One of the most popular fried chicken franchises with KFC, Church’s Texas Chicken as over 1,500 locations worldwide. Yet, opening a Church’s Chicken also comes at a cost: you would have to invest on average $1,350,000 to start a new franchise restaurant.
Is this a good investment? With an average turnover of $1.2 million per year, it isn’t so obvious. Instead, we would have to look at how profitable a Church’s Chicken really is.
In this article we’re looking at Church’s Texas and the data from its latest Franchise Disclosure Document to find out whether you should invest in this franchise. Let’s find out!
Key stats
| Franchise fee | $15,000 |
| Royalty fee | 5.00% |
| Marketing fee | 5.00% |
| Investment (mid-point) | $1,350,000 |
| Average sales | $1,256,000 |
| Sales to investment ratio | 158.0x |
| Minimum net worth | $1,000,000 |
| Minimum liquid capital | $300,000 |
Find the most profitable franchises on
Compare 1,000+ franchises and download unlimited FDDs
 | Church’s Chicken |
| FRANCHISE FEE | $15,000 |
| ROYALTY FEE | 5.00% |
| INITIAL INVESTMENT | $805,000 – $1,896,000 |
| AVERAGE REVENUE | $1,256,000 |
Access all the stats
What is Church’s Texas Chicken?
Church’s Chicken is an American fast-food fried chicken chain with over 1,500 locations in the US and 25 countries globally.
Church’s Chicken serves chicken combos, family meals, and tenders. It also offers a limited menu of lunch and dinner meals, such as flavorful chicken, both original and spicy, “Tender Strips,” and southern-style chicken sandwiches with classic sides and hand-made from scratch biscuits.
The chain was founded in 1952 by George W. Church Sr., who opened its first restaurant in San Antonio, Texas.
It started franchising in 1967, and its first international locations were in Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Puerto Rico. The brand is known as “Texas Chicken” outside the US.
Church’s Chicken Franchise: pros and cons
- Exclusive territory protection: The franchisor offers franchisees an exclusive protected area, the geographic area around the restaurant. The franchisor doesn’t open competing channels or grant any other Church’s Chicken franchises in the agreed-upon geographic area.
- Franchise training: To help its franchisees establish, build, and operate a successful Church’s Chicken franchise, the brand offers extensive training to its franchisees and their employees. This is in the form of 13–17 classroom hours and 116–154 hours of on-the-job training programs, as well as advanced operations and leadership training programs, employee management, and food handling procedures.
- Operations support: The brand offers franchisees comprehensive corporate support to correctly implement the restaurant’s concept. This comprises the grand opening support, security and safety procedures, monthly newsletters, and field operational and evaluation support.
- Marketing support: The brand employs fundamental marketing and promotional campaigns that create excellent brand awareness. Franchisees benefit from regional advertising, ad templates, national media, social media, and email marketing promotions to optimize growth and customer loyalty.
- Product development: Church’s Chicken has a diverse quality menu with fresh fried chicken, signature Homestyle sides, hand-crafted tenders, and other delicious food items. The brand is evolving its menu to meet consumers’ changing needs and trends, which differentiates the franchisees from the competition.
- Real estate and construction. The brand assists the franchisees in site selection, restaurant design, and construction. With an in-house real estate and construction team, franchisees can select convenient locations and significantly reduce the cost of establishing their restaurants.
- Appropriate locations: The brand locations are strategically located in high-traffic areas such as malls, supermarkets, convenience stores, sales plazas, and learning institutions. The brand also employs different restaurant options such as drive-thrus, deliveries, take-outs, catering, and sit-in locations. All these help franchisees scale their income streams.
Cons
- No financing: The brand or its affiliates do not directly or indirectly finance its franchisees. It also does not guarantee any lease, obligation, or note from any lender on the franchisee’s behalf.
- Not a passive investment: Church’s chicken is not a passive investment. Franchisees must be involved in the daily operations of the restaurant.
Church’s Chicken franchise costs
You would have to invest on average $1,559,000 to open a new Chicken’s Church franchise restaurant. This is the investment for a ground-up construction of a 1400 Blaze Model.
Indeed, there are 4 different formats of franchises you can choose from:
- 1400 Blaze Model: $1,559,000
- 1700 Blaze Model: $1,689,000
- Conversion: $1,116,000
- End Cap Restaurant: $1,037,000
The investment amount is an average: it varies based on many factors such as land and building size, location and development needs, construction, equipment specifications etc.
For example, see below the cost breakdown for the most popular format: the 1400 Blaze Model.
| Expense | Amount |
|---|---|
| Building and improvements | $605,124 – $692,672 |
| Initial franchise fee | $15,000 |
| Site work | $220,000 – $450,000 |
| Equipment and signs | $360,000 – $380,000 |
| Additional funds 3 months | $10,000 – $20,000 |
| Other | $104,150 – $246,300 |
| Total | $1,314,274 – $1,803,972 |
Find the most profitable franchises on
Compare 1,000+ franchises and download unlimited FDDs
| Church’s Chicken |
| FRANCHISE FEE | $15,000 |
| ROYALTY FEE | 5.00% |
| INITIAL INVESTMENT | $805,000 – $1,896,000 |
| AVERAGE REVENUE | $1,256,000 |
Church’s Chicken franchise fees
The initial franchise fee for a Church’s Chicken franchise is $15,000. In addition to the initial franchise fee, you must pay to the franchisor a royalty fee of 5.00% of revenues.
Church’s Chicken franchise revenue
On average, a Chicken’s Church franchise makes $1,256,000 in revenue per year.
The revenue is the annual median gross sales of the 9 newly built franchised restaurants with the blaze image opened in 2022. Note that there were a total of 767 franchises at the end of 2022, but from 2022 Church’s Chicken only permits franchises with the blaze image. Indeed, your annual sales may vary depending on the type of restaurant.
Church’s Chicken franchise profits
On average, a Church’s Texas Chicken franchise makes $225,000 in profits per year. This represents a 18% EBITDA margin.
| Profit-and-loss | $ | % sales |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | $1,255,913 | 100% |
| COGS | $(405,660) | 32% |
| Gross Profit | $850,253 | 68% |
| Labor | $(355,423) | 28% |
| Marketing and royalty costs | $(125,591) | 10% |
| Controllables | $(126,847) | 10% |
| Non-controllables | $(17,583) | 1% |
| EBITDAR | $224,808 | 18% |
Find the most profitable franchises on
Compare 1,000+ franchises and download unlimited FDDs
| Church’s Chicken |
| FRANCHISE FEE | $15,000 |
| ROYALTY FEE | 5.00% |
| INITIAL INVESTMENT | $805,000 – $1,896,000 |
| AVERAGE REVENUE | $1,256,000 |
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.
