Should You Open or Buy a Burger King Franchise in 2027?

What a Burger King franchise costs

Burger King publishes its terms in the FDD. We did not read the FDD document itself; the figures below come from the FDD Exchange 2025 summary, which says its numbers exclude real estate purchase in most cases. Confirm each figure in the current FDD, Items 5, 6 and 7.

• Franchise fee$50,000 standard for a 20-year term (minimum $15,000, prorated for shorter terms)
• Royalty4.5% of monthly gross sales
• AdvertisingUp to 4.5% of gross sales
• Traditional freestanding restaurant, total investment$2,064,200 to $4,730,500
• Co-brand$906,200 to $1,652,700
• In-line or end cap$934,800 to $1,965,200
• Mall food court$650,720 to $1,156,600
• Big-box$579,600 to $1,004,000
• Indoor MRS$363,400 to $814,000

The earlier Franzy summary of the 2024 FDD shows the same fee and percentages with a freestanding range of $2,010,600 to $4,670,900, so the cost moved up a little in a year. Liquidity and net-worth minimums are where third-party sites disagree with each other, so we are not repeating a number: look up the financial requirements in the FDD itself.

How the brand is doing

In its fourth quarter and full year 2025 results, RBI reported BK US comparable sales of 2.6% for the fourth quarter and 1.6% for the full year. The Burger King segment ended 2025 with 7,025 restaurants, and net restaurant growth was negative 0.8% for the fourth quarter and the full year. RBI does not break out BK US restaurant counts in that release, so the segment figure includes restaurants outside the US.

The FDD Exchange summary adds that franchised US outlets fell from 7,053 to 5,524 over the period it shows, largely because RBI took restaurants back, including through the May 2024 Carrols acquisition. Read that as a change in who owns the restaurants, not only closures.

RBI also publishes rounded, unaudited estimates of BK US four-wall restaurant-level profitability, based on self-reported franchisee results: $185 thousand in 2025, down from $205 thousand in 2024 and in 2023. That is the restaurant's profit before the owner's overhead and financing, and it is an average, not what a new store will earn.

What Reclaim the Flame means for a new owner

RBI describes Reclaim the Flame as a plan to accelerate sales growth and drive franchisee profitability, with up to $700 million invested through year-end 2028 (RBI). It has two parts: Fuel the Flame (advertising and digital, completed in the fourth quarter of 2024) and Royal Reset, which covers high-quality remodels and relocations, restaurant technology, kitchen equipment and building enhancements.

As of December 31, 2025, $176 million of the up to $550 million planned for Royal Reset had been funded. The release does not give a count of remodeled restaurants, so we cannot tell you how many are finished. Ask any seller or franchisor rep which remodel and technology requirements apply to the restaurant you are considering, who pays, and by when.

Buying an existing restaurant versus opening a new one

The sources we read do not publish transfer fees, resale prices or the approval process for buying an existing Burger King restaurant from a franchisee, so we will not guess. That is a question for the FDD (look for the transfer terms) and for Burger King franchise approval.

What the record does show is large blocks of restaurants changing hands. In 2023, Meridian's auction disposed of 70 of its 91 remaining units, with Burger King itself buying 32 units in Montana, Utah and Wyoming. And RBI plans to refranchise the majority of the Carrols restaurants it bought to new or existing smaller franchise operators over the next seven years (NRN). If that happens, existing restaurants will keep coming to market, which is useful to a buyer but also shows that the owner of a restaurant can change fast.

• Open new: higher build cost (the freestanding range above), full control of site and design, no inherited debt or deferred remodels.
• Buy existing: a restaurant with a sales history you can audit, but you inherit its condition, its lease and any remodel obligations. Get the actual profit-and-loss statements.

Franchisee bankruptcies and the Carrols deal

In January 2023 Toms King, a 90-unit Burger King operator, went into bankruptcy and sold the bulk of its stores at a Delaware auction on March 21. Restaurant Dive reported 82 of the 88 restaurants offered sold for about $33 million: DC Burger took 37 Virginia locations for $22 million, Karali Group took 27 restaurants in Ohio and Pennsylvania for $7.6 million, and Burger King itself took 17 restaurants for $3.2 million.

Meridian, another large franchisee, filed in early 2023 alongside Toms King. Restaurant Dive described Burger King US as having suffered from stagnant sales and weakness against competitors, which eroded store-level earnings and left operators overburdened with debt.

Then in May 2024, RBI completed its acquisition of Carrols, a franchisee that operated 1,023 Burger King restaurants across 23 states, for roughly $1 billion, or $9.55 a share (NRN). RBI said it planned an additional $500 million to upgrade 600 of those restaurants. These events do not mean a new franchise will fail, but they show that even large, experienced operators struggled with the economics in this system.

Questions to answer before you sign

• Can you fund the high end? A freestanding restaurant can run to $4,730,500 per the FDD summary, before real estate in most cases.
• Do the margins work at a 4.5% royalty and up to 4.5% advertising? Model them against realistic sales, not the average four-wall profit RBI reports.
• What remodel or technology spending is required? Royal Reset is a company program; ask what it means for your restaurant.
• Have you spoken to franchisees? The FDD lists current and former franchisees. Call several, especially ones who left.
• Do you have restaurant operating experience? Several of the franchisees above were large, experienced operators.

Questions people ask

Sources

• FDD Exchange: Burger King 2025 FDD summary · Franchise fee, royalty, advertising, Item 7 investment ranges, unit counts
• Franzy: Burger King franchise analysis (2024 FDD) · Prior-year fee and investment range
• RBI: fourth quarter and full year 2025 results · BK US comps, restaurant count, Reclaim the Flame, four-wall profitability
• Nation's Restaurant News: RBI completes Carrols acquisition · Deal price, 1,023 restaurants, reimage and refranchising plan
• Restaurant Dive: Toms King sold for $33M · Bankruptcy auction buyers and prices
• Restaurant Dive: Burger King buys 32 Meridian restaurants · Meridian auction results
• Wikimedia Commons: photo by Harrison Keely (CC BY 4.0) · Page photo

Figures were read from the linked pages on October 27, 2026. Investment and fee numbers come from a third-party summary of the FDD, not the FDD itself, and the FDD controls. This is not financial advice.

Top photo: Harrison Keely / CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons