Del Taco Franchise Cost: SoCal Closed, Royalty on Net Sales

Del Taco publishes two things most franchisors do not: a plainly stated regional closure, and a royalty basis. Both change how its cost figures should be read.

Everything below comes from Del Taco’s own franchising site, verified August 2, 2026. Every figure is a reported number to confirm in the current Franchise Disclosure Document. None of it is an earnings figure.

Southern California is closed

Del Taco’s available-markets page states that it is not taking applications for Southern California or international development.

That is worth pausing on. Del Taco was founded in Yermo, California, and Southern California remains central to its footprint. A reader in Los Angeles or San Diego searching for what a Del Taco costs is, on the brand’s own account, not able to open one.

This is now a recurring shape rather than a curiosity. Freddy’s lists Kansas as unavailable and was founded in Wichita. Church’s Texas Chicken limits Texas to existing franchisees. An origin market is usually the most saturated market, and the operators who built it usually hold the rights to it. If the brand you love is the one you grew up with, check its territory page early, because that is exactly the market most likely to be closed.

The royalty is on net sales, and that is unusual

Del Taco charges 5 percent of net sales in royalty and 4 percent of net sales in advertising.

Both figures state their basis, which puts Del Taco in a minority. Across roughly forty brands checked against their own sites, several publish a bare percentage and never say what it multiplies: Wings Etc publishes “Our royalty percentage is 5%” with no base, Bojangles publishes only a reduced veteran schedule and never the standard rate, and Zaxby’s publishes no royalty at all.

Net versus gross is not a technicality. Net sales typically excludes items like sales tax and certain discounts, so it is a smaller number to multiply. A 5 percent royalty on net sales costs less than a 5 percent royalty on gross sales on identical trade, and the two would sit indistinguishably in a comparison table. Our Item 6 guide treats the basis as part of the number rather than a footnote, and Del Taco is the reason why.

The catch is that “net sales” is a defined term in the franchise agreement, and brands define it differently. Ask for the definition, not just the percentage.

The multi-unit royalty ramp is real money

Franchisees committing to three or more locations pay a reduced royalty on a schedule: 1 percent in year one, 2 in year two, 3 in year three, 4 in year four, then the standard 5 percent from year five.

That is the most concrete multi-unit incentive we have found published on any franchisor’s own site in this category, and it is genuinely material in the years when a new restaurant is least able to carry fees. It is also, read the other way, a statement of who Del Taco wants: the discount exists to attract developers, not single operators.

What that means for a single-unit buyer

Del Taco’s FAQ says it prefers multi-unit agreements while allowing that one or two unit agreements may be considered in some circumstances. That is softer than Charleys, which requires three licences outright, and clearer than Yogurtland, which never states a rule but offers no single-unit option on its form.

The harder constraint is elsewhere in the same FAQ: Del Taco requires at least one person with recent multi-unit restaurant operations experience on the ownership team, and that requirement is not waived for the smaller deals. So the realistic single-unit applicant is an experienced multi-unit restaurant operator buying one Del Taco, not someone buying their first restaurant.

Qualification is $500,000 in liquid capital and $1,000,000 net worth. Against a $1,497,200 investment floor, the liquidity requirement is roughly a third of the cheapest build, which is a tighter ratio than several brands in this range.

What is not published

Del Taco does not break its $1,497,200 to $3,321,000 investment range out by format, though a spread of more than $1.8 million strongly implies several. That is the blend pattern this site finds most often, and it is worth asking for the Item 7 table split by restaurant type before budgeting from either end.

Its unit-count page is also stale: a blog post still live in 2026 gives a 2022 split of 290 company-owned against 301 franchised. More recent third-party figures suggest a materially higher franchised share, and we are not publishing those because they are not from Del Taco. Ask for the current Item 20 tables.

Questions to ask before you rely on any figure

• Is my market open, given that Southern California and international development are closed?
• How does the franchise agreement define net sales for royalty purposes, and what is excluded?
• What is the Item 7 range split by restaurant format, since the published span exceeds $1.8 million?
• Does the multi-unit royalty ramp survive a development schedule that slips, and what happens if it does?
• Does the multi-unit operating-experience requirement apply to a one or two unit agreement, and what counts as recent?
• What does the current Item 20 show for the franchised-versus-company-owned split, since your own site’s figure is from 2022?
• Will a franchise attorney and an accountant review the full FDD with me before I commit?