Bonchon Franchise Cost (2025): Fees & Investment Breakdown

Bonchon at a Glance

Bonchon is a Korean fried chicken brand founded in Busan, South Korea, in 2002 and now headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Known for double-fried chicken hand-brushed with soy-garlic and gochujang-based sauces, the brand has franchised since 2011 and operates roughly 498 locations across nine countries ^[5]. In the United States, Bonchon offers single-unit and area-development agreements; outside the US, it appoints one master franchise partner per country.

This guide covers documented costs and fees only, drawn from Bonchon's 2025 US Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) analyses and the franchisor's own recruitment site. It makes no claims about revenue or profitability.

Total Initial Investment: Format Drives the Range

Bonchon's 2025 US FDD Item 7 puts the total initial investment between $591,436 ^[1] and $1,312,626 ^[1]. That wide span is structural, not noise — it reflects two distinct store formats:

• Delivery & Carryout — the smaller-footprint format sets the low end of the range at $591,436 ^[1].
• Dine-In restaurant — the full-service format starts at $1,005,136 ^[1] and reaches $1,312,626 ^[1] at the high end, excluding real property.

In practice, the format decision is the single largest cost lever a prospective Bonchon franchisee controls: a Delivery & Carryout unit sits in an entirely different capital tier than a full Dine-In restaurant, before any real estate purchase is considered.

Cost and Fee Summary

Item	Amount	Notes
Initial investment — Delivery & Carryout (low end)	$591,436 [1]	2025 US FDD Item 7
Initial investment — Dine-In (low end)	$1,005,136 [1]	2025 US FDD Item 7
Initial investment — Dine-In (high end)	$1,312,626 [1]	Excludes real property
Initial franchise fee	$35,000 [2]	Discounts for multi-unit commitments
Royalty	5% [2]	Of weekly gross revenues, after the first 12 months
System ad fund	up to 4% (currently 1.5%) [3]	Plus local advertising minimums
Liquid capital required	$500,000 [2]	Single operator (1–2 units)
Net worth required	$1M [2]	Single-operator tier; higher tiers for 3+ units
Korea startup cost (reference only)	KRW 125,730,000 [4]	Excludes rent/deposit; see note below

Franchise Fee and Multi-Unit Scaling

The standard initial franchise fee is $35,000 ^[2]. Per the FDD, the fee scales down for committed multi-unit developers — $25K ^[2] for units 3–5 and $20K ^[2] for units 6 and beyond. International candidates should note that this schedule applies to the US program; master-franchise terms for other countries are negotiated separately through Bonchon's international team.

Ongoing Fees

• Royalty: 5% ^[2] of weekly gross revenues, applied after the first 12 months of operation — the first year carries no royalty under this structure.
• Advertising: a system ad fund of up to 4% (currently 1.5%) ^[3], plus local advertising minimums defined in the franchise agreement. Prudent applicants budget against the ceiling rather than the current collection rate, since the franchisor can raise contributions within the disclosed cap.

Financial Qualifications

Bonchon's stated requirement for a single operator (1–2 units) is $500,000 ^[2] in liquid capital and a $1M ^[2] net worth. Higher financial thresholds apply to candidates pursuing three or more units under area-development agreements.

A Note on Korea

Korean disclosure aggregator MyFranchise lists an approximate startup cost of KRW 125,730,000 ^[4], excluding rent and deposit. Treat this figure as reference only: unlike most Korean chicken franchises, Bonchon built its network overseas and currently has no meaningful domestic Korean franchise footprint. If you are comparing Bonchon against Korea-centric brands using Korean (KFTC) disclosure data, this asymmetry matters — Bonchon's operationally meaningful disclosure is the US FDD, not a Korean filing.

How to Verify

Before making any commitment, request Bonchon's current Franchise Disclosure Document directly from the franchisor and confirm every figure above against the fee and initial-investment items of the latest issue. FDDs are reissued annually, third-party summaries can lag, and your actual costs will vary by site, market, and chosen format. For markets outside the United States, ask Bonchon's international franchising team or the designated master franchisee for the current country-specific disclosure equivalent before relying on any published number.