How restaurant brands and franchises really work

Franchise economics, market entry and the companies behind the boards.

8 guides

Every menu is downstream of a business decision. These guides look at franchise costs and returns, why a brand enters one market and leaves another, who actually owns the chains, and what a master franchise agreement does to the prices you see. Pairs with our brand directory.

Brands & Business

How Fast-Food Franchising Actually Works

Almost every restaurant you think of as a chain is owned by someone else entirely. What the franchisee actually buys, and why it explains the price on the board.

3 min read · 706 words
Brands & Business

What It Costs to Open a Fast Food Franchise

The headline franchise fee is the smallest number in the deal. Where the real capital goes, and what determines whether a site works.

3 min read · 669 words
Brands & Business

Who Actually Owns the Big Fast Food Chains

A handful of parent companies sit behind a great many familiar logos, and the ownership rarely appears anywhere a customer would see it.

3 min read · 600 words
Brands & Business

How Restaurant Chains Set Their Prices

Menu pricing is a discipline with its own vocabulary - Price architecture, anchoring, elasticity, mix management. What is actually happening behind a board.

3 min read · 673 words

Other hubs

All guides →