Highlights
- Every week, 10.0% of gross sales goes to the franchisor before rent, food or labor: royalty Varies between 4-6% of Gross Sales, advertising 1.50-4.00% of Gross Sales.p.18
- Opening one unit is estimated at $1,580,457 to $3,105,000, including a $50,000 initial fee.p.24
- The system went from 5,994 outlets at the start of 2023 to 5,969 at the end of 2025, a net loss of 25.p.62
- In 2025, closures of all kinds equalled 1.9% of the outlets open at the start of the year.
- Item 3 discloses 0 matters.p.13
Tools, from this filing's numbers
What Wendy's takes off the top
Royalty Varies between 4-6% of Gross Sales plus advertising 1.50-4.00% of Gross Sales, applied to your own sales estimate. The rates are the filing's; the sales are yours.
Wendy's discloses no unit revenue, so start from a number you believe.
Cash you would need to open
The filing's Item 7 range, $1,580,457 to $3,105,000, 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.67
Total outlets, 2022 to 2025
Compare Wendy's with another brand
Side by side, every figure cited.
Fees (Items 5 and 6)
| Initial franchise fee, standard | $50,000 | p.16 |
| Royalty | Varies between 4-6% of Gross Sales | p.18 |
| Advertising fund | 1.50-4.00% of Gross Sales | p.18 |
| Technology fee | $6,620 - $15,000 per restaurant per year | p.20 |
The filing lists every recurring and conditional fee in Item 6. The report carries all of them.
Estimated initial investment (Item 7)
| Expenditure | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Technical Assistance Fee | $50,000 | $50,000 | p.24 |
| Real Property | held | held | p.24 |
| Equipment | $380,165 | $650,000 | p.24 |
| Pre-Opening Expenses, Training Expenses, and Additional Operating Funds | $117,000 | $205,000 | p.24 |
| Total | $1,580,457 | $3,105,000 | p.24 |
Revenue (Item 19)
Item 19 is held for review: the two readers disagreed. See the run log.
Units (Item 20)
| Type | Year | Start | End | Net | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| franchised | 2023 | 5,591 | 5,627 | 36 | p.62 |
| company owned | 2023 | 403 | 403 | 0 | p.62 |
| total | 2023 | 5,994 | 6,030 | 36 | p.62 |
| franchised | 2024 | 5,627 | 5,552 | -75 | p.62 |
| company owned | 2024 | 403 | 381 | -22 | p.62 |
| total | 2024 | 6,030 | 5,933 | -97 | p.62 |
| franchised | 2025 | 5,552 | 5,546 | -6 | p.62 |
| company owned | 2025 | 381 | 423 | 42 | p.62 |
| total | 2025 | 5,933 | 5,969 | 36 | p.62 |
Openings and closures, system totals (Table 3)
| Year | Start | Opened | Terminated | Non-renewed | Reacquired | Ceased, other | End | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 5,591 | 94 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 56 | 5,627 | p.67 |
| 2024 | 5,627 | 102 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 174 | 5,552 | p.67 |
| 2025 | 5,552 | 100 | 3 | 15 | 35 | 53 | 5,546 | p.67 |
Arithmetic checks flagged: item7: low lines sum to 547165, total says 1580457; item7: high lines sum to 905000, total says 3105000. The figures shown are as filed.
Litigation (Item 3)
0 pending cases described.p.13 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 | $1,580,457 | 66 of 74 |
| Royalty plus ad fund | 10.0% | 35 of 59 |
| Three-year unit growth | -0.4% | 51 of 75 |
| Closure rate, 2025 | 1.9% | 43 of 71, 1 = most |
| Discloses unit revenue | held | |
| Litigation disclosed | 0 | 38 of 68, 1 = most |
Source
Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions franchise filing 640460, effective 3/27/2026, expires 3/27/2027. Extracted 2026-09-04 by two independent readers; only figures both agreed on, whose quoted words appear on the cited page, are shown. 7 fields held for review. How this works.