QSR Field Guide

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Read 01

How to read an FDD

Start with Döner Haus as the compact one-shop German döner, then put GDK next to it. Item 5 is the fee. Item 6 is forever. Item 7 is the check to open. Item 19 is whether they show unit numbers.

An FDD is the document they have to give you before you sign. The state that accepts the filing has not certified the business. The federal rule’s required cover language says that no government agency has verified the information.

Hold Döner Haus’s 2026 packet as the compact one-shop German döner. The rest of this chapter is how you put another filing next to it without mixing the rooms — GDK’s five-outlet mall kebab especially.

A first pass in seven moves

1. Find the legal name. Match the franchisor on the cover to the party in the proposed agreement. Note the issue date and any later amendment. A trade name is not enough when different affiliates own the marks, collect the fees or supply the food.

2. Read Items 1 through 4. Item 1 maps parents, predecessors and affiliates. Items 2, 3 and 4 cover management, litigation and bankruptcy. You are finding which company owes you support, and whose books sit in Item 21.

3. Find Item 5, 6 and 7. Item 5 is what you pay before opening. Item 6 is what you keep paying. Item 7 is the guess at what the room costs to open. The franchise fee is usually already inside Item 7 — do not add it twice.

4. Test the operating promise. Item 8 is who you have to buy from. Item 11 is training and support. Item 12 is territory. Item 16 is what you may sell. A short menu can still require a full shop.

5. Open Item 19. If they show unit numbers, copy the metric, the period, how many shops, who was left out, and how many beat the average. If they say they make no representation, a landing-page claim does not fill the gap.

6. Add the Item 20 rows yourself. Openings, transfers, terminations, non-renewals, reacquisitions, closures. The ending count is a snapshot. The rows are how the system got there.

7. Finish with 17, 21, 22 and the exhibits. Item 17 is whether you can leave. Item 21 is the franchisor’s own books. Item 22 lists the contracts. Item 23 is the receipt. The franchise agreement is the deal — check the summary against the clause.

What to ask for

Item 6

The percentage, the fixed charges, the event fees, their bases, minimums and whether they can go up. Today’s rate can still rise if the contract allows it.

Ask for: the cap language, verbatim

Item 7

The range, the format and the footnotes. Premises size and the initial operating period often matter more than the headline total.

Ask for: the footnotes, not the low end

Item 19

Whether there is a financial performance representation at all, which metric it uses and how many comparable units it covers.

Ask for: the Item 19 pages, or the reason there are none

Item 20

Opened, closed and transferred outlets, plus current and former franchisee contacts. A locator shows neither history nor who owned the shop.

Ask for: the list, then call the ones who left

The four that decide it

Start with four, then follow every cross-reference

Items 5, 6, 7 and 19 give you the money outline quickly. Items 8, 11, 12, 17, 20 and 21 tell you whether that outline belongs to the restaurant, the contract and the company you are actually looking at.

Work from current, public examples

The FTC’s buyer guidance explains the fourteen-day delivery rule and why Item 19 claims and Item 20 contacts matter. Hold Döner Haus’s 2026 filing as the compact one-shop packet, then put GDK’s 2025 Wisconsin filing next to it so the five-outlet mall kebab is visible. The Halal Guys’ 2025 filing and the complete 2025 Shah’s Halal document filed in Minnesota are the adjacent formats — different tables, histories and contracts.

A public filing is useful for learning. For a live deal, get the current FDD from the franchisor, keep the delivery email and the receipt, and have counsel confirm that the amendments and the agreement match the version you read.

Item 23, exhibits, and version control

Item 23 is how you prove which PDF arrived and when. Keep it with the delivery email. If an amendment arrives later, file it as a new version and restart any waiting period counsel says it requires. The fourteen-day rule is a clock on a specific document, not on “the brand.”

Item 22 lists the contracts. Open every exhibit named there before treating Items 5, 6, 12 or 17 as complete. A development agreement can impose a five-outlet minimum while Item 7 is printed per store — GDK’s FDD issued 3 September 2024 is that structure. A personal guarantee can outlive a transfer. A software license can auto-renew after termination. None of that is visible in a cover-page investment range.

Three filings, eight lines

Put the compact one-shop packet next to the five-outlet mall kebab, then add a licensed-locator filing so no one contract looks like the law of restaurants.

Line Döner Haus GDK Shah’s Halal
Issue checkpoint 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document 2025 Wisconsin filing page 2025 Minnesota-filed FDD
Format in Item 7 Standing imbiss, 850–1,200 sq ft; one shop Typical 1,200–1,400 sq ft; five-outlet minimum (FDD issued 3 September 2024) Full-sized restaurant, 1,200–2,000 sq ft (FDD issued 10 April 2024)
Item 5 $35,000 franchise fee, plus a $10,000 training fee for two people $30,000 $30,000
Item 6 stack as disclosed 3% + 2%; local is $2,000 a month, not a percentage 6% + 3% + 2% local; uncapped annual increases on royalty and fund 5% + 1% + 1% local
Item 7 total $359,500–$586,000 $690,500–$1,123,000 $197,000–$405,000 (high lines sum to $410,000)
Item 19 Corporate and early franchised units One full-year mall unit, $1,383,053 gross (2024 FDD); withdrawn in the 2025 filing No representation
Item 20 Item 20: 4 as of 2025. Locator August 2026: 6 open in 3 years, 7+ in construction, 55 commitments (company). None closed 7 franchised at year-end 2023; Item 1 claimed 9 by issuance; five later street listings closed 58 total; 0 franchised; 44 licensed
Item 17 / 12 10 years; one ten-year successor; limited protection, not exclusive 10 years; non-exclusive protected area, no minimum size 10 years; driving-distance area, non-traditional excluded

Those are not the same purchase. A buyer who wants one street-window sandwich shop is in the first column. The Halal Guys’ 2025 Wisconsin filing is a fourth column: 6% royalty, 2% brand fund, 1% local, $60,000 fee, $461,400–$1,333,500 Item 7, no Item 19 in the 2024 comparative record used here, 93 units as of 2024. Same cuisine neighborhood, different paper.

The usual mistakes

Adding Item 5 on top of Item 7. The franchise fee is usually already inside the total.

Treating “protected” as exclusive. GDK’s 2024 territory is non-exclusive and has no minimum size. Capriotti’s 2024 comparative record has no protected area at all.

Filling an empty Item 19 from a call or a deck. Shah’s and The Halal Guys in the 2024 sources make no representation. A manager’s round number does not fill an empty Item 19.

Counting locator pins as franchised outlets. Shah’s 2024 Item 20: zero franchises operating.

Using the Item 7 low as a budget. Great Greek’s 2023 low end is a discounted fee for affiliated-brand owners; a first-time buyer pays $39,500. GDK’s low is still inside a five-store commitment.

Stopping at the league table. The tables on this site compare disclosed fields across brands. They do not replace the footnotes, the exhibits, or counsel.

Close of the first pass

  • Receipt, delivery timestamp, and issue date in one folder.
  • Items 5, 6, 7, 19, 20 copied onto the comparison worksheet, blanks left blank.
  • Item 22 exhibits opened, not merely listed.
  • Operator sample planned from the Item 20 lists.
  • Counsel and an accountant retained before a signature date is treated as real.