Verified — real FDD extraction
SBA-eligible · directory code S0480 since 2017
DAIRY QUEEN
Other · independent · est. —
Dairy Queen is a quick-service restaurant chain known for soft-serve treats such as the Blizzard alongside a menu of burgers and other fast food. A franchisee operates a restaurant or treat store, often with a drive-thru, serving families and travelers.
DAIRY QUEEN net unit count grew +1.4% 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
A real track record with an unremarkable region of the ledger: neither the growth nor the exits stand out, for better or worse. The standout in the record: owners who leave mostly sell rather than fail.
Exit rate · latest year
0.0%
fiscal 2025, per Item 20
Cost to open
$635K–$2.8M
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
9.4%
vs 14.8% avg across rated brands
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, 0 of 74 franchised outlets left the system — a 0.0% annualized exit rate. 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 | 71 | 73 | 74 |
| Opened | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Transfers | 4 | 7 | 7 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Outlets at end | 73 | 74 | 74 |
| Net change | +2 | +1 | 0 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 2,264 SBA-backed loans to DAIRY QUEEN franchisees since 1991. Of the 1,633 that have resolved, 9.4% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.
9.4%
153 of 1633 resolved defaulted
57.7%
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
5.4%
default rate × loss severity
$783,280
what recent franchisees borrowed
79 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
81 vs 88
distinct banks still lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO DAIRY QUEEN BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
A typical DAIRY QUEEN buyer since 2020 borrowed $783K through SBA — about $83K a year in debt service. Against the brand's own disclosed median unit revenue of $1.7M, that is 4.9% of every dollar the store takes in — before rent, payroll, food, or royalty.
Who finances it
Wells Fargo Bank National Association
10.9% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 15.7% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.
Who buys it
63.3%
first-time franchise owners
The rest already owned at least one other franchise. Across the corpus, brands bought mostly by repeat operators charge off at roughly 10% versus 17% for brands sold mostly to newcomers.
Does experience help here?
−1.6pp
multi-unit vs single-unit owners
Owners of multiple units default at 8.0%; single-unit owners at 9.6%.
Computed from 2,264 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to DAIRY QUEEN franchisees joined to the brand's own FDD. Debt service assumes level amortization at the average disclosed term and rate. 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 $25K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $635K–$2.8M (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$635K–$2.8M
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$25K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
4%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$40K
4% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$400K
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 DAIRY QUEEN with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 399 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $1.0M in back wages for 2,162 workers, including 205 child-labor cases. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
399
Back wages owed
$1.0M
Employees affected
2,162
Since 2020
100
205 of these cases involved child-labor violations, covering 1,570 minors across the system's franchised locations.
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual DAIRY QUEEN franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not DAIRY QUEEN 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.
Modeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
Modeled from the public record, this brand looks safer than 72% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
28 / 100
Measured
Modeled SBA charge-off
9.8%
Observed SBA charge-off
9.4%
Top drivers: Investment ceiling (log) (lowers) · System size (log units) (raises) · Share financed by high-loss lenders (lowers) · Item 3 litigation (log) (lowers). 50+ resolved loans and complete disclosure data — the score is checkable against the brand's observed rate. A linear scorecard built from this brand's own disclosure figures plus the federal loan record behind its franchisees; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
Decades-old Dairy Queen closes in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward near Ponce City Market
news:Atlanta News First · 2mo ago
Dairy Queen location closes along busy metro corridor
news:The Business Journals · 3mo ago
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing DAIRY QUEEN's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →DAIRY QUEEN franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of DAIRY QUEEN franchises closed last year?
In DAIRY QUEEN's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 0 of 74 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 0.0%. 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 DAIRY QUEEN franchise cost?
Per DAIRY QUEEN's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $25K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $635K–$2.8M (Item 7).
What royalty does DAIRY QUEEN charge?
DAIRY QUEEN charges an ongoing royalty of 4.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does DAIRY QUEEN disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — DAIRY QUEEN makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $1.7M. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.
How often do SBA loans for DAIRY QUEEN franchises default?
Across 2,264 SBA-backed loans to DAIRY QUEEN franchisees since 1991, 153 of the 1,633 that have resolved were charged off — a 9.4% default rate, versus about 14.8% across all rated franchise brands. This is the lender's-eye view of franchisee failure, drawn from public SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA data and independent of the franchisor's own disclosures.