Wingstop franchise
A franchisee operates a single Wingstop restaurant in roughly 1,200 to 2,000 square feet of leased retail space, selling cooked-to-order chicken wings, boneless wings, tenders, chicken sandwiches, fries and beverages, largely for off-premises and digital orders.
Manager-run permitted Disclosed
- Source
- 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Wingstop Franchising LLC
- Document
- FDD 2026, issued 2026-04-21
- Item
- Item 15
- Page
- PDF p. 52
- Obtained
- Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration Search, file 641151
we strongly recommend (but do not require) that you manage your Restaurant personally
Item 15 strongly recommends but does not require an individual franchisee to manage the Restaurant personally. A franchisee who does not must appoint a General Manager to supervise day-to-day operations plus an Assistant Manager, both of whom must complete training before opening. An entity franchisee must name a Designated Principal from among its owners to oversee management. Managers need not hold equity. Item 11 adds that where the owner will not be the full-time General Manager, the owner or Designated Principal plus at least 2 full-time managers must attend training.
What stands out
- Estimated initial investment of $310,400 to $1,048,500 excluding real estate purchase and rent; the franchisor offers no financing.
- Standard payment to the franchisor at signing is $50,000 — a $25,000 development fee plus a $25,000 franchise fee — because a Development Agreement is required even for a single Restaurant.
- Ongoing fees currently total 11.5% of Gross Sales: 6% royalty plus a 5.5% Ad Fund contribution; required local advertising is currently 0%.
5 more observations
- Item 19 reports average net sales of $2,007,626 and median $1,890,866 across 2,116 franchised U.S. Restaurants open the full 52 weeks ended December 27, 2025, with 43% above the average and a range of $584,584 to $5,042,476.
- Item 19 discloses no cost, margin or profit data, was not audited, and excludes the 384 franchised Restaurants that opened during 2025.
- Franchised outlets grew from 1,678 to 2,529 over 2023 to 2025 with 868 openings, zero terminations and zero non-renewals; 378 further franchised openings are projected for the next fiscal year.
- No exclusive territory: the Trade Area radius is generally not expected to exceed 3 miles and excludes all Non-Traditional Venues inside it, including ghost kitchens, airports and universities.
- 10-year term with two 10-year renewals at a $25,000 renewal fee; owners of 5% or more sign a personal guaranty and disputes are arbitrated in Dallas under Texas law.
Things to verify
- Rent and any real estate purchase are excluded from the Item 7 range entirely; get site-specific lease terms before relying on the $310,400 to $1,048,500 figures.
- Ask what tenant-improvement allowance is realistic in the target market — Item 7's leasehold improvement range assumes none, and disclosed allowances for 2025 openings ranged from $0 to $60 per square foot.
- Item 19 excludes first-year Restaurants, so it is not a guide to what a new unit does in year one; ask franchisees who opened in 2025 what their ramp looked like.
5 more questions
- Confirm the current Ad Fund rate and whether a franchisee vote to raise it above 5.5% is being discussed, since Item 6 states the rate cannot be voted down.
- Clarify how the Trade Area radius would be drawn for the specific site and what Non-Traditional Venues nearby fall outside it.
- Ask about the size of the required Development Area commitment and the opening schedule, since missing it is a default that can cost development rights.
- Check whether the franchisor is currently offering development-fee, franchise-fee or royalty waivers in the target state, which Item 1 says happens in underdeveloped markets.
- Verify the status of the April 2026 encroachment arbitration and how the franchisor handles trade-area disputes between franchisees.
Category cost placeholders, not a forecast. This snapshot uses the default inputs; the calculator below updates when you edit them.
Evidence confidence: High. This describes source support, not investment quality. AI-extracted and machine-verified where stated; no human line-by-line review. Source and review record.
Read the full research overview
A Wingstop franchisee operates one quick-service restaurant selling chicken wings, boneless wings, tenders, chicken sandwiches, fries and beverages, typically in 1,200 to 2,000 square feet of leased in-line retail space with limited seating, since much of the volume comes from digital and phone orders for off-premises consumption. The franchisor, Wingstop Franchising LLC of Dallas, is an indirect subsidiary of the public company Wingstop Inc.; the first Wingstop opened in 1994 and franchising began in 1997 under a predecessor entity.
Item 7 puts the estimated initial investment at $310,400 to $1,048,500, excluding real estate purchase and lease costs, which the franchisor says it cannot estimate. Every franchisee signs a Development Agreement as well as a Franchise Agreement, so the standard payment to the franchisor at signing is $50,000: a $25,000 development fee plus a $25,000 franchise fee, with a further $25,000 development fee for each additional Restaurant committed to. Ongoing fees are a 6% royalty on Gross Sales plus an Ad Fund contribution currently at 5.5%, giving a combined 11.5%; required local advertising is currently 0%, and up to $100 per month may be charged for website and intranet upkeep. The widest cost line is leasehold improvements at $103,000 to $581,000, before any landlord allowance.
Item 19 is a sales-only representation for the 52 weeks ended December 27, 2025. Franchised U.S. Restaurants open the entire period — 2,116 of them — averaged $2,007,626 in net sales with a median of $1,890,866, and 43% exceeded the average. Individual franchised results ranged from $584,584 to $5,042,476. The 55 affiliate-owned Restaurants averaged $2,496,111, above the franchised figure. No costs, margins or profit figures appear anywhere in Item 19, the data was not audited, and the 384 franchised Restaurants that opened during 2025 are excluded because they were not open all year.
Item 20 shows fast, closure-free growth: franchised outlets went from 1,678 to 2,529 over 2023 to 2025, with 868 openings, zero terminations, zero non-renewals, 12 reacquisitions by the franchisor and 5 outlets ceasing operations for other reasons. Transfers between franchisees fell from 132 to 52 over the period, and 378 new franchised openings are projected for the next fiscal year with 56 agreements signed but not yet open. On risk, Item 3 discloses two arbitrations — one the franchisor won against its former French franchisee and one filed in April 2026 by a former U.S. franchisee alleging encroachment — and Item 4 discloses no bankruptcy. There is no exclusive territory, owners holding 5% or more must personally guarantee the agreement, and disputes are arbitrated in Dallas under Texas law.
View ratings and their supporting evidence
Transparent ratings
How these are computedEach dimension is scored 1–5 from published formulas. Missing data yields “Not enough evidence to rate”, never a low score. There is no composite score by design.
How the system has performed, computed from the disclosed Items 7, 19 and 20. Figures a documented material source inconsistency puts in doubt are excluded, and the dimension shows “Not rated”.
Inputs
- Franchised outlets 1678 → 2529 (Item 20, Table 3)
- Thresholds: ≥15% → 5; 5–15% → 4; 0–5% → 3; −5–0% → 2; below −5% → 1
Inputs
- Attrition = (terminations + non-renewals + reacquisitions + ceased-other) ÷ start-of-year franchised units, averaged over 3 fiscal years
- Thresholds: <2% → 5; 2–4% → 4; 4–6% → 3; 6–10% → 2; >10% → 1
Inputs
- AUV $2,007,626 (disclosed) ÷ midpoint investment $679,450 = 2.95×
- Thresholds: ≥2.0 → 5; 1.5–2.0 → 4; 1.0–1.5 → 3; 0.7–1.0 → 2; <0.7 → 1
How much this brand’s FDD discloses, and how well-supported our data on it is. This measures transparency, not business performance — a strong business that discloses little scores low here and stays unrated above.
