The take-out fried chicken market is expected to reach $9.85 billion in value by 2030. If the longterm prospects of this industry interest you, a new franchise you may want to look at is Chicken Guy!
Chicken Guy!, founded by TV and Food personality Guy Fieri and restaurateur Robert Earl, is a chain of fried chicken restaurants that serve chicken tenders, chicken sandwiches, and a whole lot of interesting sauces. They’ve been around since 2018 and are open for franchising.
How much does it cost to open Chicken Guy!? To open this fried chicken chain, you can expect the investment range from $817,500 to $2,552,500 with a franchise fee of $20,000.
Keep on reading below to know more about Chicken Guy! and if it’s a worthy investment. You can also take our 7-minute franchise quiz to be matched with a chicken franchise that matches your goals and investment level.
Page Contents
Financial Requirements and Fees
| Fees / Expenses | Financial Amount |
| Total Investment | $817,500 to $2,552,500 |
| Franchise Fee | $20,000 |
Chicken Guy! offers two options when you franchise with them: 1.) an in-line, end cap, or drive thru restaurant or 2.) a nontraditional restaurant.
An in-line, end cap, or drive thru restaurant is a location where you’re situated in one building and you could be beside another business (in-line) or at the corner or far end of the building (end cap). Drive thru is where cars can pass by a window and place their orders.
A nontraditional restaurant is defined as a location that’s bigger in size and has more seating capacity. Here is the breakdown of expenses for both options:
| Type of Expenditure | Amount: In-line, End Cap or Drive Thru | Amount: Nontraditional Restaurant |
| Initial Franchise Fee | $20,000 | $20,000 |
| Application Fee | $30,000 | $30,000 |
| Grand Opening Required Spending | $7,500 | $3,000 |
| Leasehold Costs and Building and Site Improvements | $400,000 to $1,900,000 | $600,000 to $1,200,000 |
| Furnishings, Fixtures and Equipment | $180,000 to $250,000 | $180,000 to $250,000 |
| Signage | $25,000 to $75,000 | $25,000 to $75,000 |
| Point of Sale System | $15,000 to $25,000 | $15,000 to $25,000 |
| Technology | $15,000 to $25,000 | $15,000 to $25,000 |
| Graphic Items | $30,000 to $60,000 | $30,000 to $60,000 |
| Professional Fees | $5,000 to $10,000 | $5,000 to $10,000 |
| Initial Manager Training | $15,000 to $25,000 | $15,000 to $25,000 |
| Pre-Opening Costs | $15,000 to $25,000 | $15,000 to $25,000 |
| Additional Funds – 3 months | $50,000 to $75,000 | $50,000 to $75,000 |
| TOTAL ESTIMATED INITIAL INVESTMENT | $817,500 to $2,552,500 |
In addition, Chicken Guy charges a royalty fee of 6% of the gross sales and a weekly marketing obligation fee that’s currently 4% of the gross sales. For veterans, there is a discount of $5,000 off the application fee.
Average Sales / Revenue per Year
There has been no official report on how much Chicken Guy makes in revenue annually. Keep in mind this is still a very new concept with still less than 20 units at the time of writing. According to industry data, the average revenue of a chicken restaurant in the United States is $1.5 million per year. However, this number can vary widely depending on the size, location, and brand of the restaurant. For example, a small, independent chicken restaurant in a rural area may have an average revenue of only $500,000 per year or less.
To demonstrate the potential upside of a chicken restaurant, the leading chicken-focused QSR chains in terms of sales per unit per year are and Chick-fil-A at $5.01 million average annual revenue per unit and Raising Cane’s at $3.85 million annually.
Chicken Guy! Franchise Facts
| Total Units | 12 |
| Incorporated Name | Chicken Guy! |
| Franchising Since | 2019 |
| Industry | Food |
| Subsector | Fried Chicken |
Chicken Guy! is the brain child of two personalities in the food TV scene: Robert Earl and Guy Fieri. Earl is known for being the founder of Planet Hollywood and Earl of Sandwich while Fieri is known for hosting Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and Guy’s Big Bite. The two heavyweights came together to create a chicken restaurant concept called Chicken Guy!.
