Verified — real FDD extraction
SBA-eligible · directory code S8513 since 2026
Church's Texas Chicken
Food & Dining · independent · est. —
Church's Texas Chicken is a quick-service restaurant chain serving fried chicken, biscuits, and Southern-style sides. Franchisees operate free-standing drive-thru restaurants serving value-oriented takeout and dine-in customers.
Church's Texas Chicken net unit count declined -1.7% from 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. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:
- 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 and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).
The verdict
Proven & steady
Distress
The operating record is solid, but the FDD discloses a bankruptcy history (Item 4) — capped below a full endorsement. The standout in the record: owner turnover is low.
Exit rate · latest year
1.8%
vs 8.6% across 137 food & dining systems
Cost to open
$610K–$1.9M
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
No loan record
no SBA 7(a)/504 loans found for this brand
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
3-yr trend · 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
Systemwide units
2023–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 13 of 714 franchised outlets left the system — a 1.8% annualized exit rate, vs 8.6% across 137 food & dining systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 925 | 900 | 873 |
| Opened | 6 | 7 | 21 |
| Transfers | 19 | 19 | 8 |
| Terminations | 16 | 7 | 1 |
| Non-renewals | 4 | 9 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 9 | 20 | 12 |
| Outlets at end | 900 | 873 | 885 |
| Net change | -25 | -27 | +12 |
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $20K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $610K–$1.9M (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$610K–$1.9M
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$20K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
5%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$50K
5% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$500K
royalties alone, excl. ad fund
This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.
Build a real pro-forma for Church's Texas Chicken with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 5 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $59K in back wages for 45 workers, including 3 child-labor cases. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
5
Back wages owed
$59K
Employees affected
45
Since 2020
5
3 of these cases involved child-labor violations, covering 9 minors across the system's franchised locations.
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual Church's Texas Chicken franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not Church's Texas Chicken 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. Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division concluded compliance actions, FY2005–present, most recent finding 2025.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for Church's Texas Chicken. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Church's Texas Chicken's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →Church's Texas Chicken franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of Church's Texas Chicken franchises closed last year?
In Church's Texas Chicken's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 13 of 714 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 1.8% — compared with 8.6% across 137 food & dining systems tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons." There is no official failure rate, and not every exit is a failure, but this is the measurable floor.
How much does a Church's Texas Chicken franchise cost?
Per Church's Texas Chicken's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $20K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $610K–$1.9M (Item 7).
What royalty does Church's Texas Chicken charge?
Church's Texas Chicken charges an ongoing royalty of 5.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does Church's Texas Chicken disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — Church's Texas Chicken makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $1.1M. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.