Inputs
- Item 19 present (+1)
- Average plus median or a distribution (+1)
- Population 84% of franchised units, clearly described (+1)
- Franchisor Track Record
- Franchising 29 years (since 1997) · 2,586 outlets · Item 3: 2 matter(s) disclosed · Item 4: none disclosed
- Multi-Unit Scalability
- Every franchisee signs a Development Agreement, even for a single Restaurant. Multi-Restaurant development rights are offered only to qualified applicants an… · Manager-run permitted
- Operational Intensity
- Manager-run permitted
Initial investment
FDD Items 5 and 7Format shown: New Restaurant in 1,200–2,000 sq ft of leased in-line retail space (real estate purchase and lease costs excluded)
$310,400–$1,048,500 total initial investment. Excludes real estate purchase. Includes 3 months of additional funds.
View full investment breakdown — Items 5 & 7
| Initial franchise fee (the named Item 5 fee only) | $25,000 Disclosed
Franchisor may waive/abate part of the franchise fee (or development fee) as an incentive to develop underdeveloped markets; not the standard rate. Other required Item 5 payments to the franchisor are listed separately below — this figure is the named fee only. |
|---|---|
| Other required initial payments to the franchisor (Item 5) |
|
| Total Item 5 payments to franchisor/affiliates | $50,000 Derived
|
| Total initial investment — low | $310,400 Disclosed
Item 7 TOTALS row, which excludes real estate purchase and lease costs; the same figure appears on the cover page. The published low total equals the sum of the low column line items. |
| Total initial investment — high | $1,048,500 Disclosed
Item 7 TOTALS row, excluding real estate purchase and lease costs; the same figure appears on the cover page. The published high total equals the sum of the high column line items. |
| Midpoint of range | $679,450 Derived
|
| Real estate purchase included? | No — assumes a leased site |
| Additional funds assumed | 3 months |
| Required liquid capital | Not disclosed in the reviewed source Not disclosedNot disclosed in the reviewed source. We did not find this value in 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Wingstop Franchising LLC; we do not fill gaps with estimates or third-party figures. No minimum liquid-capital requirement is stated on the cover pages or in Items 1, 5, 7, 11 or 15 of the reviewed document. |
| Required net worth | Not disclosed in the reviewed source Not disclosedNot disclosed in the reviewed source. We did not find this value in 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Wingstop Franchising LLC; we do not fill gaps with estimates or third-party figures. No minimum net-worth requirement is stated in the reviewed document. The only net-worth reference is a Michigan escrow provision in the state notices, which concerns the franchisor's own net worth, not the franchisee's. |
The Item 7 chart covers one new Restaurant on a leased in-line retail site of roughly 1,200 to 2,000 square feet and excludes real estate purchase and rent, which the franchisor says it cannot estimate. It assumes 3 months of additional funds and states this is not a break-even point. Leasehold improvement figures exclude any landlord tenant-improvement allowance; the franchisor discloses that of the 384 franchised Restaurants opened in the last fiscal year, allowances ranged from $0 to $60 per rentable square foot. The franchisor offers no direct or indirect financing. A separate estimated initial investment is incurred for each Restaurant developed under a Development Agreement, and franchisees committing to multiple Restaurants pay an extra $25,000 development fee per additional Restaurant.
Item 7 line items (16)
| Expenditure | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Development fee — Due in a lump sum on signing the Development Agreement; payable to the franchisor. | $25,000 | $25,000 |
| Franchise fee — Due in a lump sum on signing the Franchise Agreement; payable to the franchisor. | $25,000 | $25,000 |
| Rent — Not quantified; Item 7 endnote 5 says rent cannot be estimated precisely and varies by location. | — | — |
| Security deposits — Landlord, utility and insurance deposits; some may be refundable. | $0 | $10,000 |
| Architectural/engineering fees — Assumes approved Wingstop architectural and engineering consultants. | $7,300 | $30,000 |
| Professional fees — Franchisee's own attorney, accountant and other advisers. | $2,500 | $7,500 |
| Leasehold improvements — Excludes landlord tenant-improvement allowances but includes a 10% contingency. | $103,000 | $581,000 |
| Business and operating permits — Includes health permit and a beer/wine permit; high end assumes a 'dry' area requiring a private club. | $4,500 | $8,500 |
| Décor, furniture and fixtures package — Bought from approved vendors; prepaid at least 30 days before construction starts. | $11,300 | $39,400 |
| Audio/visual system, equipment and smallwares — Purchase price for new equipment, not lease. | $59,400 | $179,300 |
| Point-of-sale, back-of-house and back-office software and hardware — Bought from approved suppliers to Wingstop specifications. | $28,000 | $40,000 |
| Signs — Approved vendors, including shipping. | $4,400 | $31,800 |
| Opening inventory — Approved suppliers and the primary distributor. | $10,000 | $16,000 |
| Opening publicity and promotions — Required grand-opening spend is $5,000 in core markets, $10,000 in emerging markets and $15,000 elsewhere, within 3 months of opening. | $5,000 | $15,000 |
| Additional funds — 3 months — Working capital for the first 3 months, including travel and lodging for 2 trainees; not a break-even estimate. | $25,000 | $40,000 |
| Total (excluding real estate purchase and lease costs) — Both columns foot exactly to the published totals. | $310,400 | $1,048,500 |
Source for every row: the Item 7 estimated-initial-investment table of 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Wingstop Franchising LLC (table begins PDF p. 22) — rows inherit the table's citation rather than carrying fifteen identical ones.
Ongoing fees
FDD Item 6Royalty
6% of gross sales Disclosed
- Source
- 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Wingstop Franchising LLC
- Document
- FDD 2026, issued 2026-04-21
- Item
- Item 6 — Other Fees table — Royalties
- Page
- PDF p. 14
- Obtained
- Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration Search, file 641151
6% of Gross Sales
Collected weekly by automatic debit each Tuesday for the week ended the prior Saturday. Gross Sales exclude sales taxes, coupon credits, employee discounts, third-party delivery fees and gift-card sales proceeds, but include the full value of gift-card redemptions. Item 6 notes that concessionaire licensees at non-traditional venues such as airports and universities may pay a lower royalty.
Brand advertising fund
5.5% of gross sales Disclosed
- Source
- 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Wingstop Franchising LLC
- Document
- FDD 2026, issued 2026-04-21
- Item
- Item 6 — Other Fees table — Ad Fund
- Page
- PDF p. 14
- Obtained
- Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration Search, file 641151
Current contribution rate is 5.5% of Gross Sales, paid weekly with the royalty. Item 6 states the rate may be adjusted annually within a band of 5% to 5.5% to support digital and technology-related costs, and that the combined Ad Fund rate plus any required local advertising amount may not exceed 5.5% absent a franchisee vote. Franchisees owning 60% or more of U.S. franchised Restaurants can vote to raise the rate above 5.5%; it cannot be voted down.
Local marketing
0% of gross sales Disclosed
- Source
- 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Wingstop Franchising LLC
- Document
- FDD 2026, issued 2026-04-21
- Item
- Item 6 — Other Fees table — Local Advertising and Promotional Materials
- Page
- PDF p. 15
- Obtained
- Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration Search, file 641151
Item 6 states the required local advertising amount is currently 0% of quarterly Gross Sales and that the franchisor presently does not require franchisees to spend anything on local advertising. The franchisor may set a percentage in future, subject to the combined 5.5% cap described in the Ad Fund note. Separately, Item 7 requires a one-time grand-opening spend of $5,000 to $15,000 depending on market.
Core requirements shown separately; caps, credits and conditions may overlap. Check the full schedule for technology, cooperative, transfer and other charges.
