re: Chick-Fil-A Operator Income

Following are averages for McDonald's. As with any average, there are exceptions that are much higher or much lower especially when there are 15K locations in the US.

The average McDonald's in the US does about $2.5 million in annual sales. The average cash flow for the operator is north of $350K before paying off any debt. A new store will carry a lot of debt that typically takes 7 years to pay off. So a good chunk of that cash flow goes to pay it off. The quicker you pay it off, the quicker you get to keep more.

The average owner of a McDonald's has 6-7 locations. Generally you would start with 1 location. As you build wealth, experience and credibility you can grow by either being awarded new locations (not a lot of those anymore) or buying out another operator.

McDonald's owns the land the building is on, although there are probably some exceptions to this. The operator pays 4% of their sales as a service fee. This is to fund the company's side of providing the operators with marketing and operations expertise (among other things). They also pay a percentage of sales for rent. The average is somewhere in the 14% range but can vary a lot depending on the location and store age. It's not uncommon to hear that someone in the Northeast is paying close to 20%, while someone in middle Mississippi may be paying something around 5%. It's safe to say there is a trend towards the higher rent right now.

Operators are also required to spend at least 4% of sales on advertising. Some of this is to fund the National program. Some of it is for the local markets (groups of stores defined by the TV market). The rest is for local store marketing. Some probably get away with spending less while many more probably spend over that figure.

Those are the fees set up by McDonald's. On average, you're looking at roughly 22% of topline sales going to the corporation or advertising. Another 25-30% for food cost and waste. 20% or more for labor...wide variety here due to minimum wage laws. Insurance can hurt if you are on the gulf coast and have to pay super high premiums.

At the end of the day, costs eat up an average of 85% of your sales. That leaves you with around 15% if you have no debt.

It's a good life to be a McDonald's operator. The average guy has 6 stores netting him over $2 Million a year in profit. Plus the average store is worth close to another $2 Million if he wants to sell. I know one operator with 60 restaurants. It's very rare to see someone with over 20 restaurants but there are some. The Valluzzos have close to that amount, but it's separated into different family units. 60 stores should be netting him over $20 Million each year plus well over $100 Million is equity. If he carries any debt, it's only because it's cheaper than paying out the money up front.