I don't know exactly but enough that owning a Saleen and Cadillac was doable for the Pita Pit guy in his twenties. I'm not sure how much to extrapolate from that but compared to the guy I know who owns a Subway in a strip mall the spending seems to imply a very significant difference in income based on location.

I actually just bought a frozen yogurt franchise. I am still in the building stages so I cant tell you much about profitabilty yet. I am willing to answer any questions I can though.

I'm always amazed at how busy the frozen yogurt places are around here (LA). Every time I walk by one, I kick myself for not opening one. It seems like it would be very cheap to run, especially one like Yogurtland where the customers pour their own yogurt and apply their own toppings. Pinkberry is very busy too, and although their employees do a lot more work, they might not need to hire very many more than yogurtland.

I'd love to hear everything you have to share about your franchise. Where is it located? What franchise is it? Is there lots of local competition? What are your expenses? Do you think we're in a frozen yogurt bubble?

It would be great if you could start up your own thread and keep us updated on your progress.

I am 23 yr old. I opened a cellphone store with my wife 2 years ago and it is going great (except for one thing). After I open the first one I opened another one 7 months laters and then the third one about the same pace..
Anyways, the second store it isnt that great, it is making around 25k a year on that pace after paying rent, but after I pay labor goes to 0~ give or take. I am planning on selling it since is no good for me. I now know the importance of the location. Well, I cant argue because I opened the first one with 10k and my credit cards. So around 20k's, which I laugh because I started with around 1000 dollars only in merchandise and now i am buying more than 15k every month. The revenue just passed 1 million between the three stores.
I know this has nothing to do with franchises but, I suggest that if you dont have money to start dont worry. I took a big risk, huge when I think about it now. Opened something with credit, but I took the risk and Now I can say these two * stores make around 120-150k together. We do work full time, cant say is easy, we havent been going to the beach for ever... a day off means 200+ dolllars that we pay employees.
My next step is to open a couple more stores after I sell or close the 2nd I opened (let see what happens) I will look for good places were rent is around 2000-4000 a month next to supermarkets etc.. my goal is to reach around 200+ a year steady and then start up something bigger.

And to those that have money and want to make even more try opening your own restaurant, own name, and spend that %10 on ads... If I had a couple of millions I would open 3-4 restaurant creating the aura that it is a big corporation ( at the same time) and spend 500k in ads through out the city and radio. If it works you will make those 2-3 millions into a multi million dollar company and if you sell franchises you will make tons... even with the B.
I know a few people that have subway's and they are going through a hard time so is quiznos.

LOL

They're opening a store in Dallas then expanding out to other places in Texas. From what you're saying, looks like the found a good beef supplier in the area.

Anyone know where I can find average annual sales for a Domino's Pizza Franchise or any information about Franchise sales? Tried searching all over google, but no success yet.

I think right now it's around $675,000 annually. You are more likely to find info by googling AWUS (Average Weekly Unit Sales.) Currently the AWUS is about $13,000.

Thanks for the input. That is a bit lower than I was expecting. I just contacted someone today with Domino's and they told me they are not currently looking to develop any more stores in area. Well this sucks...

Going to be getting some info on a fast food place here in town for sale. Grosses $2.5Mil and they are asking $650K. I have to sign non disclosure with the agent before getting more info, but what do you think it is netting with that asking price. What is the standard asking price in this industry? Is 4 to 5 times net profit about right?

2.5mil gross with 650k ask sounds ridiculously cheap, cheap enough I am wondering if it's even profitable.

Even if it's profitable, the profit margins have to be very low.

Quick and dirty calc. Assuming 10% rate of return, 650k ask implies 65k in constant annual profits. On 2.5m gross that's 2.4%... low even for a fastfood joint. Depending on where you are, even small hikes in rent can destroy your tiny profit margin.

While this may be true and obviously they own a significant amount of valuable real estate, I always took the lesson more to mean that they are in the "real estate" business more then the hamburger business simply based on the old adage of location, location, location.

Most people eat at a Mcdonalds because they are conveniently located on practically every sharp corner you turn to day-to-day. No one would go out of their way for the food.

It is positive proof IMO that location is much more important then quality of goods or service.

Property, construction, equipment, licenses, etc etc can easily add up to a million bucks in an affluent area, but most of that will usually be loans, so its not like you need more than a couple hundred thousand for startup capital.

A friend of mine also interested in this area atm, in UK so is just starting to hit here but only london so he was thinking for are own town down south, from what i can see there is no franchises for this in the UK which means loads more work but the opportunity to start a fresh brand and put your own mark on it!

I was looking on yogurt land website US based, this is a rough franchisee cost for opening:


Franchise Application Fee – $200.00 (non-refundable, non-negotiable)
Franchise Fee – $35,000.00 upon joining our franchise (non-refundable, non-negotiable)
Build-Up Cost – $350,000.00 – $400,000.00 (estimated; dependent on site size, location, and condition)
Royalty Fee – 6% gross sales monthly
Marketing Fee – 2% gross sales monthly

I assume built up cost is to actually purchase where you trade? Am i right to think this is strange for franchises or is that totally standard?

There is a place here that has sales of $1.8M and nets $400k.

4-5 times profit seems high to me but I know nothing about the fast food industry.

Did you ever end up signing the NDA and getting the info?

When I did commercial RE we used to make people sign nda's before giving out the financials of the company, that was just so people wouldn't go around the city talking about how it is a bad deal and way too expensive(which is what 99% of people will say if they aren't serious buyers to begin with).

As far as franchises in America today, top 3 to get into and top 3 to stay away from? Not just necessarily food industry.

Or severe degeneracy.

Sorry, should have contributed more-I was part of a succesful provincially branded restaurant/nightclub operation. Our unit did roughly 5.8M/CAD$/Yr and were kicking back nearly a 1M to corporate thanks to our nightclub operation.

Do any of you guys have experience operating cafeteria style fast food operations? I've recently joined a group that operates 6 units in dense business districts. Although the work is far from glamourous, I'm amazed at what these 6am-6pm operations are pumping out. I know our Canadian market is seen as extremely hot for F&B operators but I think there's more than just hype as to why we're seeing soooo many southerm chains climb up here for expansion.

Five guys has gone viral here-with any luck-we're next

Anyone here familiar with Little Caesar's pizza franchises? They''re always packed here in TN and those Hot n Ready's are the nuts. Looks like its 20k for the franchise fee and an avg. of 300k initial investment.

http://www.qsrmagazine.com/reports/t...age-sales-unit

Their per store average is not good, though since they do not have delivery they have lower costs per unit sold compared to the other pizza chains. I doubt it is an excellent investment, you would need a very high population density area.

Wow, that's a very interesting list. Surprised MCD restaurants outsell Panera and Chipotle per store, and that anyone eats at White Castle.

I can't believe In-N-Out doesn't out sell everybody on a per store basis, everyone I've been to has been packed.....I guess Mickey D's dominates breakfast and has quicker turn around though.

In-n-Out's average check has to be much smaller than everyone else's.