Freddy’s Nears 600 Locations with Plenty of Growth Ahead

Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers announced Tuesday it expects to open about 60 locations this year as it approaches 600 restaurants. As has been the case since the 2002-founded chain’s early days, existing franchisees are fueling the projection. About a third, the company said, are expanding into additional territories.

And, in an effort to become more agile as store count rises, Freddy’s continues to lift beyond its standalone restaurant with a focus on endcap and in-line stores. These provide franchisees added flexibility and pathways through priority markets. Investment ranges start at $854,834 for an in-line (versus $1.586 million for a standalone).

That overall push will take Freddy’s across the Northeast, Rust Belt, Midwest, Pacific Northwest, Northern California, and Florida.

Market position

In terms of where Freddy’s stands at this acceleration juncture, the brand ended 2015 as the 14th ranked burger chain among the top 50 grossing QSR concepts in the U.S., by systemwide sales. It closed the year at $1.040 billion, chasing Carl’s Jr. ($1.426 billion) and Shake Shack ($1.541 billion). The top five were McDonald’s ($55.061 billion), Wendy’s ($11.898 billion), Burger King ($11.074 billion), Sonic Drive-In ($5.242 billion), and Dairy Queen ($5.013 billion).

In between, beginning at No. 6, was Whataburger ($4.311 billion), Jack in the Box ($4.209 billion), Culver’s ($4.2 billion), In-N-Out ($2.6 billion), Five Guys ($2.313 billion), and Hardee’s ($2.027 billion).

Full data will be released in August as part of the QSR 50.

Growth potential

It is worth noting in this burger picture, however, Freddy’s, at 580 year-end 2025 units, was the third smallest of the group, bigger only than Shake Shack (420) and In-N-Out (431). And its net expansion of 30 restaurants ranked as the sixth best result, behind McDonald’s (147), Whataburger (76), Shake Shack (47), Culver’s (44), and Wendy’s (36).

So, the brand has room to grow, and, comparatively, outside of Shake Shack, which evolved into a permanent location in 2004, is a young concept in a lineup of legacy giants.

But a lot has happened over Freddy’s 24 years, when brothers Randy and Bill Simon and their business partner and friend, Scott Redler, opened the first store off 21st and West Road in Wichita, Kansas.

Randy started doing accounting work at Pizza Hut and became an operator of the brand as well as Panera Bread. Freddy’s began, in vision, with Randy and Bill’s father, Freddy, talking about a good pressed-burger concept that also served custard because there wasn’t anything local to compare.

The chain’s inaugural operator, Ron Oberg, franchised a Freddy’s in 2004 in Hutchinson, Kansas, and is still building today.

More recently, the chain was sold in September 2025 to global private equity firm Rhône Group for an undisclosed price. In the chain’s FDD, terms were explained as shares of common stock being automatically canceled, extinguished, and converted into the right to receive cash without interest. The total initial purchase price of the transactions came in at about $650 million. Patriot (an affiliate of Rhône) funded the deal with a term loan of $350 million and its indirect parent company contributed capital of roughly $311.9 million.

As of December 31, there was one member unit outstanding of the company, owned by Patriot IL Holdings LLC.

Rhône is the same firm that in February 2018 bought purchased Fogo de Chão for $560 million in an all-cash deal and, five years later, sold it to Bain Capital.

Thompson Street Capital Partners had owned Freddy’s since 2021 and tapped current CEO Chris Dull, a former Global Franchise Group leader, to consult before it acquired Freddy’s. He was asked to join as CEO when ownership flipped that May and has seen it scale steadily since.

When TSCP brought Freddy’s into the fold, it had just hit a milestone of opening 30 U.S. restaurants in its 20th year of business. There were about 400 locations. Freddy’s had 281 at year-end 2017 when its average-unit volume was $1.463 million. The chain opened a net of 33, 61, 35, and 31 restaurants from 2021–2024 and has taken that AUV up to $1.901 million.

