Honest franchise
2025 filing · July 21, 2025Growing
Honest at a glance
A fast-casual restaurant serving Indian street food cooked to order, for dine-in, catering, delivery and carry-out. At the end of 2024 there were 40 Honest locations in the US, all franchised.
The business
- Franchisor
- Honest Hospitality Group LLC
- The company that sells the franchises
What you pay
- Cost to open
- $1.86M–$2.69M
- Fee, build-out and opening working capital
- Franchise fee
- $25,000
- Paid once, when you sign
- Royalty
- 5.5%
- 5.5% of weekly gross revenues
- Brand fund
- Yes
- 0.5% to 3% of gross revenue once a fund is formed
- Renewal fee
- $25,000.
- When the agreement ends and you sign again
- Agreement length
- 10 years
Where it is
- US locations, 2024
- 40
- Franchised and company-owned
- Franchised
- 40
- Company-owned
- 0
- Change in 3 years
- +10
- Franchised locations, 2022–2024
From Honest Hospitality Group LLC’s 2025 filing; revenue and net income from its audited financial statements, page 162; 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
Honest among all franchises with the same figure.
| Figure | Honest | Among all franchises |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to open, midpointHalfway between the low and high estimate | $2,275,500 | Costs more than 94% of franchises |
| Franchise feePaid once, when you sign | $25,000 | Lower than 82% of franchises |
| RoyaltyShare of sales paid to the franchisor | 5.5% | Lower than 66% of brands with a set rate |
| US locationsFranchised and company-owned | 40 | More than 61% of franchises |
How much a Honest franchise costs
Opening one Honest costs an estimated $1,862,000 to $2,689,000. That covers the franchise fee and everything else needed to open, through the first months of working capital.
The biggest costs are construction and leasehold improvements ($565,000 to $805,000) and equipment, Décor, furniture and fixtures ($265,000 to $445,000). Here is every line of the estimate as filed:
| What it pays for | Range | Low | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $25,000 | ||
| Pre-Opening Training Expenses | $55,000 | $73,000 | |
| Real Property (Rent Deposit) | $36,000 | $54,000 | |
| Construction and Leasehold Improvements | $565,000 | $805,000 | |
| Equipment, Décor, Furniture and Fixtures | $265,000 | $445,000 | |
| Computer and Point of Sale System | $55,000 | $75,000 | |
| Inventory to Begin Operating | $217,000 | $289,000 | |
| Permits and Licenses | $73,000 | $121,000 | |
| Security Deposits | $49,000 | $73,000 | |
| Insurance | $43,000 | $73,000 | |
| Professional Fees | $73,000 | ||
| Signs | $73,000 | $109,000 | |
| Safe Food Handling Certification | $31,000 | $34,000 | |
| Market Introduction Program | $37,000 | $55,000 | |
| Additional Funds (initial period – 3 months) | $265,000 | $385,000 | |
| Total | $1,862,000 | $2,689,000 | |
Source: Honest Hospitality Group LLC, 2025 filing, page 18
Honest franchise fee
The franchise fee is $25,000. You pay it when you sign the franchise agreement.
Source: Honest Hospitality Group LLC, 2025 filing, page 10
Royalty and ongoing fees
| Royalty | 5.5% of weekly gross revenues. |
|---|---|
| Brand or marketing fund | 0.5% to 3% of gross revenue once a fund is formed. |
| Renewal Fee | $25,000. |
| Additional On-Site Training and Assistance | $300 per day. |
The typical franchise royalty is 6% of sales, plus 2% for marketing. See franchise fees and royalties to compare.
Source: Honest Hospitality Group LLC, 2025 filing, page 11
Other fees as filed, from pages 12–13. The filing lists every fee, including late fees and audit costs.
Sales and earnings
No figures Honest does not share sales or profit figures for its locations. Talking to current and former franchise owners is the usual way to learn what a location earns.
Source: Honest Hospitality Group LLC, 2025 filing, page 47
- Estimate Estimated yearly sales per location
- $1.5M–$2.8M
Estimated from the sales that 292 comparable franchises file, matched on industry, format, cost to open, fees and size.
SBA loans to Honest franchisees
Lenders approved 5 SBA 7(a) loans for Honest franchisees from 2020 to 2026, $2.21M in all. One has been paid in full; none was charged off. The other 4 haven’t ended yet.
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
Growth and closures
Share of franchised locations, 2024 / 2022–2024. Typical means the median: half of brands are above it, half below.
| Measure | Honest | Typical restaurant brand | Typical franchise |
|---|---|---|---|
| GrowthNet change in franchised locations | +11% / +33% | 0% / +3% | +1.2% / +10% |
| ClosuresTerminated, not renewed or stopped operating | 5.6% / 20% | 2.5% / 13% | 3.9% / 16% |
| Bought backLocations the franchisor took back | 0% / 0% | 0% / 0% | 0% / 0% |
Typical restaurant brand is the median of the 301 brands in restaurant franchises with three years of counts.
How Honest compares
Of the 813 restaurant franchises on this site, Honest is the 772nd cheapest to open and the 241st largest by number of locations.
| Figure | Honest | Typical restaurant brand | Typical franchise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost to open, low end | $1.86M | $408K | $222K |
| Cost to open, high end | $2.69M | $866K | $477K |
| Franchise fee | $25K | $35K | $40K |
| Royalty | 5.5% | 5% | 6% |
| US locations | 40 | 14 | 21 |
| Shares earnings figures | No | 474 of 813 | 2,147 of 3,352 |
Typical is the median across the 813 brands in restaurant franchises; typical franchise, across every brand here.
Locations opened and closed
| Year | Franchised | Company-owned | Opened | Closed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 31 (+1) | 0 | +3 | −2 |
| 2023 | 36 (+5) | 0 | +7 | −2 |
| 2024 | 40 (+4) | 0 | +6 | −2 |
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: franchise failure rates.
Source: Honest Hospitality Group LLC, 2025 filing, page 48
Who owns Honest?
Honest franchises are sold by Honest Hospitality Group LLC.
From Honest Hospitality Group LLC’s 2025 filing.
Lawsuits and bankruptcy
| Lawsuits and regulatory actions | Yes. The filing describes past or pending cases involving the franchisor, its affiliates or its executives on page 10. |
|---|---|
| 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: Honest Hospitality Group LLC, 2025 filing, litigation on page 10, bankruptcy on page 10
Honest filings
The figures on this page come from Honest Hospitality Group LLC’s 2025 filing, issued July 21, 2025, on record with the NASAA Electronic Filing Depository.
| Filing | Issued | Registry | On this page |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 filing | July 21, 2025 | NASAA depository | Costs, fees and locations, 2022–2024 |
Each link opens the filing as a PDF. See the newest filings across all brands.
Other restaurant franchises
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Honest is also on these lists: food franchises.