Firehouse Subs franchise: what it costs
Opening an in-line Firehouse Subs franchise runs from $405,350 up to $875,950. That comes from the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), papers a brand must hand you before you buy one.
Firehouse Subs franchise cost, item by item
- Full opening cost
- $405,350 to $875,950 Item 7, 2026 FDD
- Franchise fee you pay one time at the start
- $20,000 Item 5, 2026 FDD
- Royalty, your ongoing payments to the brand
- 6% taken from gross sales Item 6, 2026 FDD
- Marketing fund, which covers shared advertising
- 5% taken from gross sales Item 6, 2026 FDD
- Figures on sales or earnings
- $973,809 a year on average across 1,033 locations it counts, before costs Item 19, 2026 FDD
- Number of locations when 2025 ended
- Franchise owners ran 1,249; the company ran 42 Item 20, 2026 FDD
Every figure above comes from the 2026 Firehouse Subs Franchise Disclosure Document, which Firehouse of America LLC filed with the Minnesota Department of Commerce, dated March 25, 2026. Each small label points to the numbered part of the FDD where that figure sits.
Sales and earnings in the Firehouse Subs FDD
Item 19 is the FDD section where a brand may say how much its locations sell or earn, and Firehouse Subs shares figures there. Average yearly sales of $973,809 across 1,033 franchised counter-service restaurants open through all of 2025 make up the main figure. It is money the store takes in, not profit, because rent, wages and every other cost get paid from it.
Before you lean on one of those figures, our guide shows how to read Item 19.
Other restaurant franchises compared with Firehouse Subs
The middle restaurant franchise listed here starts at $1.34M, and Firehouse Subs costs less to open than most of them.
| 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 you open, you keep paying the brand a royalty: a share of sales, or a set amount. "Sales or earnings shown" tells you whether the brand says what its locations bring 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.
The number of Firehouse Subs locations
At the end of 2025, the United States had 1,291 Firehouse Subs locations, with franchise owners running 97% 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 Firehouse Subs FDD read by a franchise attorney
Before you sign, one franchise attorney can go through the Firehouse Subs FDD and franchise agreement with you.