Charleys Cheesesteaks

The Charleys franchise fee is $24,500 for your first restaurant, dropping to $15,000 for second and subsequent locations — a meaningful scaling incentive. Veterans get a 50% discount, bringing the first-restaurant fee to $12,250. The $7,000–$10,000 mandatory Grand Opening Marketing Kit is due at opening and counts as an upfront cost, not ongoing fees.

Investment ranges vary substantially by format. A standard CPS restaurant (mall food court, airport, military, inline) runs $204K to $694K. The CPSW format with chicken wings (freestanding or inline) runs $220K to $985K — the high end reflects suburban inline locations with full build-outs. Walmart locations are notably cheaper at $237K to $569K, benefiting from the shell infrastructure and Walmart's negotiated terms.

For Walmart-specific locations, there's a rent structure that deserves special attention: you pay Charleys 10% of weekly gross sales with a minimum of $250/week to sublease the space from the franchisor's affiliate (CPS Sites). This is on top of the standard 6% royalty and up to 4% advertising — so your effective fee burden in a Walmart can approach 20% of gross sales if occupancy is included.

The standard ongoing royalty is the greater of $300 or 6% of gross sales — right at the QSR average. Total advertising runs 3–4% of gross sales depending on format (CPS locations at 3%, CPSW non-Walmart at 4%). Combined standard fee burden: 9–10% of gross sales, competitive with the QSR category.

Charleys provides Item 19 data for 641 of 744 franchised restaurants open for the full 2024 calendar year — good coverage at 86%. Average gross sales system-wide: $911K. Median: $813K.

Venue breakdown is instructive: - Mall food court (298 locations): $1.03M average, $949K median — the highest-performing venue type - Strip center (162 locations): $914K average, $807K median - Walmart (113 locations): $726K average, $705K median - Military bases (65 locations): $676K average, $652K median - Airports (3 locations): $1.27M average — small sample, not reliable for planning

The mall food court performance is the headline: $1M+ average on buildout costs of $204K–$694K for a CPS restaurant. If you can get a good mall food court location, the economics are compelling. Strip centers and Walmarts perform 25–30% lower.

Charleys does not disclose expense data, COGS, or net income. At $911K average revenue with typical fast-casual food costs of 28–32% and labor at 28–33%, gross profit before rent, fees, and G&A is in the $360K–$450K range. After the 6% royalty ($55K), 4% marketing ($36K), and estimated rent, net operator income requires individual modeling.

Charleys is one of the fastest-growing concepts in this analysis. From 538 franchised locations at the start of 2022 to 744 by end of 2024 — 38% growth in three years. In 2022 alone, 93 new locations opened. In 2023, 111 opened. Growth slowed in 2024 (65 openings), which may reflect territory saturation or a deliberate pullback.

Closure rates are low relative to new openings: 19 in 2022, 22 in 2023, 16 in 2024. Net growth remains strongly positive. With 129 franchise agreements signed but not yet open, the pipeline is robust. The 69 company-owned locations (up from 55 in 2022) provide operational alignment between franchisor and franchisee.

The Walmart rent structure deserves careful modeling before you commit. Paying 10% of weekly gross sales to the franchisor's affiliate as sub-sublease rent, on top of the 6% royalty and 3% advertising, puts your total franchisor-directed fee burden at 19% of gross sales in those locations. The floor rent of $250/week ($13,000 annually) applies even in slow weeks.

Price change fees are unusual: $200 per menu price update beyond two per year. In a commodity-cost environment, your ability to respond to ingredient price changes is contractually constrained and costs money.

The failed inspection fee ($500–$1,500 plus expense reimbursement) and ongoing training fees ($1,500–$3,500 per program) create cost exposure that varies based on QA performance. The 6% royalty minimum of $300/week means you owe $15,600 annually regardless of sales — relevant for locations in early ramp-up or seasonal slowdowns.