Cowboy Chicken franchise
2026 filing · July 30, 2026Shares sales figures
Cowboy Chicken at a glance
A fast-casual restaurant serving wood-fire rotisserie roasted chicken and sides. At the end of 2025 there were 18 Cowboy Chicken locations in the US, 11 franchised and 7 company-owned.
The business
- Franchisor
- Cowboy Chicken Franchising, LP
- The company that sells the franchises
- First location
- 1981
- Typical size
- 2,200–2,900 sq ft
What you pay
- Cost to open
- $582K–$1.42M
- Fee, build-out and opening working capital
- Franchise fee
- $35,000
- Paid once, when you sign
- Royalty
- 5%
- 5% of gross sales, paid weekly, plus 2% to the brand fund and 1% on local marketing
- Brand fund
- 2%
- 2% of gross sales
- Agreement length
- 10 years
Where it is
- US locations, 2025
- 18
- Franchised and company-owned
- Franchised
- 11
- Company-owned
- 7
- States
- 5
- Most in Texas, Oklahoma and Florida
From Cowboy Chicken Franchising, LP’s 2026 filing; revenue and net income from its audited financial statements, page 69; SBA status from the SBA Franchise Directory, October 28, 2026.
Franchisor revenue is the company that sells the franchises (royalties, fees and anything else it earns), not what a location makes.
Where it ranks
Cowboy Chicken among all franchises with the same figure.
| Figure | Cowboy Chicken | Among all franchises |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to open, midpointHalfway between the low and high estimate | $1,001,896 | Costs more than 83% of franchises |
| Franchise feePaid once, when you sign | $35,000 | Lower than 61% of franchises |
| RoyaltyShare of sales paid to the franchisor | 5% | Lower than 69% of brands with a set rate |
| US locationsFranchised and company-owned | 18 | Fewer than 52% of franchises |
| Sales per locationYearly, as the brand reports it | $2,007,401 | Higher than 87% of brands that share sales figures |
| Sales against cost to openYearly sales over the cost midpoint | 2.0× | Higher than 64% of brands that share sales figures |
How much a Cowboy Chicken franchise costs
Opening one Cowboy Chicken costs an estimated $581,796 to $1,421,995. That covers the franchise fee and everything else needed to open, through the first months of working capital.
Source: Cowboy Chicken Franchising, LP, 2026 filing, page 17
Cowboy Chicken franchise fee
The franchise fee is $35,000. You pay it when you sign the franchise agreement.
Source: Cowboy Chicken Franchising, LP, 2026 filing, page 10
Royalty and ongoing fees
| Royalty | 5% of gross sales, paid weekly, plus 2% to the brand fund and 1% on local marketing. |
|---|---|
| Brand or marketing fund | 2% of gross sales. |
| Transfer Fee | $10,000 |
| Local Marketing | 1% of Gross Sales |
The typical franchise royalty is 6% of sales, plus 2% for marketing. See franchise fees and royalties to compare.
Source: Cowboy Chicken Franchising, LP, 2026 filing, page 11
Other fees as filed, from pages 11–14. The filing lists every fee, including late fees and audit costs.
Sales and earnings
Shares figures Cowboy Chicken publishes sales or earnings figures for its locations. The full tables, with notes on which locations are counted, are in its filing.
- Average sales
- $2,007,401
- Median sales
- $1,913,970
Yearly figures for 2025, covering franchised stores open all of 2025 (11 locations). The average is about 2 times the midpoint of the cost to open.
Sales are what a location takes in before rent, payroll, royalties and other costs, not what its owner keeps.
Source: Cowboy Chicken Franchising, LP, 2026 filing, pages 56–57
SBA loans to Cowboy Chicken franchisees
Lenders approved 5 SBA 7(a) loans for Cowboy Chicken franchisees from 2015 to 2017, $4.71M in all. All 5 have ended: 2 were paid in full and 3 were charged off.
A charged-off loan is one written off as uncollectible. See SBA franchise loans for how 7(a) and 504 loans work.
Source: SBA 7(a) and 504 loan data, as of September 30, 2026
How Cowboy Chicken compares
Of the 113 chicken franchises on this site, Cowboy Chicken is the 76th cheapest to open and the 42nd largest by number of locations.
| Figure | Cowboy Chicken | Typical chicken brand | Typical franchise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost to open, low end | $582K | $407K | $222K |
| Cost to open, high end | $1.42M | $868K | $477K |
| Franchise fee | $35K | $35K | $40K |
| Royalty | 5% | 5% | 6% |
| Brand fund | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| Sales per location | $2.01M | $2.01M | $794K |
| US locations | 18 | 10 | 21 |
| Change in franchised locations, 0 yrs | +10% | +16.7% | – |
| Shares earnings figures | Yes | 61 of 113 | 2,147 of 3,352 |
Typical is the median across the 113 brands in chicken franchises; typical franchise, across every brand here.
Locations opened and closed
| Year | Franchised | Company-owned |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 11 (+1) | 7 |
| 2024 | 11 (0) | 7 |
| 2025 | 11 (0) | 7 |
Closed or left counts terminations, non-renewals, locations bought back by the franchisor and locations that stopped operating.
See which brands grew most in the fastest-growing franchises rankings.
More in the guides: chicken franchise costs and franchise failure rates.
Source: Cowboy Chicken Franchising, LP, 2026 filing, page 59
Where Cowboy Chicken locations are
At the end of 2025, Cowboy Chicken had locations in 5 states. The most are in Texas, Oklahoma and Florida.
- Texas13
- Oklahoma2
- Florida1
- Georgia1
- Louisiana1
Source: Cowboy Chicken Franchising, LP, 2026 filing, page 60
Who owns Cowboy Chicken?
Cowboy Chicken franchises are sold by Cowboy Chicken Franchising, LP.
From Cowboy Chicken Franchising, LP’s 2026 filing.
Lawsuits and bankruptcy
| Lawsuits and regulatory actions | None. The filing says no litigation has to be disclosed. |
|---|---|
| Bankruptcy | None. The filing says no bankruptcy has to be disclosed. |
Franchisors must disclose lawsuits and bankruptcies involving the company, its parents and affiliates, and its executives. Many cases are routine disputes with franchisees over fees or contracts; read the descriptions in the filing and ask current owners about anything that worries you.
Source: Cowboy Chicken Franchising, LP, 2026 filing, litigation on page 10, bankruptcy on page 10
Cowboy Chicken filings
The figures on this page come from Cowboy Chicken Franchising, LP’s 2026 filing, issued July 30, 2026, on record with the NASAA Electronic Filing Depository.
| Filing | Issued | Registry | On this page |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 filing | July 30, 2026 | NASAA depository | Costs, fees and locations, 2023–2025 |
Each link opens the filing as a PDF. See the newest filings across all brands.
Other chicken franchises
All chicken franchises
Cowboy Chicken is also on these lists: restaurant franchises, food franchises.