How Shake Shack is run
At the end of 2025 there were 659 Shacks: 373 company-operated and 286 licensed. (Shake Shack annual report, 2025)
Its US licensed Shacks are in major airports, travel plazas and entertainment venues; four opened in 2025. (Shake Shack annual report, 2025)
Outside the US
Most licensed Shacks are abroad, in cities including London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Mexico City, Istanbul, Dubai, Tokyo and Seoul, each through a licensing partner. (Shake Shack annual report, 2025)
Franchises like Shake Shack
If you want to own a burger business, these franchise brands sell the closest thing to Shake Shack, largest first.
| Brand | Cost to open | Fee | Royalty | Locations | Sales a location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Five GuysFee $25K · Royalty 6% | $928K–$1.38M | $25K | 6% | 1,583+106 in 3 yrs | – |
| Culver'sFee $65K · Royalty 4% · Sales $4.14M a location | $3.41M–$10.3M | $65K | 4% | 1,041+149 in 3 yrs | $4.14M |
| Freddy's Frozen Custard & SteakburgersFee $35K · Royalty 5% · Sales $1.86M a location | $855K–$1.3M | $35K | 5% | 580+124 in 3 yrs | $1.86M |
| Habit Burger GrillFee $35K · Royalty 5.5% · Sales $2.01M a location | $1.39M–$1.59M | $35K | 5.5% | 307+64 in 3 yrs | $2.01M |
| Wayback BurgersFee $35K · Royalty 6%; $400 weekly minimum | $256K–$859K | $35K | 6%; $400 weekly minimum | 184+24 in 3 yrs | – |
| SmashburgerFee $40K · Royalty 5.5% | $1.24M–$2.26M | $40K | 5.5% | 172−45 in 3 yrs | – |
| BurgerFiFee $35K · Royalty 5.5% | $705K–$1.17M | $35K | 5.5% | 82−36 in 3 yrs | – |
| WahlburgersFee $50K · Royalty 6% | $1.53M–$2.79M | $50K | 6% | 25−54 in 3 yrs | – |
Locations are US locations, franchised and company-owned, at the end of the latest year filed. Sales are yearly, before costs, where the brand publishes them.
Five Guys is the largest, with 1,583 US locations, and Wayback Burgers costs least to open, from $256,000. Culver's added the most locations, +149 over 3 years. Of the brands that publish sales, Culver's reports the most per location, $4.14M a year. The typical burger franchise starts at $556K to open; see where the money goes.
Sources
Questions
Which of these burger franchises loses the fewest owners?
Culver's. About under 0.1% of its franchised locations a year closed, were terminated or weren't renewed over the years its latest filing covers, against 19.1% a year at BurgerFi. Buy-backs by the franchisor and sales to new owners don't count as exits. Failure rates by brand