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Bojangles Franchise Costs $2M (2023 Stats)

This article was updated with the 2023 Franchise Disclosure Document

With its varied menu, from breakfast to dinner, from its famous biscuits to Bojangles to fried chicken and steaks, Bojangles is an iconic restaurant franchise in the US. It’s also very popular among franchisees: they were 788 Bojangles restaurants across 14 states in the US in 2022.

Yet, Bojangles isn’t the most affordable franchise either: on average you would have to spend $2,028,000 to start a Bojangles franchise.

Even though in line with other restaurant franchises (we found that $1.6 million investment was indeed the average investment point), does it really justify the profits?

In this article we’re looking at how much profits you can really make with a Bojangles franchised restaurant and how much it really costs. Let’s dive in!

Key stats

Franchise fee*$35,000
Royalty fee4% to 5%
Marketing fee4.00%
Investment (mid-point)$2,028,000
Average sales$1,896,000
Sales to investment ratio277.0x
Minimum net worth$1,000,000
Minimum liquid capital$500,000
* $35,000 for Traditional and $20,000 for Express restaurants
Source: Franchise Disclosure Document 2023

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About Bojangles

Bojangles’ Famous Chicken ‘n Biscuits (also referred to as “Bojangles”) is an American fast food chain of restaurants that offers Cajun-seasoned fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits.

The chain was founded in 1977 by Jack Fulk and Richard Thomas in Charlotte, North Carolina, where it is headquartered.

It offers biscuit sandwiches, Cajun chicken filet biscuits, country ham, eggs, cheese, bacon, country-fried steak, bone-in-fried chicken, French fries, dirty rice, coleslaw, and green beans.

The brand began franchising in 1978, and today it has more than 760 units in 14 US states. Out of these, 400 stores are franchise-owned.

What are the pros and cons of a Bojangles franchise?

The Pros

  • Marketing and PR support: Bojangles’ Famous Chicken ‘n Biscuits offers its franchisees experienced in-store marketing planning and support. The brand’s strategies include social media marketing, national media, purchasing co-ops, SEO, email marketing, regional advertising, local store marketing, and promotional campaigns.
  • All-day sales: The brand serves delicious foods during all three parts of the day, i.e. breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
  • Franchise support: The brand provides world-class and valuable support for the franchisee to grow and be profitable. It helps the franchisees with real estate advice, site selection, restaurant construction, equipment selection, menu and signage, purchasing, POS, grand opening marketing, and advertising.
  • Comprehensive training: The franchise offers franchisees extensive training on establishing and operating a successful restaurant. Its current training consists of 520–1,040 hours of on-the-job and 30 hours of classroom training.
  • Menu variety: The brand has a diversified daypart mix and famous breakfast menu items. Franchisees become part of a strong brand with healthy menu options that cater to all types of customers.
  • Exclusive territory protection: The brand provides its franchisees with protected territory to operate their businesses. The brand does not grant other franchises in the territory. Also, it does not operate competing units in the agreed-upon area.

The Cons

  • Not a passive investment: The franchise does not provide a passive investment opportunity. Franchisees must be fully involved in the daily operations of their restaurants. Franchisees are also required to work full-time.
  • Not a mobile unit: The brand requires franchisees to establish an office facility or a fixed premise from where to operate their businesses.
  • No financing: The brand does not offer direct or indirect franchise financing for the franchise fee, trade fixtures, or inventory. Franchisees need to approach third-party lenders not affiliated with the franchisor.

Bojangles’ franchise costs

You would have to invest on average $2,028,000 to open a new Bojangles franchise restaurant. This is the average investment for a traditional and express restaurants.

Indeed, there are 2 kinds of formats of restaurants you can choose i.e.:,

  • Traditional are freestanding restaurants 
  • Express restaurants are located in or attached to a convenience store or other structure such as shopping mall, food court, travel plaza, grocery or department store , or other non-traditional restaurants

Here’s the full breakdown of costs per restaurant format:

Bojangles standard format

Type of ExpenditureLowHigh
Initial franchise fee$35,000$35,000
Formation costs$1,615,600$2,641,200
Equipment$575,000$750,000
Additional Fund$20,000$175,000
Operating expenses$19,900$46,000
Total$2,265,500$3,647,200
Source: 2023 Franchise Disclosure Document

Bojangles express format

Type of ExpenditureLowHigh
Initial franchise fee$20,000$20,000
Formation costs$385,500$755,200
Equipment$200,000$600,000
Additional Fund$5,000$175,000
Operating expenses$12,000$26,500
Total$622,500$1,576,700
Source: 2023 Franchise Disclosure Document

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Bojangles franchise fees

The initial franchise fee for a Bojangles’ Famous Chicken ‘n Biscuits franchise is $35,000. In addition to the initial franchise fee, you must pay to the franchisor a royalty fee of 4% to 5% of revenues.

Bojangles franchise revenue

On average, a Bojangles franchise makes $1,896,000 in sales per year

This number is the average of the traditional ($1,898,941) and Express restaurants ($1,848,549) in 2022. This is a slight decrease of -3% year-on-year vs. 2021 ($1,895,546). Also note that this number is calculated using 475 franchised restaurants operating in for all weeks of 2022.

Source: 2023 Franchise Disclosure Document

Bojangles franchise profits

We estimate that, on average, a Bojangles franchised restaurant makes $182,000 in profits per year. This corresponds to a 10% EBITDA margin.

We estimated this number by looking at the information available in Bojangles’ Franchise Disclosure Document. What’s great about Bojangles is that, unlike most other franchises, they do provide some real insights into the profitability of their restaurants. Yet, do keep in mind that these numbers are for company-owned restaurants only.

Profit and lossAmount% Sales
Sales$1,895,546100%
COGS$(644,486)34%
Gross Profit$1,251,06066%
Labor$(614,157)32%
Marketing and royalty costs$(151,644)8%
Occupancy$(170,599)9%
Other OpEx$(132,688)7%
EBITDA$181,97210%
Source: Franchise Disclosure Document 2023, estimates

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Disclaimer

Disclaimer: This content has been made for informational and educational purposes only. We do not make any representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the information presented in the article. You should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other professional advice. Nothing contained in this article constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, advertisement, or offer to buy or sell any franchises, securities, or other financial instruments in this or in any other jurisdiction in which such solicitation or offer would be unlawful under the franchise and/or securities laws of such jurisdiction.

All content in this article is information of a general nature and does not address the detailed circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Nothing in the article constitutes professional and/or financial and/or legal advice, nor does any information in the article constitute a comprehensive or complete statement of the matters discussed or the law relating thereto. You alone assume the sole responsibility of evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of any information or other content in this article before making any decisions based on such information or other content.

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