View all recurring fees and conditions
| Royalty | 6% of gross sales Disclosed
Collected weekly by automatic debit each Tuesday for the week ended the prior Saturday. Gross Sales exclude sales taxes, coupon credits, employee discounts, third-party delivery fees and gift-card sales proceeds, but include the full value of gift-card redemptions. Item 6 notes that concessionaire licensees at non-traditional venues such as airports and universities may pay a lower royalty. Collected weekly by automatic debit each Tuesday for the week ended the prior Saturday. Gross Sales exclude sales taxes, coupon credits, employee discounts, third-party delivery fees and gift-card sales proceeds, but include the full value of gift-card redemptions. Item 6 notes that concessionaire licensees at non-traditional venues such as airports and universities may pay a lower royalty. |
|---|---|
| Advertising / brand fund | 5.5% of gross sales Disclosed
Current contribution rate is 5.5% of Gross Sales, paid weekly with the royalty. Item 6 states the rate may be adjusted annually within a band of 5% to 5.5% to support digital and technology-related costs, and that the combined Ad Fund rate plus any required local advertising amount may not exceed 5.5% absent a franchisee vote. Franchisees owning 60% or more of U.S. franchised Restaurants can vote to raise the rate above 5.5%; it cannot be voted down. Current contribution rate is 5.5% of Gross Sales, paid weekly with the royalty. Item 6 states the rate may be adjusted annually within a band of 5% to 5.5% to support digital and technology-related costs, and that the combined Ad Fund rate plus any required local advertising amount may not exceed 5.5% absent a franchisee vote. Franchisees owning 60% or more of U.S. franchised Restaurants can vote to raise the rate above 5.5%; it cannot be voted down. |
| Required local marketing | 0% of gross sales Disclosed
Item 6 states the required local advertising amount is currently 0% of quarterly Gross Sales and that the franchisor presently does not require franchisees to spend anything on local advertising. The franchisor may set a percentage in future, subject to the combined 5.5% cap described in the Ad Fund note. Separately, Item 7 requires a one-time grand-opening spend of $5,000 to $15,000 depending on market. Item 6 states the required local advertising amount is currently 0% of quarterly Gross Sales and that the franchisor presently does not require franchisees to spend anything on local advertising. The franchisor may set a percentage in future, subject to the combined 5.5% cap described in the Ad Fund note. Separately, Item 7 requires a one-time grand-opening spend of $5,000 to $15,000 depending on market. |
| Technology / software | $100/month Disclosed
Item 11 states a franchisee may be assessed up to $100 per month in total for maintenance and improvement of the Wingstop Website and Intranet. Item 6 lists the two components separately: a Website Maintenance Fee of $25 initial set-up plus up to $50 per month, and an Intranet Maintenance and Development Fee of up to $50 per month. These are stated maximums; no current charged amount is given. Point-of-sale hardware and software are a one-time Item 7 cost of $28,000 to $40,000. Item 11 states a franchisee may be assessed up to $100 per month in total for maintenance and improvement of the Wingstop Website and Intranet. Item 6 lists the two components separately: a Website Maintenance Fee of $25 initial set-up plus up to $50 per month, and an Intranet Maintenance and Development Fee of up to $50 per month. These are stated maximums; no current charged amount is given. Point-of-sale hardware and software are a one-time Item 7 cost of $28,000 to $40,000. |
| Advertising cooperative | Not disclosed in the reviewed source Not disclosedNot disclosed in the reviewed source. We did not find this value in 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Wingstop Franchising LLC; we do not fill gaps with estimates or third-party figures. Franchisees must join a local area advertising cooperative if one is formed in their market, which happens if the franchisor requests it or if franchisees owning 60% or more of the Restaurants in the DMA elect to form one. Item 6 states cooperative contributions do not affect the Ad Fund contribution rate but does not state a contribution rate or amount. |
| Transfer fee | $10,000–$15,000 one-time Disclosed
The Item 6 table for the current form of Franchise Agreement states a $15,000 transfer fee payable before the transfer's effective date. Item 5 (page 13) states that a buyer of an existing Restaurant pays no initial franchise fee and that the transfer fee is currently either $10,000 or $15,000 depending on what the selling franchisee's own franchise agreement provides. The buyer must also spend a $5,000 transfer marketing amount. The Item 6 table for the current form of Franchise Agreement states a $15,000 transfer fee payable before the transfer's effective date. Item 5 (page 13) states that a buyer of an existing Restaurant pays no initial franchise fee and that the transfer fee is currently either $10,000 or $15,000 depending on what the selling franchisee's own franchise agreement provides. The buyer must also spend a $5,000 transfer marketing amount. |
| Renewal fee | $25,000 one-time Disclosed
Payable on renewal for a 10-year renewal term. Renewal also requires remodelling to then-current specifications and signing the then-current form of franchise agreement. Payable on renewal for a 10-year renewal term. Renewal also requires remodelling to then-current specifications and signing the then-current form of franchise agreement. |
| Royalty + ad fund (% of sales) | 11.5% Derived
|
Fee schedule (28 fees; 21 verified against the source, 7 single-pass)
Every recurring, conditional and one-time fee found in this FDD's Item 6 table (plus mandatory recurring costs disclosed in Items 7/11), each cited to its page and carrying its verification status: verified means two independent readings agreed or a tie-break re-inspection of the page decided it; single-pass means one reading captured it and it has not been independently confirmed (permitted only for fees that cannot move modeled economics — see the materiality rule). Amounts marked “not stated” are charged at then-current rates the FDD does not quantify and are never modeled as $0.
| Fee | Amount | Frequency | Mandatory | Verification | Cite | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royalties | 6% of gross sales | weekly | Yes | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 14 | Gross Sales exclude sales tax, coupon credits, employee discounts, third-party delivery fees and gift-card sale proceeds, but include full value of gift-card redemptions. |
| Ad Fund | 5.5% of gross sales | weekly | Yes | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 14 | overlaps_with is null: the Ad Fund rate is the total that local advertising is carved out of, not a component of something else. |
| Ad Customization Fee | Not stated | per event | No | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 15 | Charged only if the franchisor elects to provide customized ad materials for a specific Restaurant; not currently charged. |
| Local Advertising and Promotional Materials | 0% of gross sales | quarterly | Yes | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 15 | The franchisor may set a rate at any time, including by allocating part of the Ad Fund contribution rate to local advertising; the combined Ad Fund rate plus local advertising currently may not exceed 5.5% of Gross Sales absent a 60% franchisee vote. Cooperative contributions are separate: footnote 2 says contributions to a local advertising cooperative do not affect the Ad Fund contribution rate. |
| Advertising Cooperative Contribution | Not stated | varies | Conditional | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 15 | Applies only if a cooperative is formed (by franchisor request, or vote of franchisees owning 60%+ of Restaurants in the DMA). No dollar amount or maximum contribution is set by the FDD; cooperative contributions do not affect the Ad Fund contribution rate. |
| Insurance | Not stated | annual | Yes | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 16 | Paid to a third-party insurer meeting an A.M. Best A-/VIII rating, not to the franchisor, but is a mandatory recurring operating cost; amount not quantified in the FDD. |
| National Gift Card Program Charges | 5% of other | per event | Yes | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 16 | Applies only to gift cards issued or sold by third-party retailers, not to gift cards issued/sold directly by Wingstop Restaurants. Column 2 of the Item 6 row states a numeric amount, so the entry carries value 5 as a percent rather than Pass A's null 'variable'. Column 3 ('Cost is recovered upon issuance of gift cards') makes the frequency per_event, not 'varies'. |
