Chick-fil-A Franchise for $10,000. But Does It Work for an E-2 Visa?

Recently, a client came to us for a business analysis for an E-2 visa.

One of the options he was considering was Chick-fil-A.

At first glance, it almost sounds too good to be true.

The initial cost to become a Chick-fil-A franchise operator is only $10,000.

For a restaurant franchise in the United States, that sounds almost unbelievable.

But then you start looking at the numbers.

Chick-fil-A retains ownership of the restaurant and its major assets. You become the operator and are expected to personally manage the restaurant on a full-time basis.

And now for the interesting part:

15% of gross sales goes to Chick-fil-A.

Not profit.

Gross sales.

Then Chick-fil-A receives an additional 50% of the remaining profit, calculated according to the terms of the franchise agreement.

Now consider the scale.

In 2025, the average freestanding Chick-fil-A restaurant generated approximately $9.2 MILLION in annual sales.

15% of $9.2 million is approximately $1.38 million.

And that is BEFORE the additional 50% profit split.

So the secret behind the seemingly incredible “$10,000 franchise” is actually quite simple:

You are not investing millions of dollars to build the restaurant — Chick-fil-A is.

But the multimillion-dollar asset does not become yours either.

And this is where an even more interesting question came up for our client.

How does this structure work for an E-2 visa?

For an E-2 visa, finding a profitable business is not enough.

The investor generally needs to demonstrate a substantial investment — a meaningful amount of capital that the investor has actually committed and placed at risk in a U.S. enterprise.

And when your own initial financial commitment is only $10,000, while Chick-fil-A finances the multimillion-dollar restaurant, an obvious question arises:

Where is the E-2 investor’s substantial investment?

This does not automatically mean that Chick-fil-A cannot work for an E-2 visa. The immigration analysis is more complex than simply looking at one number, and the investment must be evaluated in the context of the specific business and transaction structure.

But this is exactly why, when a client comes to us with a business they are considering for an E-2 visa, we do not look only at impressive sales figures.

We analyze:

— how much money the client is actually investing;
— how much of that capital is truly at risk;
— what the investor will own;
— what the investor will control;
— how much income the business may generate for the investor;
— and whether the overall structure meets the E-2 requirements.

Because a business generating nearly $10 million in annual sales may look impressive.

But for an E-2 visa, there is another question that can matter much more:

How much are YOU actually investing in the business?

And sometimes a franchise that costs “only $10,000” turns out to be much more complicated than it looks at first glance.