From the filed FDD — automated extraction, check the source
2026 FDD
SBA-eligible · directory code S2146 since 2017
CIRCLE K
Fuel stations & convenience stores · parent company: not identified
Circle K is a global convenience store brand, typically paired with fuel sales. Franchisees operate a convenience store, often with gasoline, handling merchandise, foodservice, and fuel retail for everyday customers.
CIRCLE K net unit count grew 5.2% over 2024–2026 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
Too little disclosed history
The earliest Item 20 year we extracted starts at 11 franchised units and the latest shows 72 — the extracted record is too short or incomplete to rate, so we don't. The fiscal 2026 exit rate was 0.0%, below the 1.7% median across 27 comparable systems (automotive). For context, SBA loans to its franchisees approved FY2002–2020 charged off at a rate not clearly different from franchise loans of the same years (7 vs about 8.5 expected, 0.8×). Judge the disclosures, not a verdict.
Exit rate · fiscal 2026
0.0%
vs 1.7% median across 27 comparable systems (automotive)
Cost to open
$3.1M–$9.4M
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan losses · vs same-year loans
0.8×
7 of 64 charged off vs ~8.5 expected
Market density · California
Typical density
1% denser than the national average
Email me when this brand’s record changes
A weekly check for new filings, changes to disclosed costs or earnings, SBA loan totals, and verified public-record events. Only changes to these 1 selected brand. No email when nothing changes. Coverage depends on when source data reaches our database.
Unsubscribe in any alert. We never sell your email.
Data as of 2026-10-29. Figures come from CIRCLE K'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 CIRCLE K? Transfer fee $25,000, resale record and asking-price check →
What each source says
FDD record · SBA loans · model · auditor
The Item 20 record is too short or too small to rate; the loan record and model are context, not a verdict.
FDD record · Item 20
Too little history
Units grew 5% (2024–2026: 4,444 → 4,673); exit rate 0.0% (fiscal 2026) vs 1.7% median.
SBA loans · vs same-year loans
About as expected (0.8×)
7 charge-offs among 64 resolved loans approved FY2002–2020; about 8.5 expected.
Modeled risk
Lower risk
Safer than 94% of scored systems.
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
2024–2026
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2026, 0 of 54 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 0.0% (fiscal 2026), vs a 1.7% median across 27 comparable systems (automotive). 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) | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 4,138 | 4,444 | 4,631 |
| Opened | 30 | 13 | 18 |
| Transfers | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Outlets at end | 4,444 | 4,631 | 4,673 |
| Net change | +306 | +187 | +42 |
The franchisor's own finances
FDD ITEM 21 · AUDITED STATEMENTS · 2026 FDD
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP gave an unmodified (clean) opinion on the statements in the 2026 FDD; revenue rose 4% from FY2024 to FY2026.
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 · FY2026
$73.4M
p. 90 · matched to statement
Net income · FY2026
$22.8M
p. 90 · matched to statement
Where FY2026 revenue came from
78% royalties
2% initial / development fees
Show the statement figures ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Fiscal year | FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | $70.3Mp. 90 · matched to statement | $71.2Mp. 90 · matched to statement | $73.4Mp. 90 · matched to statement |
| Royalty revenue | $60.7Mp. 90 · matched to statement | $59.4Mp. 90 · matched to statement | $57.5Mp. 90 · matched to statement |
| Initial / development feesline: Initial franchise sales | $1.0Mp. 90 | $1.0Mp. 90 | $1.1Mp. 90 |
| Net income (loss) | $15.3Mp. 90 · matched to statement | $19.1Mp. 90 · matched to statement | $22.8Mp. 90 · matched to statement |
| Cash at year end | not extracted | $0p. 89 | $0p. 89 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan outcomes · compared with franchise loans of the same years
Banks have made 165 SBA-backed loans to CIRCLE K franchisees since 2001. Of the 64 approved FY2002–2020 that have resolved, 7 charged off — where about 8.5 would be expected for franchise loans made in the same years. That is 0.8× the expected rate: these loans defaulted at a rate not clearly different from comparable franchise loans (a gap this size on this many loans could be chance).
All-time, 7 of 68 resolved loans charged off (10.3%). That raw figure mixes every approval year since 2001 — 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. 59% of the brand's loans have not resolved yet.
