About
Franchise costs, without the sales pitch.
Buying a franchise is often the biggest cheque a family ever writes. The facts are public: every franchisor has to hand buyers a Franchise Disclosure Document. But an FDD runs to hundreds of pages, and most of the comparison sites out there are paid by the brands they rank.
MyFranchiseCost is built the other way round. We take the numbers from the filings themselves, put them side by side, and show you the source for each one. We don't take money from franchisors and we don't sell leads.
What we track
- Initial franchise fees and development fees (Item 5)
- Royalties, ad funds, technology and other ongoing fees (Item 6)
- Estimated cost to open, line by line (Item 7)
- Financial performance figures where they're disclosed, and which outlets they cover (Item 19)
- Outlets opened, closed, transferred and turned over, by year (Item 20)
How we work
New filings are collected from public state records on a schedule and checked by a person before they go live. When a brand's fees change in a new filing, members tracking it get an alert.
Who's behind it
MyFranchiseCost is an independent research project. It isn't owned by, funded by or affiliated with any franchisor, franchise broker or lead-generation company, and nobody pays to be listed or ranked. Questions and corrections go straight to the people who run it through the contact form.
Who it's for
Prospective franchisees doing their homework, and the consultants, attorneys and accountants who advise them.