| Payments for Amounts Due to Third-Party Vendors | Not stated | monthly | No | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 17 | Applies only where the franchisor signs a single-payer supply/service agreement with a vendor and collects pro rata reimbursement from franchisees. Both passes captured this row identically; the conflict file paired it against a different row. Pass B's id was 'third-party-vendor-payments'. |
| Indemnification | Not stated | per event | Yes | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 17 | Triggered only by a claim based on or arising from the Restaurant's operation or the franchisee's use of the Wingstop website or Intranet. Frequency set to per_event to match Column 3 ('Upon demand by us') rather than Pass A's 'varies'. |
| Audit Fees | Not stated | per event | No | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 17 | Franchisee pays only if audit finds inadequate records or Gross Sales understated by 1% or more. |
| Non-Reporting Fee | $250 | weekly | No | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 18 | Applies only when a franchisee fails to report weekly Gross Sales; not incurred in ordinary compliant operation. |
| Interest/Late Charges | Not stated | per event | No | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 18 | Due only when obligations to the franchisor or its affiliates are paid more than 5 days late. No rate is stated in the FDD; it is set by state usury ceilings. |
| Transfer Fees | $15,000 | one time | Yes | single-pass | Item 6, p. 18 | [Listed by one verification pass only (A); not independently confirmed.] One-time fee on transfer of an existing franchise. |
| Renewal Fee | $25,000 | one time | Yes | single-pass | Item 6, p. 18 | [Listed by one verification pass only (A); not independently confirmed.] |
| Website Maintenance Fee — initial set-up | $25 | one time | Yes | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 18 | One-time set-up component of the single Item 6 'Website Maintenance Fee' row; the recurring component is carried separately as website-maintenance-fee. The FDD prints one row with two components; splitting them keeps the one-time $25 out of the recurring model while preserving the up-to-$50 monthly charge. |
| Website Maintenance Fee — monthly | $50 | monthly | Yes | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 18 | Payable monthly by auto-debit from the franchisee's bank account. overlaps_with is set to null (both passes had cross-linked this fee and the Intranet fee). The Item 11 language is a joint ceiling, not a credit of one against the other, so linking them risks dropping $600/yr of real cost. |
| Intranet Maintenance and Development Fee | $50 | monthly | Yes | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 18 | Payable monthly by auto-debit from the franchisee's bank account. overlaps_with set to null for the same reason as the Website Maintenance Fee: the $100/month figure in Item 11 is a joint ceiling that the two $50 fees exactly fill, not a credit of one against the other. |
| Operations Manual(s)/Training Materials Replacement Charge | $69 | per event | No | single-pass | Item 6, p. 18 | Charged only when replacement materials are sent; amount is the sum of the three stated component charges plus shipping. [Listed by one verification pass only (A); not independently confirmed.] Not a routine recurring fee; charged on an as-needed replacement basis. |
| Annual Meeting Attendance Charge | Not stated | annual | No | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 18 | Franchisee of record's own registration fee is not required, but guests' registration fees are charged and all attendees cover their own travel/lodging/dining. |
| Product and Service Purchases | Not stated | varies | Yes | verified (2-pass) | Item 6, p. 19 | Effectively cost-of-goods/required purchases from designated vendors, not a fixed fee; amount depends on sales volume and vendor pricing. Calculator audit 2026-09-03: Mandatory fee with no disclosed amount should be unknown_amount (excluded and listed), not requires_assumption, which the engine only turns into an editable line when a fixed value or minimum bound exists - neither exists here. (p. 19; "Varies depending on products and services you buy from us or our affiliates") |
| Attorneys' Fees and Costs | Not stated | varies | No | single-pass | Item 6, p. 19 | Contingent on franchisee non-compliance. [Listed by one verification pass only (A); not independently confirmed.] |
| Liquidated Damages | Not stated | varies | No | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 19 | Three scenarios in Item 6 footnote 4: (1) weekly royalty at 150% of the prior rate if marks/system are used after expiration or termination; (2) a weekly fee of 10% of a competing operation's revenue if the franchisee unilaterally terminates and opens a competing business within 24 months; (3) remaining-term royalties discounted to present value if the Restaurant is sold without the buyer signing a Franchise Agreement, assuming annual Gross Sales equal to one-third of the trailing 36 months. The table row itself says only 'Refer to footnote 4 below'; the formulas are in footnote 4 on pp.19-20. |
| Supplemental Training/Assistance | Not stated | per event | No | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 19 | Charged only for on-site training or assistance the franchisee needs or requests beyond the amount provided at no cost. 'Up to $1,000' is a ceiling, so value is null and range_high is 1,000. |
| Tax Reimbursement | Not stated | varies | Yes | single-pass | Item 6, p. 19 | [Listed by one verification pass only (A); not independently confirmed.] |
| Relocation | $5,000 | per event | Yes | single-pass | Item 6, p. 19 | Applies only if/when the Restaurant relocates. [Listed by one verification pass only (A); not independently confirmed.] |
| Transfer Marketing Expenditure | $5,000 | one time | No | verified (tie-break) | Item 6, p. 19 | Applies only after a transfer of the franchise: a minimum spend within 3 months of the transfer's effective date, with proof of paid invoices due within 120 days after that period. Item 6 footnote 1 singles this out as the one item not payable to the franchisor or its affiliates. mandatory set to false because it is conditional on a transfer rather than owed in ordinary operation. |
| POS hardware/software maintenance, support and hosted software renewal | $5,000–$6,000 | annual | Yes | verified (tie-break) | Item 11, p. 43 | Begins after the first year of support, which is bundled into the $28,000-$40,000 initial POS-Related Hardware and Software cost disclosed in Item 11/Item 7. Franchisor and affiliates expressly disclaim any obligation to provide ongoing maintenance, repairs, upgrades or updates. Year-1 support is already inside the initial system price, so this should not be modelled in year 1. |
| Opening Publicity and Promotions (grand opening marketing minimum) | Tiered (base $5,000) | one time | Yes | single-pass | Item 7, p. 24 | Must be spent within 3 months after opening (the Grand Opening Period), with paid invoices submitted within 90 days after that period; any shortfall is drafted and paid into the Ad Fund. [Listed by one verification pass only (B); not independently confirmed.] |
Item 6 states no fees are refundable and that all fees other than the transfer marketing expenditure are payable to the franchisor, its affiliates or designees. Fees are said to be uniformly imposed except where waived or abated to encourage development of underdeveloped markets. Other charges in the table include an ad customization fee (not currently charged), insurance, indemnification, interest on late payments, an annual meeting attendance charge, attorneys' fees, tax reimbursement and liquidated damages. Liquidated damages include a weekly royalty of 150% of the prior rate for continued mark use after termination, a fee of 10% of a competing business's revenue if the franchisee terminates early and competes within 24 months, and present-valued lost royalties if the Restaurant is sold to a buyer that does not become a franchisee.
Financial performance (Item 19)
What the franchisor actually disclosedWho is represented: The financial performance representation covers Wingstop Restaurants in the United States that were open for business during the entire 52-week 2025 Measured Period (December 29, 2024 through December 27, 2025). It reports three populations: all 2,171 Restaurants (2,116 franchised plus 55 owned by the franchisor's affiliate WRI); the 2,116 franchised Restaurants separately; and WRI's 55 Restaurants separately. Excluded are 384 franchised and 3 WRI Restaurants that opened during the period, 10 franchised Restaurants temporarily closed for remodelling or repairs (60 days on average), and 4 franchised and 1 WRI Restaurant that permanently closed during the period. Restaurants whose ownership changed during the period are included.
