Buffalo Wild Wings vs Walk-On's vs Wings Etc compared: 2026 FDD investment ranges, royalties, Item 19 revenue medians, and where Twin Peaks fits.
Quick answerA sports bar franchise costs $373,650 to $6.58 million to open, per 2026 FDD data. Wings Etc is the cheapest entry at $373,650 minimum, Buffalo Wild Wings runs $2.46M-$4.9M with 549 franchised units, and Walk-On's costs $1.69M-$6.58M but posts the highest median revenue at $4.4M.
Wings Etc is the cheapest way into the sports bar business at a $373,650 minimum, Walk-On’s grosses the most at a $4,403,505 median, and Buffalo Wild Wings brings the biggest brand with 549 franchised units. All three run the same core model: wings and beer served in front of wall-to-wall TVs, with revenue peaking around game schedules. The deciding question is how much building you want to operate and how much capital you can put behind it.
Twin Peaks, the fourth name buyers usually shortlist, gets its own section below. For the broader fast-food and fast-casual cost picture, our QSR startup cost comparison covers the segment tables; this post stays on full-service sports bars.
| Metric | Buffalo Wild Wings | Walk-On’s | Wings Etc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concept | Full-service sports bar | Louisiana-themed sports grill | Grill & Pub + smaller 2Go format |
| Franchised units | 549 | 73 | 56 |
| Company-owned units | 629 | 5 | 26 |
| Total investment | $2,463,945–$4,900,320 | $1,688,800–$6,577,500 | $373,650–$2,890,100 |
| Franchise fee | $25,000 | $60,000 | $39,500 |
| Royalty | 5% of Gross Sales | 5% | 5% of Gross Sales |
| Ad fund | 4% (2% non-traditional) | 3% | 1.0%–2.0% |
| Item 19 median revenue | $3,433,937 (532 units) | $4,403,505 (70 units, CY2025) | $1,407,493 (53 units, FY2025) |
| Opened / closed (latest year) | 11 / 15 | 7 / 5 | 3 / 1 |
| Franchising since | 1990 | 2014 | 2004 |
(All figures come from each brand’s 2026 FDD as parsed in VetMyFranchise’s database of 2,000+ FDDs.)
A full-service sports bar is one of the most expensive restaurant formats you can franchise. The build-out includes a commercial kitchen, a full bar with liquor licensing, seating for 200+ guests, patio space in many markets, and several dozen wall-mounted screens. Footprints run 6,000 square feet and up. Compare that to a takeout wing concept operating in 1,700 square feet, and the investment gap makes sense: Wingstop opens for roughly a fifth of what a Buffalo Wild Wings costs, a trade-off we break down in our Wingstop vs Buffalo Wild Wings comparison.
Wings Etc’s unusually wide range ($373,650 to $2,890,100) reflects format choice, since its FDD covers both the full Grill & Pub restaurant and the smaller Wings Etc 2Go unit. The low end buys the compact format, not a full sports bar.
Buffalo Wild Wings has been franchising since 1990 and operates under Inspire Brands alongside Arby’s, Sonic, and Dunkin’. Per the 2026 FDD:
That last line deserves attention. The P75/P25 spread means a top-quartile location grosses more than twice a bottom-quartile one, so trade-area selection carries most of the deal. Our Buffalo Wild Wings Item 19 deep dive unpacks the full distribution, and if you’re weighing the purchase itself, start with should you buy a Buffalo Wild Wings franchise. The net-negative unit count is the question to put to current franchisees: ask which markets closed and why.
Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux pairs the sports bar format with a scratch-kitchen Louisiana menu (seafood, po’boys, Southern specialties), which differentiates it from every wings-first competitor. Per the 2026 FDD:
The catch is the top of the range. A flagship Walk-On’s build can cost $6.58M, more than a high-end Buffalo Wild Wings, and a 78-unit system gives you far less brand pull in new markets than a 1,100-unit one. The Walk-On’s franchise profile has the current Item 7 and Item 19 figures from its FDD.
Wings Etc has franchised its Grill & Pub concept out of Indiana since 2004 and runs the leanest cost structure of the three. Per the 2026 FDD:
The math is straightforward: Wings Etc units gross about a third of what a Walk-On’s does, but the entry cost can be under a sixth of Walk-On’s ceiling. The low ad fund cuts both ways. You keep more margin, and you also inherit less national advertising, so an 82-location Midwest brand leans on you for local marketing. The Wings Etc franchise profile breaks down its parsed FDD data.
Twin Peaks isn’t yet parsed in our dataset, so these figures come from public FDD reporting by Franchise Chatter and Vetted Biz rather than our own extraction. Per its 2024 FDD as reported: a ground-up build runs $4,654,000–$6,946,000 (conversions reported as low as roughly $2.25M), with a $50,000 franchise fee, a 5% royalty, and a brand fund of up to 4% (currently 2.5%) plus 0.5% local marketing. The system had 70 franchised and 33 company-owned lodges at the end of 2023.
The volumes are the draw: franchised units averaged $5,801,663 with a $5,610,004 median for fiscal 2023 across 60 reporting locations. Twin Peaks out-grosses everything else in this post, and it also costs the most to build and targets a narrower demographic. Verify the current FDD directly before comparing it against the parsed brands above.
