# A field guide to restaurant franchises This is a field manual for reading restaurant franchise paper. It is not a directory and it does not score brands. The worked examples use public filings from German döner, halal, sandwich, chicken, hot-dog and other quick-service systems so that no one contract looks universal. A Franchise Disclosure Document is a standardized disclosure, not a recommendation and not the contract itself. The [FTC Franchise Rule](https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/franchise-rule) fixes its twenty-three-item structure and requires delivery at least fourteen calendar days before a buyer signs a binding agreement or pays the franchisor or an affiliate. That uniform order is useful: it lets a reader compare the same subject across very different restaurant systems. The guide follows a practical sequence. First confirm the document and issue date. Then connect the one-time charges in Item 5 to the recurring obligations in Item 6 and the opening estimate in Item 7. Test any sales or profit discussion against Item 19, and use Item 20 to see what happened to outlets rather than what a development pipeline promises. Items 11, 12 and 17 then explain training, territory, renewal, transfer and exit. [QSR Landscape](https://franchiselandscape.com/) answers a different question: which disclosed brands sit beside one another on selected metrics. The Buildout Index compares Item 7 line items. This publication teaches the reading method—how to trace a headline number to its definition, footnote, sample and contract clause.
Before your first call - Ask for the FDD in writing, and note the legal franchisor, issue date and state filing. - Find Item 5 and Item 6 first. Initial fee, then the ongoing percentage stack. - Find Item 7 and read every range and footnote, not only the total. - Turn to Item 19. Record exactly which outlets and period it covers—or that it makes no representation. - Reconcile Item 20's three-year tables and call a varied sample from its current and former franchisee lists.
## Entries
  1. [**How to read an FDD** The twenty-three items, and the four that decide the deal.](/how-to-read-an-fdd/)
  2. [**Item 19** Financial performance representations, and what an empty Item 19 tells you.](/item-19/)
  3. [**Ongoing fees** Royalty plus brand fund is the number that compounds. Watch for uncapped.](/ongoing-fees/)
  4. [**What it costs to open** Item 7 totals, cheapest first. The high end is the planning number.](/what-it-costs/)
  5. [**Term and territory** How long you are in, and what ground the filing actually protects.](/term-and-territory/)
  6. [**System size** Item 20 outlet counts. A 323-unit chain and a six-unit shop, side by side.](/system-size/)
  7. [**Training** Item 11 hours, added up. Fifteen hours and five hundred are not the same offering.](/training/)
  8. [**QSR vs fast casual** The label changes the rent, the labor and the build.](/qsr-vs-fast-casual/)
  9. [**Footprint and labor questions** Square feet and headcount at peak are the two costs nobody advertises.](/footprint-and-labor-questions/)
  10. [**Red flags in franchise marketing** Territory maps, pipeline counts, and other things that are not disclosures.](/red-flags-in-franchise-marketing/)
  11. [**Emerging food categories** How to tell a real category gap from a deck slide.](/emerging-food-categories/)
A compact quick-service unit in a narrow street-front bay
Footprint is an FDD question, not a vibe. Ask what the typical unit actually is, in square feet.
## Read across, then read down A useful first pass is horizontal: compare the same Item across two or three current filings. The public [2025 GDK Wisconsin filing](https://apps.dfi.wi.gov/apps/FranchiseSearch/details.aspx?id=639752&hash=370187205&search=external&type=GENERAL), [2025 Halal Guys Wisconsin filing](https://apps.dfi.wi.gov/apps/FranchiseSearch/details.aspx?id=639117&hash=921753141&search=external&type=GENERAL) and [2025 Shah's Halal Minnesota document](https://cards.web.commerce.state.mn.us/documents/%7B9078B29B-0000-C21E-982F-C2FDAFB07783%7D/download?contentSequence=0&documentClass=FRANCHISE_REGISTRATIONS) show how differently adjacent restaurant concepts define investment, formats and obligations. The second pass is vertical: follow one issue through a single filing. A technology obligation might begin in Item 6, appear again as required hardware in Item 11, depend on an approved supplier under Item 8 and become a default issue in the franchise agreement. A territory promise in Item 12 may be qualified by venue carve-outs and then constrained by relocation or transfer terms in Item 17. Search is useful, but context decides what a match means. Keep a one-page comparison sheet with the document date, format, Item 7 range, recurring fees, Item 19 population, Item 20 movement, training attendance, territory protection and renewal conditions. Put blanks where a filing is silent. A blank is a due-diligence question, not permission to substitute a broker's estimate.

The document itself

## The deal is in four of twenty-three {: .display }

Every FDD uses the same twenty-three-item order. Read these four first, then connect their definitions to the agreement and the other Items they reference.

23 Numbered items

Fixed order, every brand, every year. Item 7 is the estimated initial investment; Item 20 is outlet counts and transfers.

4 That decide the deal

Item 5 the entry charges, Item 6 the continuing obligations, Item 7 the opening estimate, Item 19 the permitted performance representation.

19 The optional item

Item 19 is where permitted financial performance representations are defined, sourced and qualified; it may instead state that none is made.

21 Audited financials

Item 21 is the franchisor's own audited statements. Read them against Item 20's openings and closings.

--- HTML: https://qsrfieldguide.com/