⛫ Culver's & Chick-Fil-A 👀

The midwest burger giant had another big year:

• Average revenue: $4,145,665 (+7.5% YoY)

• Average EBITDA: ~13% *

• Locations: finished the year at 1,041 units (+44 locations for the year)

*EBITDA is representative of the corporate locations only

With only 4 failed franchises in 37 years, this is one of the steadiest brands out there. That said, 13% EBITDA is surprising given their high average unit volume!

Culver’s shares a ton of data in their Item 19. Here are a few other random stats from 2025 that were interesting:

• Wisconsin average unit volume came in at $4,517,210 - this is the home state of Culver’s and still has the highest volume of stores, with 138

• North Carolina had the best performance of any state, with an average unit volume of $4,796,415 across their 17 stores

• Locations with a 3-mile population of less than 10,000 are still cranking over $3.6M in revenue….gonna assume those locations are the only game in town

• Over 50% of Culver’s are in areas with a 3-mile population below 50,000…showing this brand does well being a destination in smaller towns

• The initial investment is listed at $3,406,350 - $10,294,100 🤯. We all know construction costs are ultra high these days…but even for a top brand like Culver’s, I just don’t know how the ROI makes sense on a build-out that high!

My podcast with 2-location Chick-Fil-A owner, Brandon Hurst, was released earlier this week.

The 2 hour interview is already the most downloaded/viewed episode of the show (not surprising given the massive interest in the Chick-Fil-A brand)!

I treated it as an opportunity to "demystify” the Chick-Fil-A operating agreement, where there seems to always be debate about certain aspects of it.

In the episode, Brandon transparently shares:

• How much it costs to become a Chick-Fil-A owner

• What % of revenue and profits Chick-Fil-A takes

• How long & difficult the application process is

• How often you have to be inside your store

• Whether you have to be a Christian or not

And so much more.

We also discussed his journey, from growing up in East Atlanta, to now owning 2 Chick-Fil-A’s that I can conservatively say do at least ~$19 million in revenue, collectively.

Brandon clearly has a leadership mentality, so we also spent a good chunk of time on how he builds the culture that results in the high level of customer service we all expect at a Chick-Fil-A.

KFC Mimicking Taco Bell So far, Yum! Brand is making good on it’s promise to roll out the Taco Bell playbook to their struggling fried chicken brand

Sysco Acquires Restaurant Depot The nation’s largest food distributor, will acquire supplier Restaurant Depot in a deal worth more than $29 billion. Though some think the acquistion will ultimately be blocked as it would cause restaurants to rely too much on Sysco for day-to-day needs.

Jubilant Waves the White Flag on Dunkin’ The massive multi-unit operator in India (master franchisee of Domino’s), will be exiting it’s Dunkin’ agreement by the end of this year, after failing to gain traction with the brand

Papa John’s Launches Sandwich Lineup Under pressure from Domino’s growing market share, Papa Johns has launched a new menu category that could help it expand its reach across consumer categories.

Rave Restaurant Group, Uber Eats Break Up Pizza Inn’s owner said the chain is focusing on dine-in traffic through value offerings instead of increasing volume through unprofitable orders.

OrangeTheory Still Hasn’t Recovered The fitness brand peaked in 2019 and has never recovered to their average unit volume, active members, etc.

Tracking Buc-ee’s Known for its mega-stores, Buc-ee’s is eyeing a second site in Ohio and scheduled a groundbreaking for its Monroe County, Georgia, location. C-Stores are IPOing 7-Eleven, among others, are planning for public offerings later this year.Trader Joe’s is Growing So far this year, the specialty grocer has announced plans for 17 new stores and opened two.