The Multi-Unit
Issue #00 — Preview

What the FDD actually says about Wingstop operator returns

A 3,400-word breakdown of Item 7, Item 19, and Item 20 — built from the 2025 FDD, the latest 10-K, and three years of Item 19 trend data.

About The Multi-Unit

The Multi-Unit is an independent publication for franchise operators running 3+ units. We read the filings so you don't have to. Every issue: one brand, one set of public documents, one honest read on the unit economics. No franchisor PR. No motivational fluff. Just the numbers and what an operator should actually do with them.

What's inside Issue #00

Wingstop, read line by line.

Six sections, each built from a primary document. Here's the structure of the issue.

01
The Build

What a Wingstop actually costs to open — and why the FDD's $298K floor is a fiction once you price a real Florida end-cap build.

02
The Revenue

The median AUV's 2023 → 2024 → 2025 trajectory — and the year a 22-year streak of positive comps finally broke.

03
The Margins

A full P&L build at the median AUV, from fee load to restaurant-level EBITDA, with a stress test at the 25th percentile.

04
The Network Health

What Item 20 reveals — a 0.16% closure rate, accelerating openings, and the absence of any distress-transfer signal.

05
The Operator's Take

Four actionable points for a Florida multi-unit operator weighing units #4 and #5 — and exactly what to underwrite to.

06
What I'm Watching

Three forward indicators — the Club Wingstop rollout, the ad-fund ceiling, and the new-unit AUV divergence.

The numbers, before you read a word of prose

Six figures that frame the issue.

$2.0M
Median Wingstop AUV in 2024, per the FDD's Item 19.
Wingstop 2025 FDD, Item 19 (FY2024)
$1.9M
Where 2025 lands — down roughly 5% from 2024.
Wingstop Q4 2025 earnings release
12.5%
Total Wingstop fee load — royalty plus ad fund plus local.
Wingstop 2025 FDD, Items 5 & 6
0.16%
2025 domestic closure rate — fewer than 5 closures across 2,500+ units.
Wingstop FY2025 10-K, Item 20
$298K–$1.01M
Item 7 stated initial-investment range.
Realistic Florida range: $550K–$800K
Wingstop 2025 FDD, Item 7
$5.7M
Highest single-unit net sales disclosed — 10.5× the lowest unit's $542K.
Wingstop 2025 FDD, Item 19 spread
From "The Operator's Take"

The median unit works — but you underwrite to the 25th percentile.

The $2.0M median AUV produces roughly $310K in EBITDA at the margin structure we build in this issue. That's genuinely compelling. But the Item 19 distribution is wide. The difference between the median and the 25th percentile is probably $500,000 in annual revenue — and $90,000 in EBITDA — based on the disclosed spread between average and lowest.

If your next Florida site doesn't clearly have the traffic counts, visibility, and co-tenancy to land in the upper half of the distribution, your returns will be in the 15–20% unlevered range. That's not catastrophic, but it's not the story you were sold. Model the median. Stress-test the 25th percentile. Be pleasantly surprised if you outperform.

— Issue #00, on what to actually underwrite to

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