Should I Buy This Franchise?

First: the 6% royalty plus 2% ad fund come off gross, not profit. In the worked example that 8% consumes 29.4% of operating profit — $421,600 over ten years, against a $45,000 franchise fee. Second: the comparison no franchisor runs — the same business without the logo. At the sample margins, an independent doing just 70.6% of the franchise's revenue takes home identical money. The brand has to beat that to earn its rent.

This workbook runs both, plus everything a lender will run before funding you.

How it works

• The Investment — every Item 7 line at the high end (everyone spends the high end), the funding stack, and the annual debt service
• Year Two — the steady-state P&L from Item 19 with a haircut you control, because medians are earned by survivors: royalties in dollars, EBITDA, your market wage, debt service → cash to you, DSCR, cash-on-cash, and the honest payback on all invested capital, not just the fee
• The Royalty Truth — the rent on the system, restated the way you'll feel it, and the break-even brand lift solved exactly
• Before You Sign — ten questions with who actually answers each (Item 20's franchisee list, not the salesman) and the FDD item that answers it in writing

Built for

Prospective franchisees comparing systems · corporate leavers deciding between a franchise and going independent · existing owners considering a franchised second brand · anyone holding an FDD and a deadline.

What you get

One .xlsx file, five tabs, instant download. Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, LibreOffice. No macros, no subscription. Every assumption — haircut, wage, independent estimate — visible and yours to change.