Qualifications: Every figure is net sales, not profit: the FDD states the numbers do not reflect cost of sales, operating expenses or any other costs that must be deducted to reach net income. The representation was prepared without an audit; franchised-unit data comes from weekly royalty reports and point-of-sale polling and was not independently audited by the franchisor. Only Restaurants open for the entire 52-week period are included, so the 384 franchised Restaurants that opened during 2025 — about 15% of the franchised base at year end — are excluded, as are 10 Restaurants closed for remodelling and 4 that closed permanently. Excluding new openings tends to leave a more mature, higher-volume set of units. The all-Restaurant averages blend in 55 affiliate-owned Restaurants whose average net sales were roughly 24% above the franchised average. Only 43% of franchised Restaurants exceeded the franchised average, indicating a distribution skewed by high-volume outlets; the franchised range runs from $584,584 to $5,042,476. Written substantiation is available on reasonable request.
View full Item 19 disclosure and tables
Wingstop makes a historical sales-only financial performance representation. It reports average, median, high and low annual net sales for the 52 weeks ended December 27, 2025, split three ways: all 2,171 U.S. Restaurants open the whole period, the 2,116 franchised ones, and the 55 owned by the franchisor's affiliate. For franchised Restaurants the average was $2,007,626 and the median $1,890,866, with 43% of units above the average and individual results ranging from $584,584 to $5,042,476. What the Item does not show is any cost, margin or profit information, nor any data on the 384 franchised Restaurants opened during the year, which are excluded because they were not open for the full period. Anyone using these figures has to build their own cost structure from Item 6 fees, Item 7 investment and independent research.
| Metric | Subset | Value | Units | Period | Cite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual net sales — all U.S. Restaurants open the entire 2025 Measured Period (franchised and affiliate-owned) 2,116 franchised plus 55 affiliate-owned Restaurants. 901 franchised Restaurants (43%) and 34 of the 55 affiliate-owned Restaurants (62%) exceeded this figure. | System (franchised + affiliate-owned) Average | $2,020,001 | 2,171 | 52 weeks ended Dec 27, 2025 | FDD p.65 |
| Annual net sales — all U.S. Restaurants open the entire 2025 Measured Period (franchised and affiliate-owned) | System (franchised + affiliate-owned) Median | $1,904,215 | 2,171 | 52 weeks ended Dec 27, 2025 | FDD p.65 |
| Highest annual net sales of any Restaurant in the system The same Restaurant is also the highest-selling franchised Restaurant. | System (franchised + affiliate-owned) High | $5,042,476 | 2,171 | 52 weeks ended Dec 27, 2025 | FDD p.65 |
| Lowest annual net sales of any Restaurant in the system The same Restaurant is also the lowest-selling franchised Restaurant. | System (franchised + affiliate-owned) Low | $584,584 | 2,171 | 52 weeks ended Dec 27, 2025 | FDD p.65 |
| Annual net sales — franchised U.S. Restaurants open the entire 2025 Measured Period 43% of units met or exceeded 914 of the 2,116 franchised Restaurants exceeded this average, which the FDD states is 43%. | Franchised only Average | $2,007,626 | 2,116 | 52 weeks ended Dec 27, 2025 | FDD p.65 |
| Annual net sales — franchised U.S. Restaurants open the entire 2025 Measured Period | Franchised only Median | $1,890,866 | 2,116 | 52 weeks ended Dec 27, 2025 | FDD p.65 |
| Highest annual net sales of a franchised Restaurant | Franchised only High | $5,042,476 | 2,116 | 52 weeks ended Dec 27, 2025 | FDD p.65 |
| Lowest annual net sales of a franchised Restaurant | Franchised only Low | $584,584 | 2,116 | 52 weeks ended Dec 27, 2025 | FDD p.65 |
| Annual net sales — affiliate-owned (WRI) Restaurants open the entire 2025 Measured Period 47% of units met or exceeded 26 of the 55 affiliate-owned Restaurants exceeded this average, which the FDD states is 47%. These are not franchised units. | Affiliate-owned (WRI) Average | $2,496,111 | 55 | 52 weeks ended Dec 27, 2025 | FDD p.65 |
| Annual net sales — affiliate-owned (WRI) Restaurants open the entire 2025 Measured Period | Affiliate-owned (WRI) Median | $2,411,495 | 55 | 52 weeks ended Dec 27, 2025 | FDD p.66 |
| Highest annual net sales of an affiliate-owned (WRI) Restaurant | Affiliate-owned (WRI) High | $4,038,428 | 55 | 52 weeks ended Dec 27, 2025 | FDD p.66 |
| Lowest annual net sales of an affiliate-owned (WRI) Restaurant | Affiliate-owned (WRI) Low | $1,126,897 | 55 | 52 weeks ended Dec 27, 2025 | FDD p.66 |
System health (Item 20)
Outlets, openings, exits and transfers by fiscal year · U.S. onlyView detailed Item 20 tables and source notes
| Fiscal year | Start | Opened | Terminated | Not renewed | Reacquired | Ceased — other | End | Transfers | Company-owned (end) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1,678 | 203 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1,877 | 132 | 49 |
| 2024 | 1,877 | 281 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2,154 | 90 | 50 |
| 2025 | 2,154 | 384 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 2,529 | 52 | 57 |
Disclosed 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Wingstop Franchising LLC, Item 20, Tables 1–3 (PDF p. 67). Counts are as of December 30, 2023, December 28, 2024 and December 27, 2025. Every table footed exactly on the arithmetic check. Growth is entirely from new openings: across the three years 868 franchised Restaurants opened and the franchised base rose from 1,678 to 2,529, a net gain of 851. There were zero terminations and zero non-renewals in all three years; the only franchised outlet losses were 12 reacquisitions by the franchisor (all in Texas) and 5 outlets that ceased operations for other reasons. Transfers between franchisees fell from 132 in 2023 to 90 in 2024 and 52 in 2025. The 'Company-Owned' outlets are held by the franchisor's affiliate Wingstop Restaurants Inc.; in 2024 that affiliate sold its 7 New York Restaurants to franchisees. Tables list U.S. states only; international outlets are not included.
Source data notes (5) — inconsistencies found in the FDD itself during verification
Our verification re-reads every table. Where the FDD's own printed tables disagree, we document the discrepancy rather than silently "fixing" it. Classes: B = arithmetic error in the source's derived column; C = the printed tables genuinely disagree; D = a legitimate definitional difference (e.g., transfers netted, explained by a footnote); E = unresolved ambiguity. Figures a material C/E issue puts in doubt are excluded from our derived metrics, scores and rankings.
- [D/minor] Table 3 / Table 4 2024: Table 3 has no column for franchised outlets acquired from the franchisor, but Table 4 reports company-owned outlets 'Sold to Franchisee' of 1 in 2023 (Texas), 7 in 2024 (the entire New York company market) and 0 in 2025. Those units can only be sitting inside Table 3 'Outlets Opened' — New York's Table 3 2024 row shows 44 start, 22 opened, 66 end against 7 company units sold that year. — Legitimate table-definition difference, not an error: the FTC Table 3 format has no 'acquired from franchisor' column, so conversions are reported as openings. Every printed TOTAL is corroborated — Table 3 ends (1,877 / 2,154 / 2,529) equal Table 1 franchised ends, Table 3 foots in all three years (1,678+203-3-1=1,877; 1,877+281-4=2,154; 2,154+384-5-4=2,529), and Table 4 foots (43+4+3-1=49; 49+4+4-7=50; 50+3+5-1=57). Only the openings mix is affected: genuinely new franchised openings are 202 in 2023 and 274 in 2024 versus the printed 203 and 281; 2025's 384 is unaffected. The largest distortion, 7 units, is 0.37% of the 1,877 franchised units at the start of 2024, below the 0.5% materiality threshold.
- [D/minor] Table 3 2025: Table 3 shows zero terminations and zero non-renewals in every state in all three years; the only franchised attrition recorded is 3/4/5 reacquisitions by the franchisor (entirely Texas) and 1/0/4 'ceased operations - other reasons'. — Not an inconsistency: the tables foot to those figures and Item 19 corroborates 2025 (4 franchised permanent closures = Table 3 2025 'ceased operations - other'). Attrition should be derived from reacquisitions plus 'ceased operations - other', not from the termination and non-renewal columns, which are genuinely zero for this system.
