Church's Texas Chicken Franchise Cost: Fees and Conflicts

Church’s Texas Chicken publishes a lot on its franchising site, including the one detail most brands omit: what its royalty is actually calculated on. It also publishes three different franchise fees, three different total-investment ranges, and two different sets of qualification minimums, across its own pages.

Both of those things are useful, and this guide reports them together. Everything below was read from the brand’s own US franchise site on August 2, 2026. Where its pages conflict, the conflict is shown rather than resolved, because guessing which figure is current would be inventing a fact. Every number is a reported figure to confirm in the current Franchise Disclosure Document. None of it is an earnings figure.

The royalty, and the detail Church’s gets right

Start with the number the site is clear and consistent about. Church’s charges a 5 percent royalty, and its key-terms page spells out what that multiplies: royalties are collected each month against gross sales, and the fee is 5 percent of a franchise’s gross revenues.

That basis statement is genuinely valuable. A royalty percentage is incomplete without it, since gross sales means the money comes off the top line before food cost, labor, rent or debt service. Many brands publish a bare percentage and leave the basis to the disclosure document.

A 5 percent marketing fee is charged separately, stated on both the home page and the investment page. Add them and roughly 10 percent of gross sales leaves the business in brand fees before a single operating expense is paid. That is the number to carry into any model, and it sits at the higher end of the chicken category. Our royalty fees explainer and Item 6 guide cover how these compound over an agreement’s life.

Where the site disagrees with itself

Now the harder part. Church’s own pages publish materially different figures for the two numbers buyers ask about first.

Field	Home page	Investment page	Requirements blog
Franchise fee	$20,000 per restaurant	$20,000 plus a $10,000 development fee	$25,000 in combined fees
Total investment	$644,366 to $1,808,972	$648,866 to $1,803,973	$805,225 to $1,896,300
Minimum liquid capital	$250,000	$250,000	$1,000,000
Minimum net worth	$500,000	$500,000	$2,000,000

A fourth variant appears on the key-terms blog, which describes a one-time franchise fee of $15,000 for the first location plus a $10,000 development fee.

Two different things are probably going on. The capital minimums most likely reflect two real tiers: a general floor and a higher bar for the multi-unit development track, since the $1,000,000 and $2,000,000 figures appear on multi-unit pages. That is a plausible reading, not a confirmed one, and we are not presenting it as fact.

The fee and investment differences are harder to explain that way. The home page and investment page ranges differ by only a few thousand dollars, which looks like ordinary version drift between page updates. The blog’s $805,225 floor is about $160,000 higher than either, which is not drift.

Compounding this: the site references no FDD year or date anywhere. Bojangles, by contrast, cites its April 20, 2026 document repeatedly, which is what lets you check whether the figures you are reading match the document you are handed. See our Bojangles cost breakdown for that comparison.

Single unit or five? The site says five

Church’s multi-unit page states that most new franchise territories available require a 5-plus unit commitment, and its FAQ says franchisees must build a territory of at least five locations within five years. The investment page separately describes targeting multi-unit investors committed to open at least three restaurants in three years.

Three or five, the answer is not one. Any investment figure on this page describes a single restaurant, so if the real offer in your market is a five-unit development agreement, the actual capital commitment is a multiple of the Item 7 range shown above. That is the single most important thing to establish before spending time on an application, and it is why the higher $1,000,000 liquid and $2,000,000 net-worth tier probably reflects the real funnel rather than an alternative one.

If a genuine single unit is what you are after, our cheapest chicken franchise comparison covers brands with lower entry points, and Your Pie is an example in the pizza category of a brand that states plainly that it accepts single-store franchisees.

Territory: the namesake state is closed

Per its available-markets page, Church’s publishes territory status by state, and the notable entries are the closed ones:

• Texas: availability limited to existing franchisees only
• Oklahoma: availability limited to existing franchisees only
• Hawaii and Montana: no territories available at this time
• New Mexico: availability is limited

A brand called Church’s Texas Chicken not selling new franchises in Texas is the kind of detail that never appears in a cost comparison and can end a plan before it starts. Most other states show open territories with named cities, so check yours specifically on that page rather than assuming.

On size, the home page says over 750 locations in the US and more than 1,450 restaurants across 23 countries. It does not publish a US franchised-versus-company-owned split, which is FDD Item 20. Nor does it publish the initial term or renewal terms, which is Item 17. We checked eight pages for both.

Questions to ask before you rely on any figure

• Which franchise fee is current, given that your own site publishes $20,000, $20,000 plus $10,000, $25,000 combined, and $15,000 plus $10,000?
• Which total-investment range is current, and why does the requirements blog show a floor about $160,000 higher than the home page?
• Which FDD is in force, and what is its issuance date? The site cites none.
• Is a single unit available in my market, or does it require a three-unit or five-unit development commitment, and which capital tier applies to me?
• Is the 5 percent marketing fee the entire advertising obligation, or is there a separate local or co-op spend in Item 6?
• What are the initial term and renewal terms, and what does Item 20 show for closures and transfers?
• Will a franchise attorney and an accountant review the full FDD with me before I commit to anything?