If Dan Cathy would have kept his bless-ed mouth shut, I wouldnt have written this post about his Chick fil A franchise opportunities.

The franchise he runs is an empire. And, speaking of birds, even a Cardinal  knows that its an empire.

Its also one of the the most bizarre franchise systems in the world. For example:

Chik fil A Franchise Opportunities

The Chik fil A franchise fee for one restaurant is only $5,000. Again

The franchise fee for one Chik fil A franchise unit is only $5,000. Not very typical for franchise opportunities these days.

Waitlets do this right; lets call it a Chik fil A Franchise .

Heres Why the word franchise is in quotes;

1. Potential franchisees only pay a $5,000 Franchise Fee
2. Franchise owners dont own a thing
3. Franchisees maintain no equity in their business
4. Franchisees are not allowed to own any other businesses
5. Chick fil A chooses the location
6. Chick fil A owns the location

Chik fil A is not really a franchise business . Its an owner-operated business. That just so happens to charge a franchise fee. And, its easily searchable on all the search engines under Chik fil A Franchise Opportunities .

Typical Franchise Business Systems

Dan Cathys franchise system isnt even a distant cousin to the typical franchise seen today all over the world. The low Chik fil A franchisee fee is the giveaway here. For example, an average franchise fee will run $25,000-$35,000 or more. Proof.  And thats just for starters.

If you were to buy a Chik fil A franchise. theoretically, you would have an opportunity to build equity. Imagine how you would feel, if after working your tail off-building your franchise business up for 10 years or so, you could sell it and deposit a check for $600,000 into your retirement savings account. Thats called equity. What? You dont believe me? Will you believe my friend, Carol Roth. whos background includes investment banking?

Or, maybe you decide that instead of cashing in, you want to keep things in the family. In other words, you want to pass it on to your heirs. No problem. Just do it.

But, it would be a problem if you were a Chick fil A franchise owner. Thats because youre not allowed to do that. No way. No how. You bad person, you.

Did I mention that you cant sell your business . either? Would you like to know why?

Because you dont own a thing when youre a Chick fil A franchise owner. Thats because

You Bought Yourself a J O B

Thats right. So many people come up to me after I speak on franchising and suggest that buying a franchise is really buying yourself a job. Usually, I disagree. But, not in the case of what a Chick fil A franchisee buys.

(A high-paying job, supposedly. I read somewhere that the average yearly income for a Chik fil A franchise owner is around $200,000. I cant verify it, though .)

I was going to point out a few other key differences between a real franchise business and a fake hybrid franchise business model, but Im way too aggravated to do that now, so I hope youll forgive me.

But, if you want to learn more about the greatest business model ever invented, when its done the right way, read this franchise article .

What Im Angry About

Today, Im angry about the fact that Chick fil A, the food franchise with well over $3 Billion dollars in revenue. can get away with calling their franchise opportunity a franchise. A true franchise business allows people to invest in their own business, and have something to show for it when theyre ready to exit it.  A true franchise business is a partnership. (Careful, Joelthe word partnership may be considered a dirty word in Chick fil As uptight kitchens .)

I hope that Im not the only one in my industry that feels that Chick fil A is an embarrassment to the franchise industry -because of their butchering of the original and current franchise model. As a matter of fact, they should be thrown out of whatever franchise association theyre members of.  But, not for religious reasons . Im not going there, again. (Probably ) But, I did go there in this post about the President of Chick fil A .

New! My take on the Chik Fil A Franchise .