- [D/minor] Table 5 2025: Table 5's projected 378 new franchised Restaurants for the next fiscal year is below the 384 franchised openings actually recorded for 2025 in Table 3. — Not a discrepancy: Table 5 is a forward-looking projection for the next fiscal year, not a restatement of 2025. Its columns foot exactly (state rows sum to 56 signed-but-not-open, 378 projected new franchised, 2 projected new company-owned). No historical metric is affected; only forward projections would use it.
- [D/minor] Table 5 2025: Table 5 omits several states that have franchised outlets and openings in Table 3 (for example Alaska and Wyoming), so it is not a full-system roll-forward. — Legitimate definitional difference: Table 5 lists only states with signed-but-unopened agreements or projected openings for the next fiscal year, so states with neither are correctly absent. The printed total of 378 is corroborated by summing the listed state rows.
- [D/minor] Table 1 2025: The Item 20 preamble states that the 'Company-Owned' outlets in the tables are actually owned by affiliate WRI rather than by the franchisor Wingstop Franchising LLC, which Item 1 says has never operated a Restaurant. — A disclosed definitional note, not an inconsistency. Company-owned counts (43/49/50/57) are affiliate-owned units and should be labelled as such; franchised counts and every derived franchised metric are unaffected.
Company-owned outlets (Table 4)
| Year | Start | Opened | Reacquired from franchisee | Closed | Sold to franchisee | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 43 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 49 |
| 2024 | 49 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 50 |
| 2025 | 50 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 57 |
Read: How to read Item 20.
Ownership and operations
Items 11, 12, 15, 17Manager-run permitted Disclosed
- Source
- 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Wingstop Franchising LLC
- Document
- FDD 2026, issued 2026-04-21
- Item
- Item 15
- Page
- PDF p. 52
- Obtained
- Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration Search, file 641151
we strongly recommend (but do not require) that you manage your Restaurant personally
Item 15 strongly recommends but does not require an individual franchisee to manage the Restaurant personally. A franchisee who does not must appoint a General Manager to supervise day-to-day operations plus an Assistant Manager, both of whom must complete training before opening. An entity franchisee must name a Designated Principal from among its owners to oversee management. Managers need not hold equity. Item 11 adds that where the owner will not be the full-time General Manager, the owner or Designated Principal plus at least 2 full-time managers must attend training.
View operating requirements, territory and contract term
| Owner involvement (Item 15) | Manager-run permitted Disclosed
Item 15 strongly recommends but does not require an individual franchisee to manage the Restaurant personally. A franchisee who does not must appoint a General Manager to supervise day-to-day operations plus an Assistant Manager, both of whom must complete training before opening. An entity franchisee must name a Designated Principal from among its owners to oversee management. Managers need not hold equity. Item 11 adds that where the owner will not be the full-time General Manager, the owner or Designated Principal plus at least 2 full-time managers must attend training. Item 15 strongly recommends but does not require an individual franchisee to manage the Restaurant personally. A franchisee who does not must appoint a General Manager to supervise day-to-day operations plus an Assistant Manager, both of whom must complete training before opening. An entity franchisee must name a Designated Principal from among its owners to oversee management. Managers need not hold equity. Item 11 adds that where the owner will not be the full-time General Manager, the owner or Designated Principal plus at least 2 full-time managers must attend training. |
|---|---|
| Initial training | An approximately 3-week initial training program totalling about 174.75 hours: 17.25 hours online, 23 hours classroom and 134.5 hours on the job. The class runs 22 consecutive days with at least one day off per week, cannot be split into separate sessions, and must be completed before an opening date is issued. It is held at the franchisor's certified training facility in Dallas, Texas and at training restaurants in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with seven regional franchised training restaurants in Aurora CO, West Jordan UT, Clinton MO, Fort Worth TX, Hawthorne CA, York PA and Miami FL. At least two people must attend and pass: the franchisee or Designated Principal plus a General Manager, or, if the owner will not be the full-time General Manager, the owner or Designated Principal plus two full-time managers. Tuition is free for a first Restaurant; the franchisee pays travel, lodging, incidental costs and manager salaries. Refresher training and recertification exams may be required, and failing recertification requires retaking the full 3-week program. Disclosed
The 174.75-hour total is the sum of the three 'Total Training' columns printed in the Item 11 table (17.25 + 23 + 134.5). |
| Multi-unit / development options | Every franchisee signs a Development Agreement, even for a single Restaurant. Multi-Restaurant development rights are offered only to qualified applicants and require a development fee of $25,000 per Restaurant committed to. The Development Agreement sets a schedule of dates by which each Restaurant must open; missing the schedule is a default that can cost the developer its protected development rights, reduce the number of Restaurants or the size of the Development Area, or terminate the agreement. A separate Franchise Agreement, on the then-current form, must be signed for each Restaurant. The franchisor says it may periodically waive or abate part of the development fee, franchise fee and/or royalties to encourage development in states with few or no Wingstop Restaurants, and that in limited cases its affiliate WRI may build a Restaurant and sell it to the developer under an asset purchase agreement. Disclosed
Drawn from Item 1 (pages 8-9), Item 5 (page 13) and Item 12 (pages 45-47). |
| Territory (Item 12) | No exclusive territory. Under the Franchise Agreement the franchisee gets a Trade Area around the Restaurant in which the franchisor will not open or franchise another Restaurant. Outside high-density centres the Trade Area is a circle centred on the front door; there is no set minimum or maximum radius, but the franchisor does not generally expect it to exceed 3 miles, or to be less than 2 blocks downtown. Trade Areas and Development Areas both exclude all Non-Traditional Venues physically inside them — airports, hospitals, ghost kitchens, schools, universities, stadiums, hotels, casinos, theatres and similar sites — where the franchisor faces no restrictions at all. The franchisee has no protection from Wingstop competitors just outside the Trade Area that market, cater or deliver into it, and no protection against the franchisor's other brands, internet or catalogue distribution. Continuation of the Trade Area does not depend on sales volumes or other performance targets, and no minimum sales quota is set. Relocation requires the franchisor's consent and a $5,000 relocation fee. Disclosed
Item 12 states the Development Area gives development exclusivity for Restaurants while the Development Agreement is in effect and the developer is not in default, with exceptions for Non-Traditional Venues, malls over 250,000 square feet and certain transfers by multi-unit operators. |
| Initial term | 10 years Disclosed
The term runs 10 years from the earlier of the Restaurant's scheduled opening date or its actual opening date, or the balance of the seller's term where the franchise is acquired by transfer. |
| Renewal | The current form of Franchise Agreement allows two additional 10-year renewal terms for a franchisee in full compliance. Renewal requires timely notice, signing the then-current franchise agreement and a release where state law permits, remodelling to then-current Wingstop specifications, and paying a $25,000 renewal fee. The FDD warns that the renewal agreement's terms may differ materially from the original and that, depending on circumstances, a given renewal may be the franchisee's last. Franchisees who acquired their franchises before January 2022 and agreed to amend certain provisions under an incentive programme generally hold a right to a third 10-year renewal term. Disclosed
|
| Staffing | A Restaurant typically occupies 1,200 to 2,000 square feet of leased retail space with limited customer seating, since many orders are placed digitally or by phone for off-premises consumption. Where the owner is not full-time in day-to-day operations, a General Manager and an Assistant Manager are required. The FDD does not state a typical employee headcount or required operating hours. Disclosed
