# Timeline to open A useful timeline is a sequence of gates, not a Gantt chart copied from a pitch deck. Each gate has a document. Skip one and the later dates are fiction. The [FTC Franchise Rule](https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/franchise-rule) fixes only one of those dates: fourteen calendar days between furnishing the current FDD and a binding agreement with, or payment to, the franchisor or an affiliate. Construction, permits, training slots and equipment lead times are not in that rule. ## The sequence | Stage | What "done" means | What it is not | | --- | --- | --- | | 1. Intro | You know the legal franchisor, the offered format, and whether a US offering exists | A verbal territory hold | | 2. FDD delivered | Current document, issue date, Item 23, waiting-period clock started | A broker PDF from last year | | 3. First-pass read | Items 5, 6, 7, 19, 20 on a comparison sheet | A complete legal review | | 4. Validation | Sampled current and former operators from Item 20 | Discovery-day testimonials | | 5. Counsel and accountant | Clause-trace and sources-and-uses | A friend who "looked it over" | | 6. Agreement | Signature after the wait, matching Item 22 | A deposit that jumped the clock | | 7. Site | Approved location, lease that can live with the franchise term | A heatmap of "priority markets" | | 8. Build and train | Permits, construction, Item 11 attendance, opening inventory | A social-media launch date | | 9. Open | Keys, staffed line, additional-funds period running | Stabilized sales | Doner Shack's record in this set is "No current US registration" as of 2026. Stage 1 fails. There is no timeline to open a US franchise that is not being offered. ## Stage notes, with this set as the worked file **Intro.** Identify the format. GDK's FDD issued 3 September 2024 is a 1,200–1,400 square-foot outlet inside a five-outlet minimum. Mad for Chicken's FDD issued 3 May 2024 is a 2,000–4,000 square-foot full restaurant, with a separately disclosed express range. 375° Chicken 'n Fries is 800–1,500 square feet (FDD issued 30 April 2024). Döner Haus's 2026 FDD describes a 700–1,200 square-foot standing-service imbiss. If the intro call and the Item 7 footnotes disagree, stop at stage 1 and ask which offering you are in. **FDD.** Timestamp delivery. Match the legal entity. Pull a public registration page when the buyer or the site is in a registration state — [Wisconsin DFI](https://apps.dfi.wi.gov/apps/FranchiseSearch/) or Minnesota's franchise-registration documents — and confirm you were sent the current issue. GDK's [2025 Wisconsin filing](https://apps.dfi.wi.gov/apps/FranchiseSearch/details.aspx?id=639752&hash=370187205&search=external&type=GENERAL) and The Halal Guys' [2025 Wisconsin filing](https://apps.dfi.wi.gov/apps/FranchiseSearch/details.aspx?id=639117&hash=921753141&search=external&type=GENERAL) are examples of that checkpoint, not a substitute for the PDF you were furnished. **Validation.** Shah's Halal Food's FDD issued 10 April 2024 reported 0 franchised outlets and 44 licensed of 58. A validation plan that only calls licensees is the wrong population. Pepper Lunch's May 2024 comparative record discloses 6 US units; do not pad the call list with overseas shops from an operator website claiming 500+ locations across fifteen countries. **Agreement.** Read the development paper if there is one. GDK's five-outlet minimum means the "open one and see" story is not the contract. Wienerschnitzel's May 2024 comparative record — twenty-year term, no renewal, no right to sell — means the exit conversation belongs before signature, not at year nineteen. The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill's thirty-five-year term (FDD issued 17 August 2023) means the lease and the franchise have to be thought about on a longer clock than the ten-year majority of this set. **Site.** Item 12 and the lease have to be drawn on the same calendar. Capriotti's May 2024 comparative record states no protected area; a site can be approved and still sit beside another Capriotti's if the contract allows it. GDK excludes campuses, sports venues, transport sites and aggregator delivery zones from the protected description; an airport food court is a different deal, not a bonus for signing. **Training and opening.** Put Item 11 on the construction schedule. Wienerschnitzel's 48 classroom and 480 on-the-job hours will not fit in a two-week punch-list. bluTaco's 0 classroom and 11.5 on-the-job hours (May 2024 comparative study) will. GDK's 40 plus 120, Shah's 19 plus 85, The Halal Guys' 24 plus 136, Great Greek's 60.25 plus 180 — each is a different absence-from-site problem. Item 7 travel lines are estimates: Shah's travel to training $2,000–$20,000; Great Greek travel and living $10,000–$20,000; 375° Chicken 'n Fries training expenses $100–$5,000. Distance and attendee count move those numbers.
Customers queued on the sidewalk outside a compact shop
A queue on opening week. The additional-funds period in Item 7 is running whether or not the line looks like the marketing stills.
## A desk calendar, not a promise of months
Gates you can date - Date the intro call and the format named on that call. - Date FDD delivery; diary the federal earliest signature-or-payment day. - Date completion of a written first pass (Items 5, 6, 7, 19, 20). - Date the operator-call log: current, former, mixed vintage. - Date counsel's issue list and the accountant's sources-and-uses. - Date signature, and file the signed set beside Item 22. - Date site approval and lease execution; mark franchise term vs lease term. - Date training start, certificate or completion, and first receiving of opening inventory. - Date opening; start a cash log against the additional-funds footnote.
There is no typical duration to print. Permitting in one city is not permitting in another. A conversion is not a ground-up. A five-outlet developer is not a single-unit buyer. Ask recent franchisees of the same format how long *their* clocks ran, then treat the answers as a range, not a guarantee. Item 20's openings column is the historical record of whether stores actually opened. A development map is not. If the three-year tables show few openings against a loud pipeline, the timeline in the brochure is a wish. ## Related reading - [The fourteen-day rule](/fourteen-day-rule/) — the one federally dated gate - [Validation calls](/validation-calls/) — stage 4 - [Discovery day](/discovery-day/) — a visit inside the sequence, not a shortcut around it - [FDD vs franchise agreement](/fdd-vs-franchise-agreement/) — stage 6's actual paper - [Item 11, franchisor assistance](/item-11-franchisor-assistance/) — training and site support on the calendar --- HTML: https://qsrfieldguide.com/timeline-to-open/