Chicken Guy! boasts of serving up chicken tenders that are antibiotic free, brined, and pressure-fried. They serve them as sandwiches as well. The sides include fries, slaw, pickle chips, and mac n cheese. But the stars of the menu are the 22 unique sauces highlighted below:
- Special Sauce
- Donkey Sauce
- Ranchero
- Curry Mayo
- Wasabi Honey
- Cumin Lime Mojo
- Garlic Parmesan
- Avocado Crema
- Bourbon Brown Sugar BBQ
- Buffalo
- Bleu Cheese
- Lemon Pepper
- Buttermilk Ranch
- Honey Mustard
- Teriyaki
- Sweet n Sour
- Chipotle Ranch
- Nashville Hot Honey
- Peri Peri
- Habanero Hot Sauce
- Spicy Mayo
- Sweet Sriracha BBQ
There’s a lot of sauce at Chicken Guy.
Chicken Guy! is open franchising and you may contact them by filling up the form here. The size of their traditional restaurants (end cap, in-line, and drive-thru) is 70 to 110 sq. m or 800 to 1200 sq. ft while their nontraditional restaurants are 180 to 220 sq. m or 2,000 to 2,500 sq. ft. The company headquarters is located in Florida.
How Much Does Chicken Guy! Make in Profit?
There are no official numbers to present how much Chicken Guy! makes in profit as of the time of this writing. As mentioned earlier this is a new concept without a long track record.
Advantages of a Chicken Guy! Franchise
There are many advantages you can look forward to when you decide to open a Chicken Guy! franchise. Here are a few you can expect.
Backed by Experienced Food Enthusiasts
A food business can fail when the ones brainstorming or running it are usually inexperienced. Lucky for Chicken Guy!, they’re run by two experienced food personalities Fieri and Earl. They both know what concept they want to sell to the public and what can be considered delicious to their customers. So there’s a high chance that Chicken Guy! will succeed in the long run due to the expertise of the ones running the business.
You Might Like: How Much Does it Really Cost (w/ Fees) to Open a KFC?
Menu
As mentioned above, Chicken Guy’s menu consists of chicken tenders and chicken sandwiches. Though each menu differs by location, the chicken tenders and sandwiches are mostly the regulars. The sauces are also available (though some locations offer less than 22). The numerous choices on their menu can have customers coming back for more to try out everything.
And order at Chicken Guy.
Simple
Chicken Guy’s concept is pretty simple due to a menu that’s extremely focused. It’s a no-frills business that even the franchise boasts it’s easy to run.
Challenges of a Chicken Guy! Franchise
Businesses will always have challenges. Here are some of them that you can expect when you franchise Chicken Guy!:
Too Simple + Competition
We did mention above that one of the good things about Chicken Guy! was because it was a simple business. But it can be too simple that you might wonder, what edge does it have against other franchises that have even more locations and are globally well-known? Buffalo Wild Wings sells fried chicken and are also well known for their sauces.
Limited operating history. Chicken Guy! is a relatively new franchise with only a few locations open. This means that there is limited operating history to track the performance of the business like revenue and profitability. This can make it difficult to predict how successful a Chicken Guy! franchise will be in the long term in 5 – 10 years from now.
Dependence on a single celebrity. The Chicken Guy! brand is heavily associated with celebrity chef Guy Fieri. If Fieri were to lose his popularity or become involved in a scandal, it could damage the Chicken Guy! brand and hurt the business. We’ve seen this happen before with spokespersons from brands like Subway.
High initial investment cost. The initial investment cost for a Chicken Guy! franchise is between $817,500 and $2,552,500. As a comparison, you could invest in a Dave’s Hot Chicken concept starting at $626,300, which is about 23% less than the starting price of a Chicken Guy! Make sure that you have the financial resources to support it before you invest in any franchise concept.
Chicken Guy! would have to continue coming up with new and different items regularly to keep their customers interested.
Is the Chicken Guy! Franchise Right For You?
Chicken Guy! looks to be a decently priced franchise. In comparison, KFC’s franchise fee is $45,000 and Popeye’s is $50,000. Chick-Fil-A’s is $10,000 but then the royalty fee is 15%. Chicken Guy’s franchise fee is at $20,000 with a royalty fee of 6% so it’s right in the middle against all other chicken franchises. So if this fits your budget then Chicken Guy is the franchise for you.
Chicken tenders at Chicken Guy.
What is an alternative Chicken Guy! franchise?
You might also want to check out Dave’s Hot Chicken. They’re a popular chicken place that’s known for selling chicken tenders with different levels of spiciness with the Reaper being the hottest. They’ve been around since 2017 starting as a pop up but they’ve grown to more than 70 locations in less than 10 years.
To franchise Dave’s Hot Chicken, expect the investment to be around $626,300 to $1,413,500 with a franchise fee of $40,000. Check out our full guide in franchising Dave’s Hot Chicken here.
If you’re deciding in franchising Chicken Guy! I hope this guide gives you an unbiased view of this restaurant chain. 
