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Fish Things franchise — is it worth it?

Low risk Growing network Item 19 disclosed

Fish Things Franchise, LLC operates in the food & beverage sector, requiring an initial investment between $439,100 and $642,600.

Everything below is free, read straight off Fish Things's registered filing, with where the numbers land against food & beverage peers. Weighing Fish Things against other options? Get a free shortlist of franchises that fit your budget.

Figures above are as disclosed in Fish Things's most recent FDD (registered 2024). Source: California Dept. of Financial Protection and Innovation — Franchise Registration · filing app-30775 — check it yourself. See every other California-registered franchise.

How much does a Fish Things franchise make?

Fish Things is one of the franchisors that answers this on the record: its most recent FDD makes an Item 19 financial performance representation — actual unit earnings figures, disclosed by the franchisor itself. The headline figure is $2,004,947 in average unit revenue — read it alongside what Item 19 says about which units it covers (often only mature or top-performing locations). See every food & beverage brand that discloses earnings in the Food & beverage franchises with disclosed Item 19 earnings ranking.

Fish Things franchise profit vs. revenue

Revenue is not profit. An Item 19 almost always reports sales — what a location takes in — not what an owner keeps. Out of that number come Fish Things's 6% royalty, the ad fund, rent, payroll, supplies and debt service. No FDD tells you a Fish Things franchise's profit, because profit depends on your site, your rent and how you run it — so treat any "Fish Things franchise profit" figure quoted elsewhere as someone's estimate, not a disclosure. On $2,004,947 of revenue, a 6% royalty alone is about $120,297 a year before any other cost.

Fish Things lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)

Fish Things's most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2024) discloses no litigation in Item 3. That is a real signal rather than a gap: the FTC Franchise Rule requires a franchisor to disclose material litigation involving itself, its predecessors, parents, affiliates and management, so an empty Item 3 in a current filing means there was nothing it was required to report. It is worth reading alongside the churn numbers — a system can have a clean Item 3 and still be losing franchisees, which is what Item 20 shows.

Fish Things closures & failure rate

Before you sign, Fish Things will hand you a list of current owners to call as references — and they choose who's on that list. It won't include the owners who quit, got bought out, or were forced out last year. The FDD does report that number, even though the reference list leaves those people off. Below is what Fish Things's most recent filing shows, and whether it's normal for a food & beverage of this kind.

The closest thing an FDD has to a failure rate is Item 20 — outlet openings, closures, terminations and non-renewals, reported by the franchisor. Fish Things's latest tables show a growing franchised network. Net franchised outlets moved +1 to 1 in the latest reported year.

Who owns Fish Things?

Fish Things's franchise is offered by Fish Things Franchise, LLC — the franchisor named on the cover of its most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2024), and the entity a franchisee actually signs with. That name comes straight off the filing at CA DFPI; it identifies the franchisor, not necessarily the ultimate parent company behind it.

Food & beverage franchises at a similar investment level

Anyone weighing Fish Things is really weighing it against the other brands their money could go into. These are the closest by total initial investment (FDD Item 7), each with its own FDD-based page.

Fish Things franchise — frequently asked