Food & Beverage
Del Taco Franchise
A fast-food chain serving a hybrid Mexican- and American-style menu -- tacos, burritos, and fries -- from freestanding restaurants, most with a drive-thru. Formed as a California corporation in January 1988 and operating and franchising restaurants since February 1990, the system now runs alongside sibling brands Taco Cabana and Nick the Greek under the same corporate family. Franchised unit count grew through 2023-2024 before contracting in 2025, while company-owned locations were sold down every year of the FDD's window.
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 Del Taco'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
$35,000
Total to open
$1,461,200–$3,313,500
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 Del Taco's own FDD -- change it to your own estimate.
Total cost of ownership over 5 years
$1,711,200 – $3,563,500
Startup investment
$1,461,200–$3,313,500
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. Del Taco'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 Del Taco'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
18.3–41.4 years
Weigh that payback period against what you already know: Del Taco is currently losing locations. A long payback period on a shrinking brand is a very different bet than the same payback period on a growing one.
Is Del Taco 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
ShrinkingFrom Item 20 of Del Taco's FDD, the section franchisors use to disclose real openings and closings.
| Year | Franchised units, start | Franchised units, end | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 301 | 421 | +120 |
| 2024 | 421 | 461 | +40 |
| 2025 | 461 | 438 | -23 |
Most recent year (2025): lost 23 franchised units, ending the year at 438 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 runs about 5 weeks in a certified training restaurant for management, plus a separate 2-week Franchise Pre-Opening Crew Training for 40-50 crew members that Del Taco leads at a franchisee's first restaurant. Ongoing support includes electronic access to the confidential Manuals, periodic advice and inspections, and a Technology Systems Support Services fee that scales down per restaurant as a franchisee opens more locations ($173.81/month for the 1st-5th restaurant, falling to $123.84/month for the 11th and beyond).
Territory protection (Item 12)
You don't receive an exclusive territory outright -- Del Taco instead grants a Protected Area, a one-mile circular radius around your approved location, once that location is approved. Del Taco won't license another Del Taco inside that radius during your term, but it keeps the right to solicit or accept orders from inside your Protected Area itself (including online) without owing you compensation, and any already-existing or already-planned restaurant is exempt from the protection.
Renewal & termination terms (Item 17)
20-year initial term, with one renewal option of up to 20 years (or the remaining lease term, if shorter) -- notice is due 12 months out, and renewal requires a new Franchise Agreement that may carry materially different terms, a general release, and a Renewal Fee, possibly plus a remodel. Disputes go to arbitration or litigation in Orange County, California, Del Taco's home county, under the Federal Arbitration Act. Post-termination, a 2-year non-compete applies within your former Protected Area or within 2 miles of any other Del Taco restaurant.
How Del Taco 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
Blaze Pizza$757,000–$1,297,100 · 5% royalty
Church's Texas Chicken$1,202,400–$1,886,300 · 5% royalty
MOD Pizza$924,732–$1,220,633 · 5% royalty
Twin Peaks$2,959,000–$5,734,000 · 5% royalty
Keep going
- Del Taco and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen are both food & beverage franchises; Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen's total investment starts about $239,155 lower than Del Taco's. Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Franchise
- Del Taco and Church's Texas Chicken are both food & beverage franchises; Church's Texas Chicken's total investment starts about $258,800 lower than Del Taco's. Church's Texas Chicken Franchise
Where this came from: California DFPI Registration Application (Initial/Late Renewal), App ID APP00004889, filed 4/14/2026, effective 7/28/2026. FDD issued April 13, 2026. Item 5: $35,000 initial franchise fee plus a separate $10,000 Promotional Fee, both due at signing. Item 6: 5% royalty; marketing fee 5% of net sales (increasable up to 6% on notice; 1.4% for nontraditional locations). Item 7: $1,461,200-$3,313,500 total initial investment for a single new Restaurant, excluding land, financing and certain other costs -- Item 7 also discloses a 2-restaurant Development Agreement total ($2,993,400-$6,702,000) and a Conversion Restaurant total ($971,200-$2,763,500); this entry uses the single new-restaurant figure. Item 20 Table 1 franchised outlets; company-owned outlets fell from 290 to 132 over the same three years. You can pull the same filing yourself from the California DFPI's public franchise search. Filed 2026-04-14. 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.