A Chick-fil-A Franchise Costs Way Less Than You’d Think

Do you have $10,000?

It’s a lot of money — but not an unimaginable sum to have in the bank, especially if you’ve been saving for a while.

Well, if you’re looking for a new direction, you might give that chicken sandwich you had for lunch a second thought: It only costs $10K to open a Chick-fil-A restaurant.

Chick-fil-A Franchise Costs are Crazy Cheap

Yeah, you read that right. Although it costs about $2 million to open a Taco Bell, you can be the owner of a brand-new Chick-fil-A for much less than you probably spent on your college degree.

Plus, everything’s included in the Chick-fil-A franchise cost: You don’t need to worry about real estate, construction or equipment costs.

You will, however, have to pay much higher monthly fees to headquarters than industry standard: 15% of sales plus 50% of remaining pretax profit. Compare that to the 8.5-12% McDonald’s owners pay on average, per a 2013 Bloomberg report.

But still — I mean, it’s 10 grand. And you get to own a business.

Prioritizing Prize Partners

Why are the costs so low?

Chick-fil-A focuses on finding the very best folks for the job — and its application acceptance rates prove it. It only chooses about 80 new franchisees a year from a pool of over 20,000 applicants.

“The barrier to entry is never going to be money,” company spokeswoman Amanda Hannah told Yahoo Finance.

Finalists can expect a rigorous interview process, which may extend to friends and family members as well as business partners.

Successful Business at a Low Cost

Even with heftier monthly fees than you might find elsewhere, it franchisees should feel confident in the investment they make: Chick-fil-A is the eighth-most successful fast-food chain in the country, according to QSR.

I mean, you have to admit. The food is pretty darn good.

Catch the full story at Yahoo Finance. And if you go through with it… can I get some free waffle fries?

Your Turn: Will you apply to own a Chick-fil-A?

Jamie Cattanach (@jamiecattanach) is a freelance writer whose work has been featured at Ms. Magazine, BUST, Roads & Kingdoms, The Write Life, Nashville Review, Word Riot and elsewhere. She lives in St. Augustine, Florida.