From the filed FDD — automated extraction, check the source
2026 FDD
SBA-eligible · directory code S0371 since 2017
CHICKEN SALAD CHICK
Sandwiches, subs & delis · parent company: not identified
Chicken Salad Chick is a fast-casual restaurant concept centered on made-from-scratch chicken salad in multiple flavors, plus soups, sides, and sandwiches. Franchisees operate counter-service restaurants serving lunch-heavy dine-in, takeout, and catering customers.
CHICKEN SALAD CHICK net unit count grew 28.3% over 2023–2025 per its FDD Item 20.
New to franchising? Start here
A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.
Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. Most numbers on this page come from that document; others come from federal SBA loan records and labor and census data, each labelled with its source:
- Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
- Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
- Item 20 — how many locations opened, transferred and left the system, the main basis for our verdict, which rates how strong the disclosed record is, or says when the system is too new, the filing too old, or the disclosure too thin to judge.
Our rating · opinion
Strong disclosed record
Enough units and history to judge, and the operating record is good. Units grew 28% (2023–2025: 254 → 326); the fiscal 2025 exit rate was 1.5%, in line with the 2.0% median across 9 comparable systems (sandwiches, subs & delis).
Exit rate · fiscal 2025
1.5%
vs 2.0% median across 9 comparable systems (sandwiches, subs & delis)
Cost to open
$777K–$1.0M
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan losses
Too few to rate
16 seasoned resolved loans; 30 needed
Market density · Florida
Typical density
8% thinner than the national average
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Data as of 2026-10-29. Figures come from CHICKEN SALAD CHICK's public FDD filings (latest: MN 2026, extracted 2026-07-29) and SBA FOIA loan records (through FY2026), extracted by us and possibly containing errors. The rating is our opinion, not investment, legal, or tax advice. Franchisor or owner and see something wrong? Report a correction — we review every request.
Buying an existing CHICKEN SALAD CHICK? Transfer fee $10,000, resale record and asking-price check →
What each source says
FDD record · SBA loans · model · auditor
The sources broadly agree, and the verdict follows the FDD's operating record.
FDD record · Item 20
Strong operating record
Units grew 28% (2023–2025: 254 → 326); exit rate 1.5% (fiscal 2025) vs 2.0% median.
SBA loans · vs same-year loans
Too few seasoned loans
16 resolved loans approved by FY2020; 30 needed.
Modeled risk
Lower risk
Directional only — too few seasoned loans to check it.
Auditor opinion · Item 21
Clean opinion
Unqualified audit, 2026 FDD. Says nothing about franchisee results.
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
latest consecutive years · Item 20 Table 1
terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3
transfers vs. base · Table 3
actual vs. projected openings · Table 5
Item 19 disclosure + completeness · shown, not counted in the verdict
Systemwide units
2023–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 3 of 206 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 1.5% (fiscal 2025), vs a 2.0% median across 9 comparable systems (sandwiches, subs & delis). An exit is not a failure: this counts terminations, non-renewals and "ceased — other reasons" as reported, and excludes transfers to new owners.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 224 | 254 | 287 |
| Opened | 22 | 29 | 49 |
| Transfers | 1 | 3 | 22 |
| Terminations | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Outlets at end | 254 | 287 | 326 |
| Net change | +30 | +33 | +39 |
The franchisor's own finances
FDD ITEM 21 · AUDITED STATEMENTS · 2026 FDD
Ernst & Young LLP gave an unmodified (clean) opinion on the statements in the 2026 FDD; revenue rose 38% from FY2023 to FY2025 and it reported a net loss in FY2023 and FY2024.
This is the company selling the franchise, not any franchisee. A clean opinion means the statements are fairly presented — not that the business is healthy.
Revenue · FY2025
$18.6M
p. 158 · matched to statement
Net income · FY2025
$19K
p. 158 · matched to statement
Where FY2025 revenue came from
94% royalties
2% initial / development fees
Show the statement figures ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Fiscal year | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | $13.5Mp. 176 · matched to statement | $15.1Mp. 158 · matched to statement | $18.6Mp. 158 · matched to statement |
| Royalty revenue | $12.7Mp. 176 · matched to statement | $14.2Mp. 158 · matched to statement | $17.4Mp. 158 · matched to statement |
| Initial / development feesline: Area development agreement fees | not extracted | $282Kp. 158 | $352Kp. 158 |
| Net income (loss) | −$189Kp. 176 · matched to statement | −$752Kp. 158 · matched to statement | $19Kp. 158 · matched to statement |
| Equity (deficit) at year end | not extracted | $51.9Mp. 157 | $52.1Mp. 157 |
| Cash at year end | not extracted | $504Kp. 157 | $350Kp. 157 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan outcomes · compared with franchise loans of the same years
Banks have made 73 SBA-backed loans to CHICKEN SALAD CHICK franchisees since 2015. Only 16 of its loans approved by FY2020 have resolved — fewer than the 30 we need to compare it fairly with other franchise loans, so we don't rate it.
