Tools 60
Comparison worksheet
A static sheet for two restaurant FDDs. Date the documents. Leave blanks blank. Not a calculator.
Print this page or copy the tables into a notebook. Fill them from two current FDDs, in ink if you can stand it. The point of a static sheet is that it cannot invent a total, blend two disclosure years, or turn a missing Item 19 into a peer average.
Date every row. GDK’s FDD issued 3 September 2024 and The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill’s FDD issued 17 August 2023 are not the same vintage. A 6% royalty in both years is still two different documents.
Header
| Field | Brand A | Brand B |
|---|---|---|
| Trade name | — | — |
| Legal franchisor (Item 1) | — | — |
| Issue date | — | — |
| State filing / effective date, if any | — | — |
| FDD delivered (date and time) | — | — |
| Earliest federal signature/payment date | — | — |
| Offered format (kiosk, inline, express, full, imbiss) | — | — |
| US offering with a current document? (yes / no) | — | — |
| Registered where, and actively selling? | — | — |
Worked reminder: Doner Shack’s FDD issued 29 April 2025 began as a US offering on 5 September 2024, with zero US outlets in 2022, 2023 and 2024. The filing row is “yes” and the unit-count rows are zeros. As of 2026 it is not selling US franchises. That is a different sheet from a system with operating stores to call.
Fee stack (Items 5 and 6)
| Field | Brand A | Brand B |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee (Item 5) | — | — |
| Royalty % and base | — | — |
| Royalty cap / increase right | — | — |
| Brand fund % | — | — |
| Local advertising % | — | — |
| Technology or similar % or $ | — | — |
| Other required Item 6 rows (list) | — | — |
| Percentage subtotal, if both royalty and fund are disclosed | — | — |
Examples you may copy only from filings in front of you. These are the illustrations:
- GDK, FDD issued 3 September 2024: $30,000 fee; 6% royalty; 3% brand fund; 2% local, waived if the store joins a cooperative that can levy up to 2%; royalty and brand fund may be raised annually with no cap.
- Capriotti’s, May 2024 comparative study: $40,000 fee; 6–7% royalty; 2% brand fund rising to as much as 4%; 1.5% local; 0.65% technology.
- bluTaco, May 2024 comparative study: no initial fee; royalty not disclosed. Leave the royalty cell as an em dash, not 0%.
- Döner Haus, 2026 FDD: $35,000 fee; 3% royalty; 2% brand fund.
If a brand is missing royalty or brand fund, this site’s ranking leaves it unranked. Your sheet should do the same.
Item 7
| Field | Brand A | Brand B |
|---|---|---|
| Format and square feet | — | — |
| Total low | — | — |
| Total high | — | — |
| Does the high column sum to the printed total? | — | — |
| Additional-funds amount and months | — | — |
| Grand-opening line | — | — |
| Multi-unit minimum, if any | — | — |
| Footnotes that change the low end | — | — |
Shah’s Halal Food, FDD issued 10 April 2024: printed high $405,000; line items sum to $410,000. Write both. Great Greek, FDD issued 17 August 2023: low end uses a discounted fee for affiliated-brand owners; first-time buyer pays $39,500. GDK: per outlet inside a five-outlet minimum. Mad for Chicken, FDD issued 12 March 2025: full restaurant $321,125–$691,700, a separately disclosed express at $243,500–$470,700, and a Multi-Unit Development Agreement at $263,500–$711,700 covering a three-outlet commitment plus the first outlet — three sheets, and the third one is not a box. Doner Shack, FDD issued 29 April 2025: $498,000–$1,007,000 for a single restaurant and $578,000–$1,087,000 for a three-restaurant development agreement — also two sheets. Wienerschnitzel has no Item 7 total here; the cell stays an em dash.
Item 19 population
| Field | Brand A | Brand B |
|---|---|---|
| FPR made? (yes / no) | — | — |
| Metric (gross, COGS, payroll, profit, other) | — | — |
| Period | — | — |
| Outlet type (franchised / affiliate / mixed) | — | — |
| Eligible population vs included vs excluded | — | — |
| How many met or exceeded the average, if stated | — | — |
| One-sentence limitation | — | — |
GDK 2024: one franchised mall unit, full year, $1,383,053 gross. Shah’s 2024 and Halal Guys 2024 sources: no representation. Mad for Chicken, FDD issued 12 March 2025: revenue only for affiliate and franchised outlets across FY2023 and FY2024, with six outlets that closed during 2024 excluded. Great Greek 2023: revenues, COGS and payroll for six affiliates, plus high/low of six franchise restaurants open two years. Döner Haus 2026: Item 19 is present for corporate and early franchised units — copy metric and sample from that Item in the FDD.
