Krystal franchise
2025 filing · August 22, 2025Shares sales figures
Krystal at a glance
A fast-food restaurant known for its small square hamburgers.
The business
- Franchisor
- Krystal Restaurants LLC
- The company that sells the franchises
- Franchisor based in
- Dunwoody, Georgia
What you pay
- Cost to open
- $1.38M–$2.16M
- A standard traditional restaurant
- Franchise fee
- $35,000
- $15,000 to take over a company restaurant
- Royalty
- 5%
- 5% of gross sales, paid every two weeks, plus a 4.5% marketing obligation
- Brand fund
- 4.5%
- 4.5% of monthly gross sales, paid with the royalty
- Renewal fee
- See terms
- 50% of our then-current Initial Franchise Fee
- Agreement length
- 10 years
- Territory
- Limited
- Limited protection
- Franchisor financing
- None offered
Where it is
- Franchised, 2024
- 156
- As printed in the filing
From Krystal Restaurants LLC’s 2025 filing; revenue and net loss from its audited financial statements, page 75; 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
Krystal among all franchises with the same figure.
| Figure | Krystal | Among all franchises |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to open, midpointHalfway between the low and high estimate | $1,770,250 | Costs more than 91% 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 |
| Sales per locationYearly, as the brand reports it | $987,838 | Higher than 63% of brands that share sales figures |
| Sales against cost to openYearly sales over the cost midpoint | 0.6× | Lower than 96% of brands that share sales figures |
How much a Krystal franchise costs
Opening a standard traditional restaurant costs an estimated $1,380,500 to $2,160,000. That covers the franchise fee and everything else needed to open, through the first months of working capital.
The biggest costs are building construction ($500,000 to $800,000) and site development ($300,000 to $500,000). Here is every line of the estimate as filed:
| What it pays for | Range | Low | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $35,000 | ||
| Professional Fees and Closing Costs | $6,000 | $10,000 | |
| Site Development | $300,000 | $500,000 | |
| Building Construction | $500,000 | $800,000 | |
| Equipment | $280,000 | $330,000 | |
| Computers, Network and POS Systems | $30,000 | $60,000 | |
| Signage | $50,000 | $140,000 | |
| Insurance | $9,000 | $15,000 | |
| Architecture Fees and Permits | $55,000 | $80,000 | |
| Onsite Assistance and Opening Support | $10,000 | ||
| Opening Training Expenses | $12,000 | $15,000 | |
| Initial Inventory | $12,000 | $18,000 | |
| Grand Opening Advertising | $7,500 | $15,000 | |
| Miscellaneous Opening Costs | $24,000 | $32,000 | |
| Additional Funds – 3 Months | $50,000 | $100,000 | |
| Total | $1,380,500 | $2,160,000 | |
Source: Krystal Restaurants LLC, 2025 filing, page 20
Krystal franchise fee
The franchise fee is $35,000, $15,000 to take over a company restaurant. You pay it when you sign the franchise agreement.
Source: Krystal Restaurants LLC, 2025 filing, page 12
Royalty and ongoing fees
| Royalty | 5% of gross sales, paid every two weeks, plus a 4.5% marketing obligation. |
|---|---|
| Brand or marketing fund | 4.5% of monthly gross sales, paid with the royalty. |
| Technology Services Fee | Varies (currently $125 - $275 per restaurant per month) |
| Renewal Fee | 50% of our then-current Initial Franchise Fee |
The typical franchise royalty is 6% of sales, plus 2% for marketing. See franchise fees and royalties to compare.
Source: Krystal Restaurants LLC, 2025 filing, page 13
Other fees as filed, from pages 14–17. The filing lists every fee, including late fees and audit costs.
Sales and earnings
Shares figures Krystal publishes sales or earnings figures for its locations. The full tables, with notes on which locations are counted, are in its filing.
- Average sales
- $987,838
- Median sales
- $961,182
Yearly figures for 2024, covering franchised restaurants, fiscal 2024 (154 locations). The average is about 0.6 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: Krystal Restaurants LLC, 2025 filing, page 57
SBA loans to Krystal franchisees
Lenders approved 24 SBA-backed loans for Krystal franchisees from 1993 to 2024, $17M in all: 14 7(a) loans and 10 504 loans. Of the 20 that have ended, 15 were paid in full and 5 were charged off (25%). 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
How Krystal compares
Of the 63 burger franchises on this site, Krystal is the 48th cheapest to open.
| Figure | Krystal | Typical burger brand | Typical franchise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost to open, low end | $1.38M | $556K | $222K |
| Cost to open, high end | $2.16M | $1.52M | $477K |
| Franchise fee | $35K | $35K | $40K |
| Royalty | 5% | 5% | 6% |
| Brand fund | 4.5% | 2% | 2% |
| Sales per location | $988K | $1.56M | $794K |
| Shares earnings figures | Yes | 44 of 63 | 2,147 of 3,352 |
Typical is the median across the 63 brands in burger franchises; typical franchise, across every brand here.
Locations opened and closed
| Year | Franchised | Company-owned |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 113 (−18) | 187 |
| 2020 | 110 (−3) | 181 |
| 2021 | 105 (−5) | 182 |
| 2022 | 127 (+22) | 160 |
| 2023 | 143 (+16) | 137 |
| 2024 | 156 (+13) | 124 |
Closed or left counts terminations, non-renewals, locations bought back by the franchisor and locations that stopped operating.
These figures don't add up as printed: the 2023 counts come to 287, but the filing shows 280. Worth asking the franchisor.
See which brands grew most in the fastest-growing franchises rankings.
More in the guides: burger franchise costs and franchise failure rates.
Over 6 years, from the start of 2019 to the end of 2024, franchised locations went from 131 to 156 (+25, +19%). The earlier years come from the brand's 2022 and 2024 filings.
Source: Krystal Restaurants LLC, 2025 filing, page 61
2019–2020: Krystal Restaurants LLC, 2022 filing, page 61
2021: Krystal Restaurants LLC, 2024 filing, page 63
Who owns Krystal?
Krystal franchises are sold by Krystal Restaurants LLC.
From Krystal Restaurants LLC’s 2025 filing.
Lawsuits and bankruptcy
| Lawsuits and regulatory actions | None. The filing says no litigation has to be disclosed. |
|---|---|
| Bankruptcy | The franchisor's predecessor, The Krystal Company, and two affiliates filed for Chapter 11 in January 2020; the current franchisor's affiliate bought substantially all of its assets in a sale that closed in May 2020, and the case was dismissed in November 2020. |
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: Krystal Restaurants LLC, 2025 filing, litigation on page 11, bankruptcy on page 11
Krystal filings
A franchisor files a new disclosure each year it sells franchises. The figures on this page come from Krystal Restaurants LLC’s 2025 filing, issued August 22, 2025; the earlier ones below are on record with the NASAA Electronic Filing Depository and fill in older location counts.
| Filing | Issued | Registry | On this page |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 filing | August 22, 2025 | NASAA depository | Costs, fees and locations, 2022–2024 |
| 2024 filing | June 14, 2024 | NASAA depository | Locations, 2021 |
| 2022 filing | July 29, 2022 | NASAA depository | Locations, 2019–2020 |
Each link opens the filing as a PDF. See the newest filings across all brands.
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