Captain D's

The franchise fee ranges from $17,500 to $35,000 depending on your development commitment. Single or two-unit operators pay the full $35,000. Sign a 3–5 restaurant development agreement and it drops to $25,000 per unit. At 6–10 locations, $21,000. The discount maxes out at $17,500 for 16+ unit commitments. Veterans also get 50% off their first restaurant ($17,500 flat).

Total investment runs $898,600 to $1,354,200 — the range is driven primarily by whether you're building new construction, converting an existing QSR space, or taking over an existing Captain D's location.

Ongoing: royalty is 4.5% of gross sales (2.5% for veterans in year one). The FDD does not disclose a national advertising fund rate separately — check your franchise agreement for local co-op requirements. There is no ad fund line item in the standard FDD disclosures.

Captain D's Item 19 covers 214 of 237 franchised comparable restaurants — locations open the full FY2024 year. Average annual gross sales: $1,084,389. Median: $1,016,889. The tight spread between average and median (only 6.6% gap) is a good sign — it means the system doesn't have a handful of outlier locations dragging up the average.

Forty-two and a half percent of locations exceeded the average, which is roughly what you'd expect for a normally distributed system. At $1,016,889 median and a 4.5% royalty, you're sending roughly $45,800/year to corporate before local advertising, technology fees, or any other mandatory contributions.

With a total investment around $1.1M (midpoint), and assuming 10–12% restaurant-level EBITDA margins typical for casual seafood QSR, you're looking at $100,000–$130,000 in operating income before debt service. SBA financing on a $1.1M investment at 10-year terms would run roughly $130,000–$140,000/year in debt service, so your first few years will be tight on a single unit.

Captain D's system shrank slightly from 542 units in 2022 to 530 in 2024 — a net loss of 12 units over two years. Of the 530 total, only 237 are franchised; the remaining 293 are company-owned, which is an unusually high company ownership percentage for a mature QSR brand. This tells you two things: the franchisor believes in the model enough to operate locations directly, and franchisee development has not been the primary growth engine.

The shrinking franchised footprint warrants scrutiny. If the brand is growing its company-owned count at the expense of franchisee expansion, it may indicate franchisee economics are marginal — or that the brand is selectively reacquiring well-performing locations. Ask the franchisor directly about the reacquisition pattern before signing.

The high company-owned-to-franchised ratio (293 company vs 237 franchised) is unusual and worth investigating. Some franchisors operate a large company-owned fleet to test new menu items and processes. Others reacquire underperforming franchisee locations to avoid termination disclosures. Captain D's doesn't explain this ratio in the FDD — get a clear answer from management.

The total investment range tops at $1,354,200 — and that's before working capital and pre-opening expenses. Build-to-suit seafood QSR locations require specialized kitchen equipment (fryers, holding equipment, ventilation) that doesn't transfer well if the brand struggles. Your exit options are limited if the Captain D's brand pulls back.

Average revenue of $1.08M at this investment level produces thin margins for first-time operators. This brand suits experienced multi-unit QSR operators who can achieve operational efficiencies at scale — not first-time franchisees expecting a hands-off income stream.