Square footage and order-mix description are from Item 1; the management requirement is from Item 15 (page 52). No staffing count or hours-of-operation requirement is stated in the reviewed items. |
Risk and legal observations
Items 3, 4, 8, 15, 17 — summarized neutrallyLitigation: 2 matter(s) disclosed Disclosed · Bankruptcy: None disclosed Disclosed
View legal disclosures, restrictions and guarantees
| Litigation (Item 3) | 2 matter(s) disclosed Disclosed Item 3 lists two arbitrations. The franchisor began an LCIA proceeding in September 2021 against its then-franchisee in France and an affiliate, seeking declarations that the franchisee's territorial exclusivity had ended and its territory was reduced after defaults, plus unpaid amounts. The franchisee counterclaimed for damages over rejected development proposals. The tribunal found for the franchisor on liability in 2023 and in October 2024 awarded USD 4.9 million plus costs. The Paris Court of Appeal dismissed one set-aside application in June 2025; a second is pending and was suspended after both respondents entered receivership in December 2025. Separately, a former franchisee filed an AAA demand in April 2026 against the franchisor's affiliate WRI, alleging WRI allowed another franchisee to encroach on its trade area in 2021-2022, limited its pool of buyers, and that it ceased operations after sales fell. Claims include breach of contract, tortious interference, negligence, fraud-related counts and a California Unfair Competition Law claim, stated at $499,000 plus unspecified damages. WRI says it will defend. No other litigation is disclosed. |
|---|---|
| Bankruptcy (Item 4) | None disclosed Disclosed Item 4 states that no bankruptcy is required to be disclosed. |
| Personal guaranty | Required Disclosed
Where the franchisee is a business entity, every person holding 5% or more of its equity — a 'controlling principal' — must sign the Guaranty and Acknowledgment attached to the Franchise Agreement and be bound by all of its provisions, including monetary obligations, confidentiality and non-competition. This applies even to controlling principals not involved in managing the Restaurant. Item 17 confirms guarantors are bound by the transfer, right-of-first-refusal, non-compete, arbitration, forum and choice-of-law provisions. |
| Non-compete | During the term the franchisee and its guarantors may have no involvement in a competing business anywhere, with a competing business defined as a quick-service food business serving chicken pieces, strips or wings as a primary menu item — 'primary' meaning more than 10% of the business's revenue. After termination or expiry the restriction runs for two years and covers the franchisee's own DMA and any other DMA where a Wingstop Restaurant exists or is under development, which in a system of this size is a wide geographic reach. Separately, a franchisee that unilaterally terminates and starts a competing business within 24 months owes a weekly fee of 10% of the competing operation's revenue for what would have been the remaining term. Disclosed
The liquidated damages formula is from Item 6 endnote 4 (page 19). |
| Transfer restrictions | All transfers require the franchisor's approval, including transfers of the franchise, the Restaurant or its assets, or a controlling ownership interest in the franchisee or its parent. The franchisor holds a right of first refusal with at least 60 days to match an offer and a further 45 days to close, which also applies on death or disability in certain circumstances. Conditions for approval include full compliance with the Franchise Agreement, sale of the franchisee's complete interest, delivery of financial records, buyer qualification and training, payment of the transfer fee, signing the then-current franchise agreement, guaranties from the buyer's owners, proof of financing, releases where state law allows, upgrading the Restaurant's information system within 6 months, and a $5,000 transfer marketing spend within 3 months. On death or disability, management is evaluated for 120 days and, if not approved, the successors must present a qualified buyer within 120 days. Disclosed
|
| Termination / non-renewal | The Franchise Agreement gives the franchisee no right to terminate and the franchisor no right to terminate without cause; the franchisor may terminate on default. Curable defaults carry cure periods of 5, 10, 15 or 30 days and include failure to open on schedule, payment defaults to vendors, uncorrected operating deficiencies, missing financial statements, misuse of marks, prohibited product sales, lapsed insurance, failure to employ a qualified manager, non-payment, and breach of transfer restrictions. Non-curable defaults include breach of the non-compete or confidentiality terms, unauthorised transfer or abandonment, refusing a quality inspection or audit, tampering with the Restaurant's information system, false records, loss of the premises, repeated defaults, a termination notice under any other franchise agreement involving the franchisee, cancelling the automatic debit arrangement, bankruptcy or an unsatisfied judgment over $5,000, and a felony conviction. On termination or non-renewal the franchisee must de-identify, pay all sums due and damages, assign phone numbers and honour the franchisor's option to buy the Restaurant's assets and take over the premises. Disclosed
|
| Supplier restrictions (Item 8) | Franchisees must buy proprietary direct materials — food, chicken, produce, potatoes, sauces, seasonings, spice blends and logo-imprinted packaging — and indirect items such as kitchen and front-of-house equipment, point-of-sale and phone systems, signage, furniture, fixtures, uniforms and cleaning supplies only from approved designated sources. One unaffiliated approved distributor currently supplies these items. Franchisees must also use a preferred or pre-approved Wingstop real estate broker and approved site surveyors, permit expeditors, architectural and engineering consultants and general contractors, and may be required to use a designated third-party delivery provider and, for a first Restaurant, a designated accounting service for at least 12 months. The franchisor states neither it nor WRI received revenue from selling or leasing products or services to franchisees in 2025, and no licence fees or rebates on proprietary items. WRI separately earned $28,563,846 in supplier rebates in 2025 and deposited $15,730,783 of that into the Ad Fund. No purchasing cooperative exists today. Disclosed
Rebate figures are on page 26. The franchisor reserves the right to begin taking supplier revenue in future. |
| Dispute resolution | Most disputes under both the Franchise Agreement and the Development Agreement must be arbitrated at a location near the franchisor's principal business address at the time the demand is filed, currently Dallas, Texas; the franchisor need not arbitrate intellectual property disputes. Litigation that is not subject to arbitration generally must be brought in courts closest to that same address. Texas law governs, apart from the U.S. Arbitration Act and other federal law. The FDD's state risk factor highlights that out-of-state dispute resolution may raise costs and pressure a franchisee toward a less favourable settlement. The choice of forum and choice of law may not be enforceable in some states. Guarantors are bound by these provisions. The franchisor states it intends to enforce its arbitration provisions fully notwithstanding the Michigan Franchise Investment Law provision barring out-of-state arbitration. Disclosed
The Michigan statement and the special risk factor appear on cover pages 4 and 6. |
- Every franchisee must sign a Development Agreement in addition to a Franchise Agreement, so the minimum initial payment to the franchisor is $50,000 even for a single Restaurant.
- Combined royalty and Ad Fund contributions currently total 11.5% of Gross Sales, before any local advertising the franchisor may later require.
- The Ad Fund rate can be raised above 5.5% by a vote of franchisees owning 60% or more of U.S. franchised Restaurants, and Item 6 states it cannot be voted down.
- Trade Areas and Development Areas exclude all Non-Traditional Venues inside them, including ghost kitchens, airports, universities, stadiums and hotels, where the franchisor is unrestricted.
- Item 7 excludes real estate purchase and rent entirely, and the franchisor states it cannot estimate the initial real estate investment.
- Leasehold improvements span $103,000 to $581,000, the widest line in Item 7, and exclude any landlord tenant-improvement allowance.
- The franchisor may require remodelling, upgrades and refurbishment during the term at the franchisee's cost, and remodelling to then-current specifications is a renewal condition.
- The franchisor may reacquire outlets: Item 20 records 12 franchised Restaurants reacquired over three years, all in Texas.
- The franchisor offers no financing, directly or indirectly, for any part of the initial investment.
Summaries are neutral paraphrases of the cited document and are not legal advice. Read the full Items in the current FDD and consult a franchise attorney.
