Retail
7-Eleven Franchise
The world's largest convenience-store chain, franchised store-by-store rather than through new-build development -- franchisees take over an existing corporate or franchised store location rather than choosing a site and building from scratch. 7-Eleven, Inc. traces its roots to 1927 as an ice company whose retail outlets began selling milk, eggs, and bread; it was incorporated in Texas in 1961 and has offered franchises since 1964, and is now a subsidiary of Japan's Seven-Eleven Japan Co., Ltd. and ultimate parent Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd. By far the largest franchise system in this dataset, with over 7,200 franchised stores; franchised unit count dipped slightly in 2024 before recovering in 2025 as the company-owned base was cut sharply.
Every franchisor has to file a document called an FDD before they can legally sell you a franchise. Buried in it are the two things a sales rep won't volunteer: what you'll actually spend to open, and whether existing locations are opening or closing. That's what's below, pulled straight from 7-Eleven's own filing.
What it costs to open
From the filing's investment breakdown -- not a "starting at" number a sales rep quoted you.
Franchise fee
Varies by store
Total to open
$162,900–$1,656,800
Ongoing royalty
Not a %-of-revenue fee -- see FDD
What you'd actually spend, over time
The upfront cost is only part of it. Plug in what you expect a location to bring in, and see the real total once royalties over a few years are added on top.
Defaulted to a rough retail industry average, not a figure from 7-Eleven's own FDD -- change it to your own estimate.
Startup investment (royalty not included -- see below)
$162,900 – $1,656,800
7-Eleven doesn't charge a straightforward percentage-of-revenue royalty -- its FDD describes a different ongoing-fee structure instead. That cost isn't included in the total above; check the FDD directly for the real terms before using this figure to compare against other franchises.
When would you break even?
Revenue alone doesn't tell you this -- it depends on what's left after rent, labor, and everything else. 7-Eleven's FDD doesn't disclose a reliable profit figure (most franchisors don't), so this starts from a typical retail profit margin (~6%) and applies it to the revenue you entered above -- adjust the percentage to your own realistic estimate.
Defaulted to a general retail industry benchmark, not a figure from 7-Eleven's own filing -- this is a starting point to adjust, not a promise about what franchisees actually make.
At that profit, you'd break even in about
5.4–55.2 years
Weigh that payback period against what you already know: 7-Eleven is opening more locations. A long payback period on a shrinking brand is a very different bet than the same payback period on a growing one.
Is 7-Eleven actually growing?
Franchisors have to report, every year, how many locations opened, closed, or changed hands. Most franchise sites never show you this. Here it is:
Locations opened vs. closed, by year
GrowingFrom Item 20 of 7-Eleven's FDD, the section franchisors use to disclose real openings and closings.
| Year | Franchised units, start | Franchised units, end | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 7,218 | 7,245 | +27 |
| 2024 | 7,245 | 7,229 | -16 |
| 2025 | 7,229 | 7,274 | +45 |
Most recent year (2025): gained 45 franchised units, ending the year at 7,274 total.
What you're actually signing up for
The cost and growth numbers above are only part of the picture. These three FDD items are the ones a prospective franchisee tends to weigh most heavily once they're past the sticker price.
Training & ongoing support (Item 11)
Item 11: the Franchise Fee itself covers the Training Program, though franchisees separately pay up to ~$13,700/trainee in travel, lodging, and food costs; 7-Eleven finances the remaining cost of initial store inventory beyond a required $20,000 cash Down Payment, currently charging 8.75% annual interest on financed amounts.
Territory protection (Item 12)
Item 12: no minimum or exclusive territory of any kind -- the franchise agreement covers a single, specifically designated store, and 7-Eleven explicitly reserves the right to open competing stores next door or nearby, sell through 7NOW delivery or other channels, and compete without restriction or compensation to the franchisee.
Renewal & termination terms (Item 17)
Item 17: 15-year term, with one renewal term equal to the length of whatever term 7-Eleven is then offering new franchisees (currently 15 years); renewal requires, among other conditions, no more than 3 default notices in the prior 2 years and a satisfactory store-operations review.
How 7-Eleven compares to other Retail franchises
Across the 7 retail franchises we've hand-verified so far, the typical range to open runs $258,979–$633,251, with royalties averaging around 5% of gross sales (based on the 6 of them that charge a flat %-of-revenue royalty).
Keep going
- 7-Eleven and The UPS Store are both retail franchises; 7-Eleven's total investment starts about $59,468 lower than The UPS Store's. The UPS Store Franchise
- 7-Eleven and Wild Birds Unlimited are both retail franchises; 7-Eleven's total investment starts about $68,735 lower than Wild Birds Unlimited's. Wild Birds Unlimited Franchise
Where this came from: 7-Eleven only files a Net Worth/Experience Exemption notice with California DFPI (dfpi id 653703), so this entry is sourced from Wisconsin's DFI franchise registry instead: WI file 641227, Registration, FDD uploaded 4/24/2026, effective 4/24/2026-4/24/2027. legalName is set to the DFPI database's stored entity name ("7-Eleven Inc., Seven + I Holdings Co.") per site convention so the nightly CA monitor matches this brand -- the FDD itself identifies the actual franchisor as simply "7-Eleven, Inc.," a Texas corporation, HQ 3200 Hackberry Road, Irving, TX. Item 5/7: there is no single, fixed initial Franchise Fee -- 7-Eleven sets a store-specific fee based on the individual store's historical sales, age, and other factors, ranging $0-$1,100,000 across the system in this FDD's Item 7 table (a narrower $0-$800,000 range is quoted on the cover for 2025); franchiseFee is set to $0, the disclosed floor, since no single representative number exists -- this is a fundamentally different fee model from a standard flat franchise fee and should not be read as "free to franchise." Item 6: the "7-Eleven Charge" (royalty) is a steeply tiered split of the store's Gross Profit (not Gross Sales) -- roughly 45% of Gross Profit for stores under $200,000/year trailing Gross Profit, rising through a series of formulas to roughly 58-59% for stores over $650,000 -- so royaltyPercent is set to null with the structure described here rather than a single misleading number; a separate 1% Advertising Fee is also charged on Gross Profit. Item 7 Total: $162,900-$1,656,800 (excludes the store-specific Franchise Fee itself, which is a separate, non-ranged line item in the same table). Item 20 Table No. 1 confirmed -- by far the largest unit count of any franchise in this dataset. You can pull the same filing yourself from the California DFPI's public franchise search. Filed 2026-04-24. None of this is investment advice -- get the franchisor's current FDD and talk to a real attorney or accountant before you sign anything.
If you see a different unit count elsewhere: franchisors only have to refile their FDD annually, so the numbers here can run 6–18 months behind a franchisor's own real-time marketing claims -- which often aren't independently verified, and sometimes count signed-but-not-yet-open locations. A gap isn't necessarily an error on either side; it's two different snapshots in time from two different sources.