German Doner Kebab vs The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill

These are the two filings here that both publish their Item 7 line items and both describe a real fit-out with a dining room, which makes them unusually comparable and unusually easy to compare wrongly. German Doner Kebab’s outlet is 1,200–1,400 square feet at $690,500–$1,123,000, from an FDD issued 3 September 2024. The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill’s is a single in-line or end-cap restaurant of 1,800–2,000 square feet at $582,014–$1,088,560, from an FDD issued 17 August 2023 — a year earlier, which is a year of construction pricing that no table can reconcile.

The totals nearly match and the buckets do not

The ranges overlap heavily and the ceilings sit close together, so the totals are the least informative thing here. Underneath them the projects are built differently. Great Greek puts $250,000–$650,000 into leasehold improvements and then a further $225,964–$248,560 into a franchisor-defined Restaurant Package, with grand opening included in that package and design and project management at a flat $10,000. GDK splits the same territory across several lines: leasehold improvements up to $250,000, mechanical, electrical and plumbing at $150,000–$175,000, fit-out materials and installation at $175,000–$205,000, restaurant equipment at $140,000–$175,000, furniture and fixtures at $15,500–$20,000, small wares at $11,000–$15,000, and architects and project manager fees at $30,000–$50,000. A consultant comparing “leasehold improvements” across the two filings is comparing a bucket that means different work in each document.

The sharper divergence is the money after opening. Great Greek’s additional funds line covers zero to six months at $35,000–$75,000. GDK’s covers approximately three months at $15,000–$20,000. The longer window carries the larger figure, so the two documents do not assume the same ramp, the same burn, or the same amount of owner cash standing behind the store on opening week. Two totals that land in the same band can therefore describe very different exposure in month four, and neither total answers it.

One franchisor operates part of its system; the other operates none

Great Greek’s 2023 count is 31 units, 24 franchised and 7 company, with the brand founded in 2017 and franchising since 2018. GDK’s 2023 count is seven outlets, all franchised, none company, franchising since 2017. Both counts describe the same calendar year, but they arrive from filings issued a year apart, which is exactly the trap of reading a table as one survey day.

Seven company restaurants inside a 31-unit system means the franchisor is still an operator, and it shows up in the Item 19: gross revenues, cost of goods and payroll for six affiliate restaurants, plus the highest and lowest of six franchise restaurants open two years. GDK’s Item 19 rests on a single franchised outlet at American Dream Mall, the only unit open for the full year. Both rows read Yes. One offers some cost structure for a defined population that is mostly affiliate-operated; the other offers one store. Neither is a system average and neither should be presented as typical.

The structures being sold differ too. GDK’s Item 7 range is per outlet inside a five-outlet minimum commitment, so the disclosed number is the first instalment of a development schedule. Great Greek’s filing describes a single restaurant. The capital conversation is therefore not one restaurant against one restaurant, whatever the two columns look like side by side.

Fees that look alike and escalate differently

Ranked, the stacks are 11% at GDK and 10% at Great Greek. That one point is the least interesting sentence available. GDK’s components are 6% royalty, 3% brand fund and 2% local advertising, with the local spend waivable if the outlet joins a cooperative that may itself levy up to 2%, and with royalty and brand fund raisable annually against no stated cap. Great Greek’s are 6% royalty, 3% brand fund with a disclosed right to raise it to 4%, and 1% local. One filing names its ceiling; the other does not have one. Over a ten-year term that difference matters more than the current gap between the two rows.

Duration is the other structural break. Great Greek’s initial term is 35 years with one additional 35-year term and a $2,500 renewal fee. GDK’s is ten years with one ten-year option, conditional on the outlet not being in the bottom 10% on performance, at 50% of the then-current franchise fee. Transfers are the greater of $29,500 or 10% of the sale price, capped at the then-current franchise fee, against 5% of the sale price at GDK. Training runs 60.25 classroom and 180 on-the-job hours at Great Greek against 40 and 120 at GDK. Initial fees are $39,500 and $30,000, and Great Greek’s Item 7 low end uses a discounted franchise fee available only to owners of affiliated brands, so a first-time buyer does not enter at the bottom of that range.

What to ask before either range is used in a memo

Ask each franchisor which line items moved between the 2023 or 2024 filing and the current one, since both totals are now aged. Ask Great Greek what the Restaurant Package contains and what is excluded from it, because a package that big absorbs equipment decisions a buyer would otherwise price competitively. Ask GDK what the five-outlet schedule commits the buyer to and when. Ask both how many months of working capital they actually expect a store to hold, given that one document says six and the other says three. And ask what a 35-year term does to a buyer whose hold period is closer to ten.

Neither column tells you whether a döner counter or a Greek grill fits the site the buyer already has. Read how consultants use this first.