And returning to the larger burger landscape, In-N-Out ($6.032 million), McDonald’s ($4.088 million), Culver’s ($4.040 million), Shake Shack ($4.048 million), Whataburger ($3.914 million), Wendy’s ($2.001 million), and Jack in the Box ($1.97 million) reported higher among that Top 14.

Freddy’s paced ahead of Burger King ($1.6 million), Five Guys ($1.531 million), Sonic ($1.5 million), Dairy Queen ($1.218 million), Carl’s Jr. ($1.422 million), and Hardee’s ($1.344 million).

Expansion plans

Freddy’s expansion in 2025—also a norm for the brand—took place nearly entirely on the franchised side. That slice expanded by a net of 28 to reach 542 stores. Freddy’s corporate footprint upped by two to close at 38 restaurants.

Since 2023, Freddy’s has grown its franchised fleet from 427 stores to 542.

As shown below, Freddy’s is spread out. California (eight), Idaho (nine), Florida (nine), Illinois (seven), Louisiana (nine), Michigan (five), Minnesota (six), Mississippi (three), Montana (one), New Jersey (six), New Mexico (nine), Nevada (seven), North Dakota (one), Pennsylvania (seven), South Dakota (three), Utah (nine), Virginia (nine), Wisconsin (three), and Wyoming (two) were all single-digit markets headed into 2026. The only state in America boasting more than 50 franchised Freddy’s was Texas (89).

Last year’s development included 47 openings—above 2024’s 37 but below 2023’s 61—alongside 19 terminations (more than the seven in 2024 and zero in 2023), and no other activity. Freddy’s reacquired three restaurants in 2023 but hasn’t since. It also ceased a unit for other reasons that year. No locations carried that distinction in 2024 or 2025. There haven’t been any non-renewals in this three-year span, either. Freddy’s hasn’t closed any corporate locations.

The 60 locations Freddy’s said it has slated for 2026 follows the same dotted compass (the FDD lists the projection at 57 gross). Only Texas (eight) is north of five planned openings. Missouri, North Carolina, and South Carolina each have four on deck.

New Jersey and Utah tout three apiece. Every other market promises two or one. That runs across the country, with openings listed for Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virgina, and Washington.

Freddy’s also claims six franchisee agreements signed without an outlet opened yet. There’s one each in Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, and Texas.

A sole company outlet, in Missouri, is expected to open in 2026 as well.

While this growth unfurls, on the doorstep of 2026, there were 38 company-owned Freddy’s and 542 franchised. These tables display gross receipts of 35 corporate venues and 475 franchised (opened for the full fiscal year). The chart doesn’t include two corporate and 43 franchised restaurants not open the entire calendar and 19 that closed last year.

Twenty-three non-traditional restaurants, of which 22 are franchised, were not factored in, too. Those aren’t open seven days per week and operate during limited hours. Freddy’s has five stores on college campuses, two in casinos, three at airports, and 13 in sports arenas.

Freddy’s provided transparency into the performance of its end-cap runway.

Freddy’s also showed cost of sales, labor, and controllable expenses of company-owned restaurants. It’s a chart covering 35 of 38 locations, excluding one non-trad restaurant and two that weren’t open for the year.

And building on the endcap debate, Freddy’s outlined revenues and expenses of restaurants operating in endcap and inline facilities.

As of December 31, 2025, there were 45 franchised stores and eight corporate that weren’t freestanding and operated in endcap and in-line facilities via shopping centers. Below is the data for 42 franchised and seven corporate.

Freddy’s typical in-line restaurants run 2,400 to 3,000 square feet without a drive-thru and have seating for 50–120 guests. A standalone Freddy’s is 3,000 square feet of internal space and occupies a parcel of 0.8–1 acre. They seat 50–120 customers, too.

An in-line without a drive-thru carried a total estimated initial investment, circling back to the opening point, of $854,834–1.302 million. Endcap with a drive-thru is $1.026 million–$2.361 million, and standalone with drive-thru $1.586 million–$2.8 million.