Food & Beverage
Church's Texas Chicken Franchise
A fried-chicken quick-service chain built around a single 1952 San Antonio restaurant, franchising since 1964 under its current name Church's Texas Chicken (also operating as Church's Chicken in some markets). Offered today in three formats -- a standard freestanding "Blaze Freestanding Building" prototype, a converted existing building, or an End Cap format -- with the standard freestanding format used here as the single-unit figure. Franchised unit count declined in 2023 and 2024 before a small rebound in 2025, while company-owned locations grew slightly every year.
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 Church's Texas Chicken'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
$20,000
Total to open
$1,202,400–$1,886,300
Ongoing royalty
5% of gross sales
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 food & beverage industry average, not a figure from Church's Texas Chicken's own FDD -- change it to your own estimate.
Total cost of ownership over 5 years
$1,452,400 – $2,136,300
Startup investment
$1,202,400–$1,886,300
Royalty per year (5%)
$50,000
Total royalty, 5yr
$250,000
When would you break even?
Revenue alone doesn't tell you this -- it depends on what's left after rent, labor, and everything else. Church's Texas Chicken's FDD doesn't disclose a reliable profit figure (most franchisors don't), so this starts from a typical food & beverage profit margin (~8%) and applies it to the revenue you entered above -- adjust the percentage to your own realistic estimate.
Defaulted to a general food & beverage industry benchmark, not a figure from Church's Texas Chicken'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
15.0–23.6 years
Weigh that payback period against what you already know: Church's Texas Chicken 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 Church's Texas Chicken 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 Church's Texas Chicken's FDD, the section franchisors use to disclose real openings and closings.
| Year | Franchised units, start | Franchised units, end | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 767 | 744 | -23 |
| 2024 | 744 | 714 | -30 |
| 2025 | 714 | 722 | +8 |
Most recent year (2025): gained 8 franchised units, ending the year at 722 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)
Initial training centers on the Manager-in-Training Program for the franchisee and up to 4 designated management employees, plus the Pathways to Excellence Training Program materials Cajun lends out for ongoing use. Cajun charges no fee for the first two trainees but bills for additional attendees, and further or refresher training is billed at Cajun's then-current training-program cost.
Territory protection (Item 12)
Under the Development Agreement you get a defined Development Area, but not an exclusive one -- you may still face competition from other Church's franchisees or company outlets. Within that Development Area, Cajun agrees not to develop or license other Church's restaurants for the length of the Development Term, but that protection expires with the Development Term itself, which carries no right to renew or extend.
Renewal & termination terms (Item 17)
20-year franchise term with one 10-year renewal option, contingent on notice, good standing, a new Franchise Agreement (which may carry higher royalty or advertising rates), a general release, refurbishment, and a renewal fee. Confidentiality and non-compete covenants survive termination, and disputes are resolved through the Franchise Agreement's Governing Law, Forum and Limitations provisions, with arbitration or mediation as the stated path.
How Church's Texas Chicken compares to other Food & Beverage franchises
Across the 19 food & beverage franchises we've hand-verified so far, the typical range to open runs $758,099–$1,965,490, with royalties averaging around 5.7% of gross sales (based on the 18 of them that charge a flat %-of-revenue royalty).
$617,800–$2,170,000 · 6% royalty
Slim Chickens$1,188,900–$4,944,000 · 5% royalty
Ziggi's Coffee$315,830–$2,093,361 · 6% royalty
Crumbl$848,566–$1,472,533 · 8% royalty
Little Caesars$376,500–$1,769,200 · 6% royalty
Jamba$480,850–$941,300 · 6% royalty
Tropical Smoothie Cafe$300,000–$720,500 · 6% royalty
Playa Bowls$188,675–$636,458 · 6% royalty
Kona Ice$114,730–$228,601 · non-%-of-revenue royalty
Firehouse Subs$166,671–$950,351 · 6% royalty
Wingstop$310,400–$1,048,500 · 6% royalty
Jersey Mike's Subs$436,176–$1,162,228 · 6.5% royalty
Dunkin'$532,400–$1,832,500 · 5.9% royalty
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen$1,222,045–$3,923,245 · 5% royalty
Del Taco$1,461,200–$3,313,500 · 5% royalty
Blaze Pizza$757,000–$1,297,100 · 5% royalty
MOD Pizza$924,732–$1,220,633 · 5% royalty
Twin Peaks$2,959,000–$5,734,000 · 5% royalty
Keep going
- Church's Texas Chicken and Slim Chickens are both food & beverage franchises; Slim Chickens's total investment starts about $13,500 lower than Church's Texas Chicken's. Slim Chickens Franchise
- Church's Texas Chicken and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen are both food & beverage franchises; Church's Texas Chicken's total investment starts about $19,645 lower than Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen's. Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Franchise
Where this came from: California DFPI Registration Application (Initial/Late Renewal), App ID APP00005612, filed 5/6/2026, effective 9/10/2026. FDD issued May 1, 2026 ("Church's Texas Chicken FDD"). Item 5: $20,000 Initial Franchise Fee plus a $10,000 Development Fee per Restaurant, both due at signing. Item 6: 5% royalty; Advertising Fund Contribution 5% of gross sales (at least $25,000/year), plus up to an additional 1% for a Regional Co-Op if one forms. Item 7: three formats disclosed -- this entry uses the standard freestanding "Blaze Freestanding Building" prototype total, $1,202,400-$1,886,300, excluding real estate (the name is Church's own building-prototype designation, unrelated to the Blaze Pizza brand); a Conversion of Existing Freestanding Building totals $609,725-$1,296,300 and an End Cap Restaurant totals $654,366-$1,273,300. Item 20 Table 1 franchised outlets. You can pull the same filing yourself from the California DFPI's public franchise search. Filed 2026-05-06. 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.