Firehouse Subs Franchise Cost: Every State Open, 11% Ongoing

Firehouse Subs publishes almost everything a buyer needs, and one thing worth noticing that most brands in this category cannot say: territory is available in every US state.

Everything below comes from its own franchising site, verified August 2, 2026. Its figures cite the 2025 US Franchise Disclosure Document, which is the kind of anchor that lets you check marketing copy against the document you are handed. Every number is a reported figure to confirm in the current FDD, and none of it is an earnings figure.

The low fee and the high ongoing rate pull opposite ways

A $20,000 franchise fee is genuinely low. Qdoba charges $40,000, Del Taco $35,000, Freddy’s $35,000, Charleys $24,500 for a first unit under a three-unit minimum.

Then the ongoing rate: 6 percent royalty on gross sales plus 5 percent advertising, a combined 11 percent. Set that beside the same brands and the ranking inverts. Freddy’s runs 6 percent combined. Buffalo Wild Wings about 9. Wingstop, at the top of the category, about 11.5.

This is the trade the fee hides. The $20,000 is paid once. The 11 percent applies to every dollar of sales for the life of the agreement, and the difference between 11 percent and 6 percent compounds into far more than the $15,000 saved on entry. Our Item 6 guide works through why the recurring percentage, not the one-time fee, decides long-run economics.

That is not a criticism of Firehouse Subs, which publishes both numbers plainly and states its royalty basis. It is a caution about reading franchise costs fee-first, which is how almost every directory presents them.

Three formats, published separately

Format	Total investment
In-line traditional	$379,650 to $795,600
In-line end cap with drive-thru	$549,650 to $1,038,100
Free-standing with drive-thru	$705,650 to $1,396,100

Publishing these separately rather than as one blended span is the practice this site keeps asking for, and the reason shows in the numbers: the drive-thru formats start where the in-line format tops out. A buyer working from a single blended figure would plan for a drive-thru and fund an in-line restaurant, or the reverse.

The in-line traditional floor of $379,650 puts Firehouse Subs within reach of a smaller buyer in a way several higher-profile sandwich brands are not. It is not the lowest floor on this site: Playa Bowls publishes $255,944 and Robeks $298,050 for a single unit. What matters more than the ranking is that Firehouse publishes a per-format floor at all, which lets you check it against your own site costs rather than against a blended average.

Every US state is open, and that is rare

Its franchise-locations page states territory is available in every US state.

That deserves noting because the opposite keeps turning up. Del Taco is not taking Southern California applications, its founding region. Freddy’s lists Kansas as unavailable, its founding state. Church’s Texas Chicken limits Texas to existing franchisees. Wings Etc reads “No Open Markets Currently” across the board.

Canada is a different picture, and Firehouse Subs is specific about it: Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are sold out; the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Quebec are not being expanded into; Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador are available.

That level of specificity is worth more than a generic “territories available” claim, because it can be checked and it can be wrong.

The veteran programme is structured unusually

Most brands that offer veterans anything offer a percentage off the franchise fee, typically 10 to 25 percent. Against Firehouse Subs’ $20,000 fee, a 20 percent discount would be worth $4,000.

Instead it runs a Veteran and First Responder Development Incentive Program offering up to $100,000 in cash per restaurant. That is a different order of magnitude and a different mechanism, closer to development support than to a discount.

Two cautions. “Up to” is doing real work in that sentence, and the qualifying conditions matter more than the headline. Incentive programmes also change far more often than franchise fees do, so confirm current terms directly rather than relying on any page, including this one. Our veteran franchise discount guide compares how brands structure these, and the range in generosity is wider than most buyers expect.

One inconsistency and one gap

Its investment page gives a $150,000 minimum liquid capital figure. Its FAQ gives a $300,000 minimum net worth that the investment page does not repeat. Neither contradicts the other, but a buyer reading only the investment page would miss half the requirement.

Neither page states the initial term or renewal conditions. Secondary sources report a 10-year term with a renewal fee set at a percentage of the then-current franchise fee, and we are not publishing that as fact because it did not come from Firehouse Subs. Ask for FDD Item 17.

Questions to ask before you rely on any figure

• Which format is available at the site I am considering, given that the drive-thru formats start where the in-line format ends?
• Is the 6 percent royalty plus 5 percent advertising the entire ongoing obligation, or is there a local co-op or technology fee on top?
• What are the exact eligibility conditions for the veteran and first responder incentive, and what determines where in the “up to $100,000” range a restaurant lands?
• Both a $150,000 liquid and a $300,000 net worth minimum appear on different pages: are both current?
• What are the initial term and renewal conditions, and does renewal require a remodel?
• Is my specific market genuinely open, given that territory is stated as available in every state?
• Will a franchise attorney and an accountant review the full FDD with me before I commit?