Dave's Hot Chicken franchise cost in 2026: $823,800 to $4,121,900 freestanding, a $40,000 fee, 6% royalty, and no Item 19. See every format.
Quick answer A freestanding Dave's Hot Chicken costs $823,800 to $4,121,900 to open per Item 7 of the 2026 FDD, including the $40,000 franchise fee; an in-line or endcap unit runs $616,800 to $2,632,500. Royalty is 6% of gross sales plus a 4% Creative Fund. The FDD has no Item 19, so there is no disclosed revenue figure.
Dave’s Hot Chicken grew from 88 franchised restaurants to 348 in three years, and its franchisor will not tell you what any of them sell. The May 4, 2026 disclosure from Dave’s Hot Chicken Franchise Co. SPV LLC prices a freestanding restaurant at $823,800 to $4,121,900, including the $40,000 initial franchise fee. An in-line or endcap restaurant costs $616,800 to $2,632,500, and a branded food truck $263,150 to $688,500.
Item 19 is the standard refusal: “We do not make any financial performance representations about a franchisee’s future financial performance or the past financial performance of company-owned or franchised outlets.” A system that size has the data. It chose not to publish it.
Every number below comes from that 2026 document, covering the fiscal year that ended January 4, 2026.
| Item 7 line | Freestanding low | Freestanding high | In-line/endcap low | In-line/endcap high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $40,000 | $40,000 | $40,000 | $40,000 |
| Architect and engineer | $15,000 | $160,000 | $14,000 | $97,000 |
| Business licenses and permits | $1,000 | $217,000 | $1,000 | $35,000 |
| Construction and leasehold improvements | $475,000 | $2,315,900 | $275,000 | $1,180,000 |
| Equipment | $95,000 | $440,000 | $95,000 | $440,000 |
| Furniture, fixtures, smallwares | $22,500 | $176,000 | $22,500 | $176,000 |
| Signage, graffiti and artwork | $53,000 | $248,000 | $47,000 | $228,000 |
| Drive-thru, loop timers, signage | $0 | $35,000 | n/a | n/a |
| Computer and POS systems | $13,500 | $66,000 | $13,500 | $50,000 |
| Inventory, uniforms, office, grand opening kit | $35,000 | $127,000 | $35,000 | $121,500 |
| Pre-opening rent, labor, training | $22,000 | $140,000 | $22,000 | $110,000 |
| Grand opening advertising and NRO media fee | $32,000 | $34,000 | $32,000 | $34,000 |
| Insurance, liquor license, NRO fee, misc., professional | $3,500 | $75,000 | $3,500 | $73,000 |
| Additional funds, 3 months | $16,300 | $48,000 | $16,300 | $48,000 |
| Total | $823,800 | $4,121,900 | $616,800 | $2,632,500 |
Some lines are grouped; the full Item 7 table and fee schedule are on the Dave’s Hot Chicken dossier. The $3.3 million spread on the freestanding format is almost entirely construction, which runs $475,000 to $2,315,900. Note 3 says every estimate assumes you lease an existing building, so ground-up construction, a ground lease, or buying land would cost “significantly higher.” Franchisees have reported tenant improvement allowances as high as $340,000 on freestanding sites and $250,000 on in-line sites, and none of that is netted out of the table. The additional funds line also excludes any owner’s salary.
The food truck table is a different business: $20,000 fee, $75,000 to $150,000 for the truck, $50,000 to $250,000 to retrofit it, and $75,000 to $150,000 in equipment. Trucks get no protected territory. For how these ranges compare across categories, see how much it costs to open a franchise.
The headline fee understates what you hand over before opening. Item 5 sets the Initial Franchise Fee at $40,000 for a restaurant and $20,000 for a truck. Under an area development agreement, the development fee is the full $40,000 for the first restaurant plus a $20,000 deposit for each additional one, so a three-restaurant deal is $80,000 at signing. Item 5 says it is non-refundable “even if an Area Developer fails to open any Dave’s Hot Chicken Restaurants.” Your second and third restaurants also carry a $15,000 New Restaurant Opening Fee, rising to $40,000 from the fourth onward unless you run your own certified training store.
Item 6 is where the money runs. Since there is no Item 19, take a hypothetical $2,000,000 restaurant. The 6% royalty is $120,000. The Creative Fund at its current 4% is $80,000, and the FDD lets the franchisor raise it to 5% on 30 days’ notice. The 1% local advertising requirement adds $20,000. The Technology and Operations fee runs $170 to $500 a week, or $8,840 to $26,000 a year, and the food safety, mystery shopper and guest response fees add $556 a month, or $6,672. That is roughly $235,500 to $252,700 a year on $2 million in sales, before rent, labor, and debt service. At a 5% Creative Fund it tops $255,000.
The term is ten years from opening, with two ten-year successor agreements available, each at 50% of the then-current initial fee.
The FTC rule makes Item 19 optional. Our guide to franchises with no Item 19 covers why. The practical problem is underwriting. A lender sizing a seven-figure loan on a freestanding build has no franchisor-disclosed revenue to anchor the projections, so the business plan has to rest on your own market research and on what existing franchisees will tell you.
