opened | Terminated | Non-renewed | Reacquired | Ceased, other | End | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2,905 | 165 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 31 | 3,035 | p.112 |
| 2024 | 3,035 | 136 | 0 | 8 | 58 | 26 | 3,079 | p.112 |
| 2025 | 3,079 | 104 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 3,134 | p.112 |
Litigation (Item 3)
Item 3 has not been read for this filing yet, or the two readers disagreed and it is held for review.
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 | $1,222,045 | 10 of 15 |
| Royalty plus ad fund | 10.0% | 13 of 16 |
| Three-year unit growth | 9.6% | 5 of 17 |
| Closure rate, 2025 | 1.6% | 10 of 16, 1 = most |
| Discloses unit revenue | yes | |
| Litigation disclosed | held | held |
Source
Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions franchise filing 640387, effective 3/20/2026, expires 3/20/2027. Extracted 2026-09-03 by two independent readers; only figures both agreed on, whose quoted words appear on the cited page, are shown. 4 fields held for review. How this works.