How Much Money Wendy's Franchise Owners Really Make In A Year

Founded in 1969, Wendy's restaurants have proliferated all over the world, with more than 7,000 locations now operating across 30 markets. As of 2024, most of those locations (nearly 6,000) were in the United States. And of those, more than 5,500 were operated by franchisees.

The Wendy's corporation provides training, support, and marketing for their franchisees, and its restaurant development team helps franchisees find a suitable location. Wendy's is also part of a co-op that helps provide fresh ingredients to its franchises. With all this assistance, the average annual gross sales that a franchise location made in 2024 was about $2.11 million, according to the company's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document. Median sales were just over $1.98 million.

Still, that is generally less than what a Chick-fil-A franchise location makes in a year, which was about $9.22 million as of 2025. And there are a lot of costs associated with owning a Wendy's franchise. So much, in fact, that the Wendy's corporation requires that only someone with a net worth of more than $1 million and liquidity of over $500,000 can pursue such a deal. That is because it will cost anywhere from $1.52 million to at least $2.99 million to start a Wendy's location, plus real estate costs. After all those expenses, a franchisee may make between $200,000 and $296,000 a year at most.

Many of those expenses come in the form of fees, which include $500 for a background check for each potential franchise owner with more than a 5% stake, plus a $5,000 post-approval application fee and a $50,000 technical assistance fee for each restaurant. There are also many other potential fees, depending on the scope of your local franchise. A project fee of $20,000 applies to remodel a restaurant, or $35,000 for new construction or a major rebuild. Real estate services are associated with a fee of $12,500, as well as transaction services ($17,500), lease administration (at least $6,000 per year), real estate development services ($40,000), Wendy's transaction fee for build-to-suit ($70,000), a franchise flip technical assistance fee for selling a location to an approved franchisee ($25,000), and various other charges listed within the franchise agreement.

Some fees will not apply, depending on a franchise's situation or location, or can be lowered. For example, if someone wants to just operate a standalone Wendy's Frosty Cart, the technical fee will be lowered to $12,500. However, all franchisees in the U.S. will also have to pay between 4% and 6% of their gross sales to Wendy's for royalties, plus another 4% of gross sales for advertising.

According to VettedBiz, a research website for franchisees, Wendy's restaurants take in about $296,000 in earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization. But much like the amount of money a McDonald's franchise location makes, the gross sales of each Wendy's vary. Per Wendy's franchise document, 42.4% made more than the average gross sales amount of $2.11 million in 2024, with the highest sales listed at $8.34 million for a location in Seattle. In contrast, just 34% of Chick-fil-A restaurants beat the $4.52 million average of 2024. Wendy's restaurants in urban areas averaged gross sales of $2.43 million, while those in suburban places took in $2.05 million and locations in rural spots took in $2.13 million. In terms of non-traditional Wendy's spots, the average amount of sales was $4.05 million in transportation hubs (such as airports and train stations), $2.14 million in gas stations and service plazas, $1.52 million in food courts, and $1.83 million in military bases.

But there may be rough times ahead. Wendy's reported a 1.8% year-to-year decline in global sales in the second quarter of 2025. Within the U.S., that drop was 3.3%. And in an October 2024 earnings call, as reported by The Motley Fool, Wendy's confirmed the fast-food chain would shut down more than 100 U.S. locations, although executives also announced it would open up to 300 newly designed stores.