Costs & Fees — Franchisor Database

Category	Article	Level	Time
Costs	Ad Fund Accounting: What Item 11 Makes a Franchisor Show You Whether the fund is audited, who administers it, what share reached media placement, and whether the franchisor owes any advertising spend in your territory.	Intermediate	8 min
Costs	Gross Sales: The Definition That Prices Every Fee in the Agreement Everyone negotiates the percentage and nobody reads the noun. Where the contract draws the line on delivery commissions and discounts moves more money than the rate does.	Intermediate	8 min
Costs	Franchisor Financing: What Item 10 Tells You Before You Borrow From the Brand The brand offers to carry part of the deal. Item 10 is where you find out that a missed payment can default the license, not just the loan.	Intermediate	8 min
Costs	Insurance Requirements: The Cost the Disclosure Tables Never Price Item 9 points at the obligation and no table has to price it. Where the real limits are written, why additional-insured endorsements cost money, and how to get a quote built to the agreement.	Intermediate	7 min
Costs	Fee Deferral and Escrow: When a Franchisor Can't Bank Your Fee Yet Escrow, deferral, or a bond — three answers to the same question about the first check you write.	Intermediate	7 min
Costs	Technology Fees: The Item 6 Line That Moves After You Sign Most fees are fixed at signing. This one often isn't — and the rule asks for a formula or a maximum that plenty of fee tables never give.	Reference	8 min
Costs	Required Purchases and Supplier Rebates: The Costs Hiding in Item 8 Item 8 shows what you're required to buy through the system — and whether the franchisor earns revenue on your purchases.	Intermediate	8 min
Costs	Build-Out and Leasehold Improvements: The Cost You Can't Take With You The biggest number in Item 7 is usually build-out — and unlike equipment, most of it stays with the building.	Intermediate	7 min
Costs	Franchise Fees Explained: Initial Fee, Royalties, and Ad Fund The three fees in every franchise agreement, and why royalties on gross revenue — not profit — catch new owners off guard.	Beginner	7 min
Costs	What "Total Investment Range" Really Includes What the FDD's Item 7 estimate actually bundles together, and why working capital is the line most often underestimated.	Reference	6 min
Costs	Financing a Franchise: SBA Loans and What Lenders Look For How SBA 7(a) loans work, the Franchise Directory eligibility check, and what lenders actually evaluate before approving a loan.	Reference	7 min
Costs	Hidden Costs New Franchisees Don't Budget For Tech fees, mandated remodels, grand opening spend, conference travel, and local marketing co-ops — small individually, real over a year.	Beginner	6 min
Costs	Working Capital and the Ramp: How Long Before a Franchise Pays You The Item 7 working-capital line is a forecast dressed up as a cost — how to spot the funded-window gap and pressure-test the number with franchisees.	Intermediate	7 min
Costs	Royalty Structures Compared: Percentage, Flat, and Minimum Royalties How percentage, flat, and minimum structures each decide who absorbs a bad month — and why the low headline rate can be the more expensive system.	Intermediate	7 min