IHOP

Franchise fee: $15,000 to $25,000 for non-traditional locations (substantially lower than traditional IHOP, which typically runs $40,000+).

Royalty: 4.5% of gross sales — standard for the brand across formats.

Total investment: $434,598 to $4,041,265. The 9:1 investment range ratio is the largest in the QSR/casual dining category. An airport kiosk conversion sits near the low end; a full-service NT restaurant in a major airport terminal or convention center can run over $4M in build-out costs that you'll never recover on exit because the venue owns the space.

Note: non-traditional IHOP franchises are typically awarded as part of venue development agreements with the location owner (airport authority, university, etc.). If you're not already in conversation with a venue operator, this franchise isn't accessible to individual investors in the usual way.

The Item 19 sample is 33 franchised non-traditional restaurants — a small dataset for a brand this large. Average annual gross sales: $1,522,347. Thirty-nine percent of locations exceeded the average. Median was not separately disclosed.

The NT model's economics are distinct from traditional IHOP: you're relying on captive audience traffic (travelers, students, base personnel) rather than destination dining. Average check size tends to run higher than comparable traditional locations because there's no competitive option. But operating hours, menu flexibility, and staffing are dictated by venue management, not just you.

At 4.5% royalty and $1.52M average sales, annual royalties are roughly $68,500. A venue lease (common for NT locations) adds a significant additional cost not captured in the FDD investment table.

The non-traditional IHOP system has 1,703 total units — but this count blends traditional and NT locations; the pure NT count is a subset of this. Dine Brands (the parent company of IHOP and Applebee's) has been vocal about NT as a growth vector, targeting airports, travel plazas, and ghost kitchen configurations. NT unit economics, when the venue traffic is strong, can outperform traditional locations on a per-square-foot basis.

Dine Brands is publicly traded, which provides transparency into system health. Check their most recent earnings calls for NT-specific unit count growth, average unit volumes, and franchisee default rates — data that the FDD alone doesn't provide.

This is a non-traditional FDD, not the standard IHOP franchise. If you're evaluating IHOP as a standalone restaurant investment, you need to request the traditional IHOP FDD — a fundamentally different document with different economics, investment requirements, and franchisee pool.

Venue-dependent franchises have an additional layer of risk that standard restaurant franchises don't: if your venue contract ends (airport concession not renewed, university changes food operators), your franchise investment may be non-transferable. The brand relationship is yours, but the customer traffic was the venue's — and that's gone.

The $4M+ investment ceiling for premium NT locations is real. Build-out costs in airports and convention centers are substantially higher per square foot than freestanding restaurant construction, driven by union labor, venue management fees, and premium finishes required by venue standards.