All-time, 5 of 19 resolved loans charged off (26.3%). That raw figure mixes every approval year since 2015 — loans made in 2006–08 failed at several times the rate of loans made in 2010–13 across all franchises — so it is shown as evidence, not as the score. 74% of the brand's loans have not resolved yet.
—
16 seasoned resolved · 30 needed
26.3%
5 of 19 resolved, every approval year
—
charged-off $ ÷ approved $, defaulted loans
$829,900
what recent franchisees borrowed
—
shown with 10+ defaults
23 vs 13
distinct banks still lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%) · dashed line = all franchise loans that year
Loan performance by state
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO CHICKEN SALAD CHICK BY SBA FRANCHISE NAME/CODE · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL · EXPECTED = SAME-YEAR RATE ACROSS ALL SBA FRANCHISE LOANS, LOANS ≥ ~6 YEARS OLD
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
A typical CHICKEN SALAD CHICK buyer since 2020 borrowed $830K through SBA — about $117K a year in debt service. Against the brand's own disclosed median unit revenue of $1.5M, that is 7.8% of the revenue the business takes in, before rent, payroll, food and packaging, and royalty.
This estimate is computed by software from the brand's public filings and any inputs you enter. No CPA prepared it for you and no assurance is provided on it. Actual results will differ, and the differences may be material.
Who finances it
The Huntington National Bank
18.8% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 10.0% of its resolved SBA loans to other franchise brands in the FOIA file, vs 14.8% nationally — a read on that lender's portfolio mix, not a finding about the bank.
Who buys it
70.1%
borrowers with no other franchise SBA loan on record
The rest already owned at least one other franchise. Across the corpus, brands bought mostly by repeat operators have charged off less often than brands sold mostly to newcomers (see methodology).
Does experience help here?
Not enough resolved loans to split
Computed from 73 SBA 7(a)/504 loans matched to CHICKEN SALAD CHICK by SBA franchise code in the SBA FOIA file. Debt service assumes level amortization at the average disclosed term and rate. Owner-level splits rely on borrower-name matching and may misclassify. A lender's rate excludes its loans to this brand, so it reads the lender, not the brand.
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $50,000 franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $777K–$1.0M (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$777K–$1.0M
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$50,000
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
5%
of sales, ongoing
Starts at the Item 19 median of $1.5M from CHICKEN SALAD CHICK’s latest FDD. Read which units built that figure, then check it with current and former owners.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$75K
5% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$750K
royalties alone, excl. ad fund
This estimate is computed by software from the brand's public filings and any inputs you enter. No CPA prepared it for you and no assurance is provided on it. Actual results will differ, and the differences may be material.
This is not profit. It covers what the FDD fixes: what you put in, and the royalty you owe on sales. Your take-home depends on food and packaging cost, labor, rent, and the months to breakeven, none of which the FDD fixes for your unit (some Item 19s include cost data — read it).
Build a real pro-forma for CHICKEN SALAD CHICK with a buyer-paid CPAHow the earnings claim is built
FDD ITEM 19 · BASIS · 2026 FDD
The headline figure is Average Unit Volume (Gross Sales) for calendar 2025, for 214 of 252 outlets open at year end, leaving out opened during 2025, permanently closed during 2025, closed for extended period (fire damage) and others.
Graded on three things the filing states: coverage (2 points if the figure covers at least 75% of the units it is compared with, 1 point for 50–75%), centre (2 points if it prints both a median and a mean, 1 for one of them), and costs (2 points for costs through a profit line or full cost detail, 1 for some cost items). 5–6 points = More complete, 3–4 = Partial, 0–2 = Limited. The grade describes the disclosure, not the business.
Show the basis ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| What is measured | Average Unit Volume (Gross Sales) (gross sales) |
| Period | calendar 2025 |
| Whose results | Franchised outlets |
| Units included | 214 of 252 franchised outlets at the end of FY2025 (Item 20) |
| Left out |
|
| Average (mean) | $1.5M |
| Median | $1.5M |
| Mean vs median | mean 0.3% below median |
| Met or beat the average | 109 / 50.9% |
| Costs shown | Yes — through a profit line |
| Where | p. 53 (Item 19 runs pp. 51–59) |
| The filing's words | “the average, median, and high/low annual Gross Sales of 214 franchised (Chart 1) and 69 affiliate-owned (Chart 2) Chicken Salad Chick Restaurants in the United States that were open and operating during all of 2025” |
Labor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 4 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $7K in back wages for 117 workers, including 2 child-labor cases. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
4
Back wages owed
$7K
Employees affected
117
Since 2020
3
2 of these cases involved child-labor violations, covering 60 minors across the system's franchised locations.
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual CHICKEN SALAD CHICK franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not CHICKEN SALAD CHICK itself. The franchisor is not the respondent and in most cases is not a party. What the record shows is how this system's operators run their payrolls, which is worth knowing before you become one of them. Counts rise with system size and with age: a 20-year-old, 10,000-unit system will out-count a young one regardless of conduct. Cases are matched to the brand by trade name and may include misattributed employers. Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division concluded compliance actions, FY2005–present, most recent finding 2024.
