The Colonel. The Secret Spices. The Love it or hate it Gravy. KFC – or Kentucky Fried Chicken – is one of the most recognised food franchises in the world.
You’ll find KFC restaurants up and down the country, in cities, towns, service stations – over a thousand finger-licking establishments up and down the country. So if you’re interested in joining such a megabrand, what are the costs of buying a KFC franchise?
You won’t be surprised to learn that the costs of buying a KFC franchise are higher than most other franchises for sale in the UK today. According to the British Franchise Association, the average cost of setting up a franchise in this country is just over £42,000. But that takes in everything from simple man-in-a-van operations through to large scale, multi-unit franchises like KFC. Many of the lower investment franchises aren’t particularly scalable, though, and your future earnings will reflect that. Whereas, even though the costs of buying a KFC franchise run into millions, you’ll see a significant return on that investment.
On the company’s own website, it suggests you’ll need £5m to get on board with KFC. Those entry fees might be out of reach for most investors, especially as £2m of that has to come from liquid assets apart from borrowings. But, for well-established franchised brands like KFC, the banks will support loan applications to help good candidates finance the launch of their new business.
It’s not just the costs of buying a KFC franchise that you need to take into account, though. Even if you can raise the finance, you’ll need to meet the company’s strict selection criteria. Ideally you will have experience in hospitality and the food and beverage sectors. You’ll also need to have the skills and attributes required to operate within a world-famous fast food chain, and you’ll need ambitions beyond a single outlet too.
Like most well-known food and beverage franchises, such as McDonalds, Costa and Dominos, you’ll be required to open several outlets. Lots of KFC franchisees run dozens of restaurants and, in doing so, have built up valuable and profitable portfolios of their own. The largest KFC franchisee in the UK, the EG Group – currently owns over 220 KFC restaurants in the UK.
So, the costs of buying a KFC franchise might make it prohibitive for your average franchisee. You’ll need some serious cash to even consider getting involved. But KFC isn’t looking for average investors. It takes a certain calibre of entrepreneur to run multiple outlets. This isn’t your typical single unit franchise where, as the franchisee, you’ll be involved in the daily operations. This is more of an investment vehicle, one in which you’ll need to employ dozens or, in some cases, hundreds of members of staff.
But if you like the idea of building a portfolio of restaurant businesses, and value being part of one of the biggest brands in global fast food, then the costs of buying a KFC franchise will be great value for money.