0.8×
7 of 64 resolved (FY2002–2020) vs ~8.5 expected
10.3%
7 of 68 resolved, every approval year
—
charged-off $ ÷ approved $, defaulted loans
$1,728,780
what recent franchisees borrowed
—
shown with 10+ defaults
25 vs 20
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 CIRCLE K 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
Who finances it
Open Bank
12.3% of this brand's loans
Who buys it
87.9%
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 104 SBA 7(a)/504 loans matched to CIRCLE K 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 $25,000 franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $3.1M–$9.4M (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$3.1M–$9.4M
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$25,000
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
3.5%
of sales, ongoing
Starts at the Item 19 median of $1.5M from CIRCLE K’s latest FDD. Read which units built that figure, then check it with current and former owners.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$53K
3.5% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$525K
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 parts, technician 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 CIRCLE K with a buyer-paid CPAHow the earnings claim is built
FDD ITEM 19 · BASIS · 2026 FDD
The headline figure is Average Gross Sales (Merchandise Sales, excl. motor fuel) for 52 weeks ended April 26, 2026, for 4,481 of 4,601 units, leaving out opened during the fiscal year, temporary closures (< 52 weeks data), closed during the fiscal year and others. The mean is 7% above the median, so a minority of high-volume units pulls the average up. It shows no costs, so it says nothing about what an owner keeps.
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 Gross Sales (Merchandise Sales, excl. motor fuel) (other measure) |
| Period | 52 weeks ended April 26, 2026 |
| Whose results | Company-owned outlets |
| Units included | 4,481 of 4,601 company-operated Circle K businesses as of April 26, 2026 |
| Left out |
|
| Average (mean) | $2.1M |
| Median | $2.0M |
| Mean vs median | mean 6.9% above median |
| Met or beat the average | 42% (1,871 of 4,481) |
| Costs shown | None — sales only |
| Where | p. 66 (Item 19 runs pp. 64–70) |
Labor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 77 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $156K in back wages for 205 workers, including 1 child-labor case. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
77
Back wages owed
$156K
Employees affected
205
Since 2020
7
1 of these cases involved child-labor violations, covering 1 minors across the system's franchised locations.
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual CIRCLE K franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not CIRCLE K 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 2025.
Modeled risk
FDD Risk Score · a prediction from disclosure and loan-file features
Modeled from the public record, this brand looks safer than 94% of the systems we score (lower-risk band).
Observed · vs same-year loans
0.8×
7 of 64 seasoned loans charged off
Risk percentile
6th
Checkable · higher = riskier
Modeled · vs same-year loans
0.6×
≈ 10.4% at the all-loan vintage mix
Top drivers: No Item 19 disclosure (lowers) · System size (log units) (lowers) · Investment ceiling (log) (lowers) · Item 20 exit rate (raises). The brand has 30+ seasoned resolved SBA loans, so the score can be checked against its own record. 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 CIRCLE K. This is not evidence that no events exist. Check PACER, the FDD's Item 3 (litigation) and Item 4 (bankruptcy), and recent news yourself.
8 questions to ask a CIRCLE K 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 CIRCLE K has disclosed. Each one carries the number it came from, so you can check the answer against the record.
- 01
SBA loans to CIRCLE K franchisees approved 2002–2020 defaulted at a rate not clearly different from franchise loans made in the same years: 7 charge-offs among 64 resolved loans, where about 8.5 would be expected (0.8×). Did you finance with an SBA loan, and how close did your first two years come to trouble?
This is the lender's view of how these loans ended, from public federal records matched by SBA franchise code — independent of anything the franchisor discloses — compared with franchise loans made in the same years. A charge-off is a loan outcome, not proof the business closed.
SBA 7(a)/504 loan record, seasoned loans FY2002–FY2020 · 0.8× of same-vintage franchise loans
- 02
You pay 3.5% 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
- 03
CIRCLE K 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
- 04
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
- 05
Item 3 discloses 6 legal matters. Do you know what those were about, and were any brought by franchisees?
Franchisee-brought suits over territory, fees or support tell you how the franchisor behaves when there's a disagreement.
FDD Item 3 · 2026
- 06
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
- 07
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
- 08
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?
I'll email you the printable version, and tell you if CIRCLE K’s numbers move — a new filing, a rising exit rate, a distress signal. Unsubscribe in one click.
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 CIRCLE K’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.
CIRCLE K franchise questions, answered from the filings
How many CIRCLE K franchised outlets left the system last year?
In CIRCLE K's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2026), 0 of 54 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 0.0% — compared with a 1.7% median across 27 comparable systems (automotive) 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 CIRCLE K franchise cost?
Per CIRCLE K's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $25,000 (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $3.1M–$9.4M (Item 7).
What royalty does CIRCLE K charge?
CIRCLE K charges an ongoing royalty of 3.5% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does CIRCLE K disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — CIRCLE K 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.
How often do SBA loans for CIRCLE K franchises default?
SBA loans to CIRCLE K franchisees approved 2002–2020 defaulted at a rate not clearly different from franchise loans made in the same years: 7 charge-offs among 64 resolved loans, where about 8.5 would be expected (0.8×). All-time, 7 of 68 resolved loans since 2001 charged off (10.3%); that raw figure mixes every approval year, so we compare with same-year loans instead. A charge-off is a loan loss, not proof the business closed. Source: public SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA data.