Modeled risk
FDD Risk Score · a prediction from disclosure and loan-file features
The model puts this brand in its lower-risk band — but this brand has too few seasoned SBA loans to check the score against, so read it as a band, not a number.
Risk percentile
Lower risk
Directional · no point estimate
Modeled · vs same-year loans
band only
too few seasoned loans to check
Top drivers: Share financed by high-loss lenders (lowers) · Item 20 exit rate (lowers) · Item 3 litigation (log) (raises) · Net unit growth (raises). Too few seasoned SBA loans to check the score — read it as a band. A linear scorecard trained on brands' vintage-adjusted SBA loss records; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.
Public records
Bankruptcy, closure & federal court records · coverage is selective · dockets are not scored
We have no verified public-record signals published for CHICKEN SALAD CHICK. This is not evidence that no events exist. Check PACER, the FDD's Item 3 (litigation) and Item 4 (bankruptcy), and recent news yourself.
9 questions to ask a CHICKEN SALAD CHICK franchisee
Built from this brand's own disclosures · take it to your validation calls
The franchisor will give you a list of owners to call. Most buyers ask whether they like it. These questions come from what CHICKEN SALAD CHICK has disclosed. Each one carries the number it came from, so you can check the answer against the record.
- 01
CHICKEN SALAD CHICK’s own Item 20 shows 3 of 206 franchised outlets left the system in fiscal 2025 — about 1.5%. Do you know any of those owners, and do you know why they left?
A franchisor will call these “transitions.” An owner three doors down usually knows whether they sold at a profit or handed the keys back.
FDD Item 20 · FY2025
- 02
22 units transferred to new owners in fiscal 2025. When you look at those, were they people cashing out a good business — or getting out of a bad one?
Item 20 counts transfers as neutral, but a transfer can be a good sale or a reluctant exit — the filing does not say which.
FDD Item 20 · FY2025
- 03
Item 7 says the low end to open is $777K; the average recent SBA loan to CHICKEN SALAD CHICK franchisees was $830K. What did you actually spend to open, all in — and did your loan cover anything beyond the build-out?
Lenders size loans to the project they finance. If owners say they spent near the loan figure rather than the Item 7 floor, budget from what they spent.
FDD Item 7 vs SBA approvals FY2020+
- 04
You pay 5.0% royalty on gross sales, plus the ad fund, before any of your own costs. On your actual revenue last year, what did you take home as the owner — not revenue, take-home?
Royalty is charged on sales, not profit. This is the number the brochure never shows and the one your life actually runs on.
FDD Item 6
- 05
CHICKEN SALAD CHICK makes an earnings claim in Item 19. Does your unit look like that number — and do you know which units they included to build it?
Item 19 is legal to build from a flattering subset. Ask whether they excluded new units, closed units, or company stores.
FDD Item 19 · 2026
- 06
How many months did it take to cover your own costs, and how much cash did you burn getting there?
Ramp-to-breakeven working capital is the most underestimated line in any franchise purchase, and the most common reason otherwise-good units fail.
Not disclosed in any FDD — ask an owner
- 07
What does the franchisor charge for that you didn't expect — required tech fees, mandatory remodels, approved-supplier pricing?
Required spending appears across Items 6, 8 and 11 rather than in one place, so buyers routinely miss the total.
FDD Items 6, 8, 11
- 08
If your agreement came up for renewal tomorrow at current terms, would you sign again?
The single most predictive question you can ask. A hesitation is the answer.
Ask every owner you speak to
- 09
Who else should I call — including someone who left?
The franchisor's list is curated by definition. Former franchisees are where the unflattering truth lives, and current owners usually know how to reach them.
Ask every owner you speak to
Want this as a checklist you can take to the calls?
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A broker is usually paid by the franchisor to place you. I'm paid only by you, never by a franchisor you're considering — and the job is pressure-testing CHICKEN SALAD CHICK’s numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
This page is what buyers see before they call you for validation. If the record above is wrong — or right in a way the numbers can't show — say so. Franchisors: send corrections with the page reference and we will review them against the filing and update or annotate the page. Corrections are checked against the filings; nothing you write is published with your name unless you agree to it.
CHICKEN SALAD CHICK franchise questions, answered from the filings
How many CHICKEN SALAD CHICK franchised outlets left the system last year?
In CHICKEN SALAD CHICK's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 3 of 206 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 1.5% — compared with a 2.0% median across 9 comparable systems (sandwiches, subs & delis) tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons" as the franchisor reported them; it excludes transfers to new owners. The FDD does not say why each outlet left, and an exit is not the same as a failure.
How much does a CHICKEN SALAD CHICK franchise cost?
Per CHICKEN SALAD CHICK's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $50,000 (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $777K–$1.0M (Item 7).
What royalty does CHICKEN SALAD CHICK charge?
CHICKEN SALAD CHICK charges an ongoing royalty of 5.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does CHICKEN SALAD CHICK disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — CHICKEN SALAD CHICK makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $1.5M. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.