Methodology

Where the data comes from

Every number on this site comes from a franchisor's Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), a legal document franchisors must file with state regulators before offering franchises in that state. We pull FDDs directly from state franchise registries — primarily the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, with California's DFPI as a secondary source — never from blogs, aggregators, or the franchisor's own marketing materials.

How extraction works

Each FDD is machine-read to locate its Item 5 (initial fees), Item 6 (ongoing fees), Item 7 (estimated initial investment), Item 19 (financial performance representations), and Item 20 (outlet counts) sections. Those sections — and only those sections — are sent to Claude with a strict instruction: report only what the document explicitly states, and return nothing (null) for anything it doesn't state. No figure is ever inferred, estimated, or computed from other numbers.

Human verification

Every extracted number is checked by hand against the actual filing before it's allowed to appear on this site. A number that hasn't been verified this way never renders — there is no partial-trust state. If a filing doesn't disclose a figure, the page says so plainly rather than leaving a blank.

Update cadence

We re-check state registries for amendments and new filings periodically. Each brand page shows the FDD year and the date we last verified the data against that filing.

Corrections

If you believe a number on this site is wrong, tell us which brand, which figure, and what the filing actually says, and we'll check it against the source document and correct it if warranted.

Contact

For corrections, questions, or licensing inquiries, reach us at the contact listed in the footer.

FranchiseFilings is an independent research project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any franchise brand referenced on this site.