Item 20 movement
| Field | Brand A | Brand B |
|---|---|---|
| Units total (as-of year) | — | — |
| Franchised / company | — | — |
| Licensed or other non-franchise, if disclosed | — | — |
| Openings, last three years (sum) | — | — |
| Terminations + non-renewals + cessations | — | — |
| Transfers / reacquisitions | — | — |
| Item 1 narrative count vs Item 20 year-end | — | — |
Shah’s 2024: 58 total, 14 company, 0 franchised, 44 licensed. Pepper Lunch 2024 comparative record: 6 US units; operator site claims 500+ internationally — put the website claim in a note, not in the unit cell. GDK: 7 at year-end 2023 vs Item 1’s nine at issuance.
Training, territory, renewal
| Field | Brand A | Brand B |
|---|---|---|
| Classroom hours / on-the-job hours | — | — |
| Who must attend; who pays travel | — | — |
| Territory (protected / exclusive / none) | — | — |
| Carve-outs (airports, campuses, delivery, other) | — | — |
| Initial term | — | — |
| Renewal right and conditions | — | — |
| Right to sell / transfer fee | — | — |
| Then-current agreement on renewal? | — | — |
Capriotti’s: no protected area. Wienerschnitzel: no renewal, no right to sell, 20-year term. Great Greek: 35-year term. bluTaco: 0 classroom, 11.5 on the job, term until either party terminates.
Using the sheet
- One format per sheet; Mad for Chicken full vs express is two sheets.
- One disclosure year per column; do not mix a 2023 Great Greek fee with a 2025 verbal.
- Em dash if the filing is silent. Never a peer average.
- After both columns are filled, list mismatches to take to counsel and to operator calls.
- This sheet is not legal, tax or investment advice. Fill it from the filing in front of you.
A filled-in miniature, for method only
Do not copy these cells onto a live deal. They illustrate how a completed row should look, with source years visible.
| Field | Döner Haus (illustration) | GDK (illustration) | Shah’s Halal (illustration) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Issue date | 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document | FDD issued 3 September 2024 | FDD issued 10 April 2024 |
| Format | 850–1,200 sq ft standing imbiss; one shop | 1,200–1,400 sq ft; five-outlet minimum | 1,200–2,000 sq ft full restaurant |
| Item 5 | $35,000, plus $10,000 training for two | $30,000 | $30,000 |
| Royalty / fund / local | 3% / 2% / $2,000 a month | 6% / 3% / 2% (coop may replace local; uncapped increases on royalty and fund) | 5% / 1% / 1% |
| Item 7 | $359,500–$586,000 | $690,500–$1,123,000 | $197,000–$405,000 (lines sum to $410,000 high) |
| Additional funds | $20,000–$35,000 / 3 months | $15,000–$20,000 / 3 months | $10,000–$30,000 / 3 months |
| Item 19 | Corporate and early franchised units | One full-year mall unit, $1,383,053 gross | No representation |
| Item 20 | Item 20: 4 as of 2025. Six shops open August 2026, none closed | 7 franchised (2023); Item 1 claimed 9; five later closures | 58 total; 0 franchised; 44 licensed |
| Training | 24 classroom + 56 OTJ | 40 classroom + 120 OTJ | 19 classroom + 85 OTJ |
| Territory | Limited protection, not exclusive; about 50,000 population | Non-exclusive, no minimum size, venue/delivery carve-outs | Driving distance up to five miles; non-traditional excluded |
| Term / renewal | 10 years; one ten-year successor | 10 years; option if not bottom 10% | 10 years; one additional term |
Those three columns are different purchases. A fourth column for Wienerschnitzel would show 20 years, no renewal, no sale, no protected area, 323 units, and an em dash for Item 7. A fifth for bluTaco would show em dashes for royalty and Item 7, 0 classroom hours, and an at-will term. That is the sheet working.
If you add a live Brand C, copy the header date first. Mixing Great Greek’s August 2023 figures with a 2026 verbal from a broker is how columns go bad.
Related reading
- How to read an FDD — the first pass that feeds this sheet
- Year-over-year worksheet — the same discipline applied to one brand across years
- Ongoing fees — how to classify Item 6 before totaling
- What it costs to open — Item 7 footnotes
- Item 19 — population before metric
- Glossary — the vocabulary the blanks use
Asked in the field
- Can I fill the blanks from a broker summary?
- No. Use the furnished FDD. A blank cell means the filing did not give you that fact.