FranchiseVitals / $500,000+
Franchises $500,000+ to Start
Grouped by the low end of the real investment range each franchisor discloses in Item 7 of its FDD -- not a marketing headline number. The high end can run well past this figure, so check each profile before ruling anything in or out.
Across the 43 franchises $500,000+ verified here, the initial investment averages $1,332,728 to $3,145,838; the lowest entry point is Penn Station at $507,500, and Culver's runs up to $10,294,100. Initial franchise fees range from $15,000 to $135,000. Royalties average 5.7% of gross sales (5 of these disclose a non-percentage royalty). By the most recent Item 20 filing, 29 are opening more franchised locations than they close, 14 are losing locations.
Computed from the 43 entries listed below, each sourced from its own FDD -- not an industry-wide estimate.
What kind of business falls $500,000+
Food & Beverage is the largest single category here, 28 of the 43 verified brands (65%), followed by beauty (4) and education (4).
Royalties in this tier average 5.7% of gross sales, against 6.1% across every verified brand on the site.
This tier groups brands by the low end of Item 7 of their FDD, which bundles the initial franchise fee with real estate or lease costs, equipment, opening inventory, training expenses, and a working-capital reserve -- not the franchise fee alone. Two brands here can share a fee and still land in different tiers once build-out and working capital are added in, so the number above is the floor, not the sticker price.
$764,577–$1,104,920
Shrinking$617,800–$2,170,000
Growing$515,250–$650,400
Growing$1,188,900–$4,944,000
Growing$601,695–$760,254
Growing$848,566–$1,472,533
Growing$539,329–$905,482
Shrinking$2,152,500–$7,960,300
Growing$2,584,033–$5,968,481
Growing$532,400–$1,832,500
Growing$1,222,045–$3,923,245
Growing$1,461,200–$3,313,500
Shrinking$757,000–$1,297,100
Shrinking$1,202,400–$1,886,300
Growing$924,732–$1,220,633
Growing$2,959,000–$5,734,000
Growing$1,470,500–$2,642,000
Growing$1,859,750–$4,312,200
Shrinking$2,107,575–$4,155,000
Shrinking$2,039,200–$4,730,600
Shrinking$507,500–$858,750
Growing$1,619,820–$2,939,590
Growing$1,282,500–$5,386,000
Growing$1,485,200–$2,522,900
Shrinking$1,909,500–$4,041,500
Shrinking$1,523,957–$2,992,000
Shrinking$846,000–$2,130,000
Shrinking$777,000–$998,500
Growing$1,163,650–$1,345,750
Growing$977,850–$1,375,750
Growing$940,500–$2,283,500
Growing$608,400–$1,718,000
Growing$3,406,350–$10,294,100
Growing$1,516,200–$2,543,050
Growing$727,515–$1,860,550
Growing$1,614,568–$4,589,057
Growing$1,003,500–$8,908,000
Growing$695,870–$1,046,506
Shrinking$511,500–$1,882,500
Shrinking$1,217,136–$1,664,822
Growing$1,181,960–$1,939,349
Growing$3,111,409–$5,791,969
Growing$2,330,960–$5,175,460
ShrinkingOnly hand-verified brands show up here -- more are added to each tier as they're checked against their actual filing.