re: Chick-Fil-A Operator Income

Many a mcdonalds just a decade ago did $1M+ thats why you had to go to class to buy one, you literally fly up north and study with mcdonalds before given one. I don't think they do too well today in general but as I said, its all location, and I have a burger king that won many sales awards, so its tough to generalize.

Subways make less bc the total investment involved is nominal but all the big ones from the old days: Taco Bell,Burger King,KFC require substantial investments and experience. Almost anyone can buy a subway franchise, the fees are low and they dont require much expertise.

The model today if you look at Chipotle,Shake Shack, and all the other hot new ones is definitely keep the store bc what is the point of selling them and getting a few % points of royalties in exchange for millions of dollars of long term profits. The concept of a franchisee taking that was great in the old days bc it meant rapid expansion, but smarter people today are about the long term retained earnings.

It's incredibly difficult to buy any type of franchised business if you try, the net worth requirements + liquid cash + experience required keep many out. How many people have cash but no experience? A lot. How many have experience but lack cash? A lot. They don't want investment groups, they want owner operators most of them.

I love twin peaks here in Houston and I wanted to take it to Miami, there's a few locations on the beach and in downtown where I felt it would work. I did a phone interview with corporate and they wanted a commitment of 5 stores and a net worth of $7.5M to go through, with a significant chunk of that liquid. I was fine with 2 stores, but 5 is a rather large commitment in such a small city, obviously not all at once but within a 5 year period.