Ongoing fees

The royalty is only one row. Item 6 can also include a brand fund, required local advertising, technology charges, payment-processing costs, training, audits, insurance shortfall, renewal, transfer, default interest and liquidated damages. Some are percentages of gross sales, some are fixed periodic amounts and some occur only after an event. Combining unlike fees into one neat rate can hide more than it reveals.

Build three columns

Classify each Item 6 row by base, timing and control.

• Base: gross sales, purchases, a fixed dollar amount, actual cost or a formula.
• Timing: weekly, monthly, annually, on demand or only when an event occurs.
• Control: fixed for the term, adjustable to a stated cap, adjustable by a cooperative vote or adjustable without a stated ceiling.

Start by copying the filing’s definition of gross sales. Delivery-platform receipts, discounts, refunds, taxes, gift-card redemptions and catering may not receive the treatment a buyer assumes. A 6% royalty on one definition is not necessarily comparable with 6% on another.

Then keep percentages and dollars separate. The FTC’s required Item 6 disclosures include the amount, due date, payee, refundability, conditions and whether fees are uniformly imposed. If a technology fee is fixed per month, model it as dollars at several sales levels; do not turn it into a permanent percentage. If local advertising is a minimum spend rather than a payment to the franchisor, label it that way. If a filing does not disclose enough to calculate a combined burden, leave the combined cell blank.

A multi-brand reading

GDK’s current North American franchise page advertises a 6% royalty and 3% marketing contribution. Its 2025 Wisconsin filing is the document to read for definitions, additional charges and adjustment language. The marketing page is a useful lead; it is not a substitute for Item 6.

The Halal Guys provides a second pattern. Its official franchise page describes investment requirements and development formats, while the 2025 Wisconsin filing contains the enforceable fee disclosures. Shah’s Halal’s 2025 Minnesota-filed FDD supplies a third table with its own defined bases and conditions. Read the rows side by side, but do not assume a similarly named “marketing” charge buys the same services.

Model what can change

Run at least three cases: the disclosed current charges, every adjustable charge at its stated cap and a sensitivity case for fixed fees during a weak-sales month. Add renewal and required refurbishment on the years when they occur rather than smoothing them out of sight. Ask existing franchisees which Item 6 charges changed, which required payments sit elsewhere in the document and whether advertising assessments produced store-level spending or only systemwide activity.

The objective is not one universal “fee stack.” It is a schedule that preserves what the contract actually says and exposes what remains uncertain.