FDD Item 19 explained

Every FDD has to include Item 19 as a section, but putting actual numbers in it is up to the brand. Most brands do give them. Any statement about what a location has sold or earned, or could sell or earn, counts as an earnings claim.

Every earnings claim has to appear in Item 19. This is important when you're sitting with a salesperson, since a number they mention that isn't written in Item 19 falls outside the rules.

If a brand makes a claim, it needs a reasonable basis and written proof to back it up. That's one reason the section tends to read so carefully.

The section must also state whether its numbers are past results or a forecast. And it has to say whether they reflect all outlets or only some. Those two lines change the meaning of the big number, so give them a careful read.

No. It tells you how other locations have done, or what the brand anticipates, given the conditions it lays out. Your own site, your costs and your first year may look quite different.

What it does offer is some protection. The FTC warns that a claim can be deceptive when it isn't typical of the system. That means a brand can't hold up its top store as the standard outcome.

The headline numbers below come from every brand's 2026 FDD filing on the Minnesota registry. The last column counts as much as the figure itself.

These numbers often measure different things. Domino's reports a weekly figure while Great Clips reports a yearly one, which means $27,267 and $410,783 can't simply be placed side by side.

The groups behind them differ as well. Crunch Fitness includes only some of its clubs, and it reports the median, meaning the middle value once every result is lined up in order. Chick-fil-A's average covers only free-standing and drive-thru Operator restaurants.

Each figure in the table represents sales or revenue, meaning money coming in. None of them shows what the owner keeps once rent, wages, supplies and fees are paid. When you come across an Item 19 number, it's worth asking whether the number is sales or profit, which locations are counted and what period is covered.

In their 2026 FDDs, Circle K, Dave's Hot Chicken and Five Guys included no earnings figures at all. That's allowed, but the FDD must then say that it makes no earnings representations. And since claims belong only in Item 19, company staff shouldn't be quoting numbers to you in conversation either.

Figures or no figures, the FTC says talking with current franchisees may be the most dependable way to learn what locations really take in. Item 20's list of outlets and owners gives you names and contact details for current owners, and for those who left during the past year.

A sales number tells you more once you know what opening costs. Take Great Clips: it reports average yearly sales of $410,783, while its cost to open (Item 7) falls between $187,800 and $419,900.

The royalty also shapes what remains. A royalty is a slice of your sales, or sometimes a fixed fee, paid to the brand, typically weekly or monthly. Great Clips takes 6% of sales. Chick-fil-A's royalty is 15% of gross receipts after subtracting equipment rent and a services fee, plus half of the monthly profit. So that big sales number says little by itself about what an Operator actually keeps.

There's more to read about the initial fee and royalty, or about the whole FDD.