Burger King franchise: what it costs
To open a free-standing restaurant under a Burger King franchise, you pay from $2,039,200 up to $4,730,600. The source is the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), which a brand must hand you before you buy.
Burger King franchise cost, item by item
- Total cost of opening
- $2,039,200 to $4,730,600 Item 7, 2026 FDD
- Franchise fee you pay one time at the start
- $50,000 Item 5, 2026 FDD
- Royalty, your ongoing payments to the brand
- 4.5% on gross sales Item 6, 2026 FDD
- Marketing fund, which covers shared advertising
- No more than 4.5% on gross sales Item 6, 2026 FDD
- Figures on sales or earnings
- $1,692,549 a year on average across 4,730 locations it counts, before costs Item 19, 2026 FDD
- Location count when 2025 ended
- Franchise owners ran 5,518, the company 1,132 Item 20, 2026 FDD
Burger King Company LLC filed the 2026 Burger King Franchise Disclosure Document at the Minnesota Department of Commerce. That's the source of every figure above. It's dated March 26, 2026 and amended September 2, 2026. Each small label points to the numbered part of the FDD where that figure sits.
Sales and earnings numbers inside the Burger King FDD
Burger King puts figures in Item 19, the FDD section where a brand may report what its locations take in or earn. Its key figure: average yearly sales of $1,692,549 across 4,730 franchised traditional restaurants that stayed open through all of 2025. It is money the store takes in, not profit, because rent, wages and every other cost get paid from it.
Use our guide to make sense of Item 19 before relying on any figure in it.
Burger King compared with other restaurant franchises
Most restaurant franchises on this site cost less to open than Burger King; the middle one starts at $1.34M.
| Brand | Total cost to opentotal, lowest to highest | Upfront feeone-time fee | Royaltyongoing, usually a % of sales | Sales or earnings showndoes the brand show sales figures | Year filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subway | $263K to $630K | $15,000 | 8% | No | 2026 |
| Jimmy John's | $366K to $734K | $35,000 | 6% | Yes | 2026 |
| Firehouse Subs | $405K to $876K | $20,000 | 6% | Yes | 2026 |
| Jersey Mike's | $436K to $1.16M | $20,000 | 6.5% | Yes | 2026 |
| Arby's | $869K to $2.46M | $37,500 | 4% | Yes | 2026 |
| Five Guys | $928K to $1.38M | $25,000 | 6% | No | 2026 |
| Panera Bread | $1.34M to $4.57M | $50,000 | 5% | Yes | 2026 |
| McDonald's | $1.47M to $2.64M | $45,000 | 5% (plus rent) | Yes | 2024 |
| Sonic Drive-In | $1.49M to $2.52M | $15,000 | 5% | Yes | 2026 |
Before you buy, a brand has to hand over its Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD); the brand's latest one is where every figure comes from. After opening, you keep paying the brand a royalty: either a share of sales or a set amount. "Sales or earnings shown" tells whether the brand says what its locations take in. A K stands for thousand, an M for million. The filing year is the year that FDD was listed with the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
Burger King location count
At the end of 2025, the United States had 6,650 Burger King locations, with franchise owners running 83% of them (Item 20). In that same part of the FDD, you get phone numbers for owners still running stores and ones who left. Your best way to learn how these costs play out in real life is to call a few of them.
Get the Burger King FDD read by a franchise attorney
Before you sign, one franchise attorney can go through the Burger King FDD and franchise agreement with you.