Line up the Item 19 medians and the pattern is clear: Walk-On’s $4.40M, Buffalo Wild Wings $3.43M, Wings Etc $1.41M, with Twin Peaks’ reported $5.61M above all three. Revenue per invested dollar tells a different story, though. A Wings Etc Grill & Pub grossing at median on a mid-range build can put up stronger revenue-to-investment ratios than a $5M flagship grossing $4M.
Two cautions. First, these are gross revenue figures, not owner earnings; full-service restaurants routinely run single-digit net margins after food cost, labor, and occupancy. Second, medians hide spread, and Buffalo Wild Wings’ own disclosure shows top-quartile units doing more than double bottom-quartile volume. Model your specific trade area, not the system median.
Shortlisting one of these brands? Start with the full FDD analysis of Buffalo Wild Wings: Item 19 earnings decoded, litigation history, fee footnotes, and a buyer verdict for your capital level, on the Buffalo Wild Wings franchise page.
Choose Buffalo Wild Wings if national brand recognition and disclosure depth matter most. A 532-unit Item 19 gives you far more data to underwrite than any competitor, and the brand needs no local introduction. You accept a $2.5M+ entry, a 4% ad fund, and a system that closed more franchised units than it opened last year.
Choose Walk-On’s if you want the highest franchised median revenue and a menu that isn’t interchangeable with the sports bar next door. Best for well-capitalized buyers in the South and Sun Belt where the brand resonates, who can fund a build that may reach $6.6M.
Choose Wings Etc if entry cost drives the decision. The $373,650 floor (2Go format) and 1-2% ad fund make it the most accessible path in the category, in exchange for a regional brand you’ll market largely yourself.
One rule holds across all four: a sports bar lives or dies on its trade area and its game-day capacity, so weigh each brand’s Item 19 against the specific building and corner you’d actually operate.
For all of these franchises:
Comparing these seriously? The full 12-section FDD analysis covers Item 19 earnings, litigation history, fee footnotes, and a buyer verdict personalized to your capital and market: $49 per brand, or three brands for $99, which fits this exact shortlist. Or start with our free side-by-side comparison tool.
The sports bar category rewards capital and site selection more than concept choice. Buffalo Wild Wings sells scale and data depth, Walk-On’s sells differentiated revenue, Wings Etc sells accessibility, and Twin Peaks sells peak volume at peak cost. Read each FDD in full (the FTC Franchise Rule guarantees you the document at least 14 days before signing), call franchisees in markets that resemble yours, and match the Item 19 distribution against what your specific location can plausibly do on a quiet Tuesday night as well as on game day.
Between $373,650 and $6,577,500 depending on brand and format, per 2026 FDD data. Wings Etc starts at $373,650 for its smaller 2Go format and tops out at $2,890,100 for a ground-up Grill & Pub. Buffalo Wild Wings runs $2,463,945-$4,900,320, and Walk-On's runs $1,688,800-$6,577,500. Twin Peaks, per public reporting on its 2024 FDD, runs $4,654,000-$6,946,000 for a ground-up build. The spread comes from footprint: a full-service sports bar needs 6,000+ square feet, a commercial kitchen, a full bar, and dozens of TVs.
Median unit revenue ranges from about $1.4M to $4.4M across the three parsed brands. Walk-On's reports a $4,403,505 median across 70 franchised units for calendar 2025, Buffalo Wild Wings reports $3,433,937 across 532 franchised units, and Wings Etc reports $1,407,493 across 53 franchised units for fiscal 2025, per each brand's 2026 FDD Item 19. Gross revenue is not profit: full-service restaurant margins are thin, and none of these disclosures guarantee owner earnings.
Wings Etc, at a $373,650 minimum investment per its 2026 FDD. That low end reflects its smaller Wings Etc 2Go format rather than a full Grill & Pub, which can run up to $2,890,100. The $39,500 franchise fee and 1-2% ad fund are also the lowest of the three parsed brands. The trade-off is brand scale: Wings Etc has 82 total locations concentrated in the Midwest, so you'll carry more of the local marketing burden yourself.
$2,463,945 to $4,900,320 per the 2026 FDD, with a $25,000 franchise fee, a 5% royalty, and a 4% ad fund (2% for non-traditional locations). The system had 549 franchised and 629 company-owned units at the time of the disclosure. Its Item 19 shows a $3,433,937 median revenue across 532 franchised units, with a wide spread: the 25th percentile is $2,371,905 and the 75th is $4,875,869.
$1,688,800 to $6,577,500 per the 2026 FDD, with a $60,000 franchise fee, a 5% royalty, and a 3% brand fund. Walk-On's Sports Bistreaux is a Louisiana-themed sports grill with 73 franchised and 5 company-owned locations. Its Item 19 median of $4,403,505 across 70 franchised units for calendar 2025 is the highest of the three brands in our dataset, though the top of its build-out range is also the highest.
Yes. Twin Peaks franchises its sports lodge concept and had roughly 103 U.S. locations (70 franchised, 33 company-owned) at the end of 2023, per public reporting on its 2024 FDD. The franchise fee is $50,000, the royalty is 5%, and a ground-up build was disclosed at $4,654,000-$6,946,000, with conversions reported as low as roughly $2.25M. Its FDD isn't yet in VetMyFranchise's dataset, so treat those figures as reported rather than parsed.
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