Illustrative unit economics
Model estimateModel estimate — not disclosed by the franchisor, not a forecast. Fee lines below come from this brand's verified FDD fee schedule and are computed exactly as disclosed (each line shows its arithmetic). Operating-cost ratios are category placeholders we chose — every one is editable and labeled assumption. Results are illustrative arithmetic, not expected returns. Every figure here belongs to one of five labeled categories — disclosed inputs, model assumptions, unmodeled mandatory fees, user-editable assumptions, and exclusions — defined in our methodology.
| Line (annual) | Downside | Base | Upside |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (AUV basis) | $1,606,101 | $2,007,626 | $2,308,770 |
| − Cost of goods / supplies assumption | $497,891 | $622,364 | $715,719 |
| − Payroll (excl. owner) assumption | $449,708 | $562,135 | $646,456 |
| − Occupancy assumption | $128,488 | $160,610 | $184,702 |
| − Other operating expenses assumption | $176,671 | $220,839 | $253,965 |
| − Royalties disclosed 6% of gross sales = $120,458 |
$96,366 | $120,458 | $138,526 |
| − Ad Fund disclosed 5.5% of gross sales = $110,419 |
$88,336 | $110,419 | $126,982 |
| − Website Maintenance Fee — monthly disclosed $50/month × 12 = $600 |
$600 | $600 | $600 |
| − Intranet Maintenance and Development Fee disclosed $50/month × 12 = $600 |
$600 | $600 | $600 |
| − POS hardware/software maintenance, support and hosted software renewal disclosed $5,000 per year |
$5,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 |
| = Modeled operating result before the items below (EBITDA-style) | $162,441 | $204,601 | $236,221 |
| − Manager compensation assumption | $60,000 | $60,000 | $60,000 |
| = Modeled result after manager compensation | $102,441 | $144,601 | $176,221 |
| − Illustrative debt service assumption | $77,013 | $77,013 | $77,013 |
| = Illustrative pre-tax cash flow — before taxes, capital expenditures and unmodeled fees | $25,428 | $67,588 | $99,208 |
| Modeled operating margin | 10.1% | 10.2% | 10.2% |
This modeled result is not owner income. It excludes: income taxes; capital expenditures and equipment-replacement reserves; working-capital needs; ramp-up losses; owner-specific costs; one-time and per-event fees (transfer, renewal, audit); and 5 mandatory fee(s) whose amounts the FDD does not state (listed below — real outflows are higher by these amounts). It is illustrative arithmetic on stated assumptions, not a promise or forecast of what a franchisee earns.
Mandatory fees disclosed but not quantified — not included in the modeled result: the FDD requires these but states no amount (e.g. billed at "then-current" rates). They are never modeled as $0. If you have a quote or estimate, enter an annual amount to include it as your own assumption:
- Advertising Cooperative Contribution (Item 6, p. 15) — amount not stated in the FDD (e.g. “then-current fee”)
- Insurance (Item 6, p. 16) — amount not stated in the FDD (e.g. “then-current fee”)
- National Gift Card Program Charges (Item 6, p. 16) — Effective drag depends on the share of sales redeemed via third-party-retailer gift cards; the ~10% administrative charge on redemption is the franchisee-facing cost and neither the franchisor nor its affiliates receive any part of it.
- Product and Service Purchases (Item 6, p. 19) — No amount, floor, ceiling, or percentage is disclosed for this mandatory required-purchase (COGS) obligation - Item 6 states only that the cost 'varies.' requires_assumption with amount_type variable and no minimum/value never seeds an editable line (src/lib/economics.ts only seeds a requires_assumption $ line from a fixed value or a `minimum` bound), so this was already silently landing in the excluded/undisclosed bucket; unknown_amount labels that outcome correctly instead of implying an assumption mechanism that isn't actually wired up.
- Tax Reimbursement (Item 6, p. 19) — amount not stated in the FDD (e.g. “then-current fee”)
Overlap control: Local Advertising and Promotional Materials is counted within “ad-fund” — excluded to avoid double counting.
Every figure in this table is a model estimate built on the disclosed fee schedule plus labeled assumptions. Excluded: income taxes, owner draw, working-capital swings, capital expenditures, ramp-up losses in year one, one-time and per-event fees (transfer, renewal, audit), and the undisclosed-amount fees listed above. Read AUV vs. EBITDA vs. owner income before using this.
Sources and provenance
Primary source: 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Wingstop Franchising LLC · issued 2026-04-21. Find the FDD at Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration Search. We cite source pages and do not redistribute PDFs.
View all sources, provenance and verification notes
| Document | Obtained from | Dates | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document — Wingstop Franchising LLC Registry file 641151 · 342 pages Cover states 'Issuance date of this Franchise Disclosure Document: April 21, 2026'; running footer reads 'WINGSTOP 2026 FDD (ISSUED APRIL 2026)'. Wisconsin registration effective 4/21/2026, status Registered. No amendment is disclosed. | Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration Search | Issued 2026-04-21 Retrieved 2026-08-29 | Newest available at retrieval |
AI-assisted extraction from the archived FDD text, independently machine-verified against the cited source (two passes plus tie-break); not human-reviewed. Extracted 2026-08-29. Last updated 2026-09-05. AI-assisted extraction independently machine-verified against the cited source document (2026-09-01): two independent AI reading passes plus tie-break re-inspection of every disagreement; 73 of 77 material fields confirmed (31 with the exact page citation re-confirmed), 0 corrected, 0 unresolved, 4 confirmed not disclosed. No human has reviewed this profile. Fiscal year covered: FY2025 (Dec 27, 2025). See how we use AI and verify data.
Fields flagged as uncertain (4)
- fees.transfer_fee.value — Item 6 states $15,000; Item 5 states currently either $10,000 or $15,000 depending on the selling franchisee's agreement. Recorded as a $10,000-$15,000 range.
- fees.technology.value — Item 11 states a ceiling of up to $100 per month for website and intranet upkeep; no current charged amount is disclosed, so this is a maximum.
- fees.cooperative — franchisees must join a local advertising cooperative where one is formed, but no contribution rate or amount is disclosed.
- franchisor.business_since / franchising_since — 1994 and 1997 refer to the concept and system; the franchisor entity was formed in 2018 and has franchised since November 2018.
Extraction notes (9)
- Item 7 low and high columns were summed and foot exactly to the printed totals of $310,400 and $1,048,500.
- All three years of Item 20 Table No. 3 and Table No. 4 balance on the start + additions - losses = end check, and Table No. 3 totals reconcile to Table No. 1 franchised end counts.
- The Item 19 headline uses the franchised-only average of $2,007,626 rather than the $2,020,001 all-Restaurant average, because the latter blends in 55 affiliate-owned Restaurants that averaged materially higher.
- Item 19 reports net sales, defined as gross receipts less sales tax, coupons and promotions, and voids — not gross sales and not profit.
- item19.population_share_of_system is 2,116 franchised Restaurants in the Item 19 population divided by 2,529 franchised outlets at fiscal year end, or 83.7%.
- Item 20 tables list U.S. states only and their totals reconcile to Table No. 1, so us_only is set true; Item 3 shows international franchising exists (a former franchisee in France) but those outlets are not in these tables.
- The FDD refers to 'Company-Owned' outlets that are in fact owned by the franchisor's affiliate Wingstop Restaurants Inc., which is also the franchisor's predecessor and its manager under a management agreement.
- No minimum liquidity or net-worth requirement is stated anywhere in the reviewed cover pages or Items 1, 5, 7, 11 or 15, so both are recorded as not disclosed.
- Verification 2026-09-01: fix_page /operations/territory 46 → 47
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