Mad for Chicken vs The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill

Put these two Item 7 tables side by side and the interesting number is not the total. Mad for Chicken discloses $321,125–$691,700 for a full restaurant of 2,000–4,000 square feet, from an FDD issued 12 March 2025. The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill discloses $582,014–$1,088,560 for a single in-line or end-cap restaurant of 1,800–2,000 square feet, from an FDD issued 17 August 2023. The ranges touch only in the band between $582,014 and $691,700 — a narrow strip at the top of one filing and the bottom of the other — and the smaller box is the more expensive one.

Where the money goes, and when

Great Greek puts $250,000–$650,000 into leasehold improvements alone, which at its low end approaches the whole of Mad for Chicken’s construction obligation: architectural plans at $10,000–$20,000 plus leasehold improvements, construction and remodelling at $75,000–$235,000. On top of that Great Greek buys a franchisor-defined Restaurant Package at $225,964–$248,560 with a design and project management fee of $10,000, and grand opening is included in the package. Mad for Chicken itemises the same territory separately and more cheaply: furniture, fixtures and equipment at $85,000–$110,000, signage at $5,500–$9,500, a POS system at $3,000–$15,000, and a flat $15,000 of grand opening advertising.

One filing hands the franchisee a specified package at a specified price; the other leaves more of the fit-out to the buyer’s own procurement, with the variance that implies.

The working capital lines are the ones you should copy into the model first. Great Greek discloses additional funds for zero to six months at $35,000–$75,000. Mad for Chicken discloses three months at $51,375–$162,000. The shorter window carries the larger figure, and by a wide margin at the top. Two filings cannot be describing the same assumption about ramp, and neither total says how much cash should still be in the account in month four. Ask each franchisor what that line is meant to cover, and whether it assumes an owner-operator or a hired manager.

Mad for Chicken also discloses an express build at $243,500–$470,700, which Great Greek has no equivalent to; that low end is a different project from the Greek grill.

One system is mostly franchised; the other is mostly the franchisor’s

The two counts are a year apart, as are the filings behind them. Great Greek shows 31 units as of 2023, 24 franchised and 7 company, franchising since 2018 from a 2017 founding. Mad for Chicken shows 12 units as of 2024, 2 franchised and 10 company, franchising since 2019 from a 2017 founding, against 19 units at year-end 2023 in its previous filing.

Ten of twelve outlets in franchisor hands is the more important disclosure. Most of what the Mad for Chicken system knows about operating a Mad for Chicken is held by the franchisor, and the franchised base a buyer can call is two outlets deep. Great Greek’s system has moved further along that path: two dozen franchised restaurants, with seven company units still operated by an affiliate.

The Item 19s follow the ownership. Great Greek’s covers gross revenues, cost of goods and payroll for six affiliate restaurants, plus the highest and lowest of six franchise restaurants open two years. Mad for Chicken’s covers unaudited 2023 and 2024 gross revenue for affiliate and franchised outlets, revenue only, with no costs and no profit, and excludes four affiliate and two franchised outlets that closed before completing the year. Both rows say Yes and the two representations are not equivalent: one carries two cost lines for a defined population, the other carries a top line and nothing beneath it. In both cases the sample is affiliate-heavy, and a franchisor’s own restaurants are not a franchisee’s income statement.

Fee stacks that meet at the ceiling

Ranked today, Great Greek is 10% and Mad for Chicken is 8%. Great Greek’s components are a 6% royalty, a 3% brand fund with a disclosed right to rise to 4%, and 1% local advertising. Mad for Chicken’s are a 5% royalty, a brand fund of 1% plus a media marketing fee of 1%, and 1% local — and its filing discloses that the brand fund and the media fee can each rise to 2%. Read at the disclosed ceilings, Mad for Chicken reaches ten points, which is exactly where Great Greek stands today, and Great Greek reaches eleven. A model built on the current cells is a model built on the floor of both columns.

Duration is the other structural break, and it is large. Great Greek runs 35 years with one additional 35-year term at a $2,500 renewal fee. Mad for Chicken runs ten years with two successor terms of ten years each. Transfers cost the greater of $29,500 or 10% of the sale price, capped at the then-current franchise fee, against a flat $10,000. Training is 60.25 classroom and 180 on-the-job hours against 25 and 196. Initial fees are $39,500 and $35,000, though Great Greek’s Item 7 low end uses a discounted fee available only to owners of affiliated brands, so a first-time buyer does not enter at that end.

The questions this pair generates

Which Mad for Chicken format is actually on offer for the site in question, and which Item 7 applies to it. What the Great Greek Restaurant Package includes and excludes, and whether any of it can be sourced elsewhere. How many of the two franchised Mad for Chicken outlets have been open long enough to be worth calling, and what happened at the six that closed during 2024. Whether a 35-year term suits a buyer whose hold period is a decade. And what has changed on both sides since 2023 and 2025, because neither row is guaranteed to be the current offer.

Neither table decides between Korean fried chicken and a Greek grill. It decides what each project costs to open and what it costs to run.