That second source is limited too. Item 20 notes that franchisees have signed confidentiality clauses, and some “sign provisions restricting their ability to speak openly about their experience.” Call the Exhibit G list anyway. Ask for unit-level sales in writing.
The FDD also carries two risk flags you should take to your lender. The Special Risks page warns that the franchisor has a short operating history and that its financial condition, per the Item 21 statements, “calls into question the franchisor’s financial ability to provide services and support to you.” Both follow from the entity being formed in 2025 for a securitization, but they are on the page.
| Year | Franchised start | Opened | Ceased operations | Franchised end | Company-owned end |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 88 | 70 | 1 | 157 | 6 |
| 2024 | 157 | 77 | 1 | 233 | 5 |
| 2025 | 233 | 117 | 2 | 348 | 10 |
Zero terminations and zero non-renewals across all three years. The company count jumped in 2025 because the predecessor reacquired 6 California restaurants from the founders in May 2025 and closed one. A footnote also reclassifies 13 restaurants listed as company-owned in prior FDDs as franchised, so older-vintage counts will not line up.
Transfers are the line to watch: 1 in 2023, 5 in 2024, 25 in 2025, including 9 in Michigan and 6 in New York. As of December 31, 2025, 52 franchise agreements were signed for restaurants not yet open, and the franchisor projects 131 franchised openings in the next fiscal year.
Nation’s Restaurant News reported on June 2, 2025 that Roark Capital acquired Dave’s Hot Chicken at a $1 billion valuation. The FDD does not describe the sale, but Item 1 confirms the result, listing affiliation with funds managed by Roark Capital Management, LLC alongside Subway, Inspire Brands and GoTo Foods.
What Item 1 does describe is the structure. The franchisor was organized in Delaware on July 1, 2025 and began franchising September 26, 2025. In a securitization that closed in September 2025, the predecessor, Dave’s Hot Chicken Franchise Co. LLC, transferred every existing franchise and area development agreement plus the trademarks to the new SPV. The predecessor still owns the 10 company restaurants in California and now runs the system under a management agreement. Your contract is with the SPV.
This is not a first-franchise purchase. The FDD’s minimum is three restaurants under an area development agreement, with single units reserved mostly for non-traditional venues and trucks. The franchisor’s own franchising page at about.daveshotchicken.com goes further: $2,500,000 in liquid assets, $5,000,000 net worth, a commitment to 5 or more restaurants, and current ownership of 5 or more QSR or fast casual franchise restaurants in the target market. It also bars applicants who own a fried chicken concept. Item 15 adds that your Operating Principal must hold at least 10% of the equity and devote full time to the business, and your first restaurant needs six managers for its first 30 days.
If you want a chicken brand that shows its numbers, Zaxby’s reports a $2,783,862 median across 809 franchised restaurants and four-wall EBITDA by quartile, at a higher $1,460,000 to $3,810,500 entry. Raising Cane’s is the brand people compare most often, and it is not sold as a franchise. The full category, with each brand’s Item 19 status, is in our best chicken franchises ranking.
A Dave’s deal is a three-restaurant commitment, which at three times the single-restaurant Item 7 ranges comes to roughly $1.9 million to more than $12 million, underwritten without a franchisor sales figure, so the diligence burden falls on you. The $49 full report on the Dave’s Hot Chicken dossier page goes through this FDD section by section.
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About this analysis The franchise data in this article is drawn from VetMyFranchise's structured analysis of 2,400+ Franchise Disclosure Documents filed with U.S. state regulators. See our data & methodology.
Between $616,800 and $4,121,900 for a restaurant, depending on format. Item 7 of the 2026 FDD puts a freestanding restaurant at $823,800 to $4,121,900 and an in-line or endcap restaurant at $616,800 to $2,632,500, both including the $40,000 franchise fee. Most buyers sign an area development agreement for three restaurants, where the first restaurant plus the $80,000 development fee totals $656,800 to $4,161,900.
No. Item 19 of the 2026 FDD states the franchisor does not make any financial performance representations about franchised or company-owned outlets, and its employees are not authorized to make them. You will need sales data from current franchisees listed in Exhibit G.
The franchisor is Dave's Hot Chicken Franchise Co. SPV LLC, a Delaware company organized July 1, 2025. Item 1 traces it up through Hollywood Parent LLC and names its affiliation with funds managed by Roark Capital Management, LLC, which Nation's Restaurant News reported on June 2, 2025 had acquired the brand at a $1 billion valuation.
Usually not. The FDD says the franchisor primarily offers area development franchises with a minimum of three restaurants, and may offer single franchises in certain situations such as non-traditional venues and branded food trucks. The franchising page asks for 5 or more restaurants.
Zaxby's is the closest chicken brand with full earnings data: its 2026 FDD reports a $2,783,862 median across 809 franchised restaurants, plus four-wall EBITDA by quartile. Raising Cane's is not sold as a franchise, so it is not an option either.
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