Franchise Facts Report → brands → The Cheese Steak Shop
The Cheese Steak Shop franchise — is it worth it?
Low risk Stable network Item 19 disclosed
The Cheese Steak Shop is a quick-service restaurant franchise with a disclosed Item 19, showing corporate units significantly outperforming franchisee units in gross revenue.
Everything below is free, read straight off The Cheese Steak Shop's registered filing, with where the numbers land against quick-service restaurant peers. Weighing The Cheese Steak Shop against other options? Get a free shortlist of franchises that fit your budget.
Figures above are as disclosed in The Cheese Steak Shop's most recent FDD (registered 2025). Source: California Dept. of Financial Protection and Innovation — Franchise Registration · filing app-29522 — check it yourself. See every other California-registered franchise.
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Tell us your budget and the industries you're open to. We'll match you with 5–10 franchises whose own FDDs fit — ranked by earnings disclosure, growth and closure rate — and email you the list. The Cheese Steak Shop will be on it if it fits.
How much does a The Cheese Steak Shop franchise make?
The Cheese Steak Shop 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 $1,128,924 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 quick-service restaurant brand that discloses earnings in the Fast food & quick-service restaurant franchises with disclosed Item 19 earnings ranking.
The Cheese Steak Shop 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 The Cheese Steak Shop's 5% royalty, the ad fund, rent, payroll, supplies and debt service. No FDD tells you a The Cheese Steak Shop franchise's profit, because profit depends on your site, your rent and how you run it — so treat any "The Cheese Steak Shop franchise profit" figure quoted elsewhere as someone's estimate, not a disclosure. On $1,128,924 of revenue, a 5% royalty alone is about $56,446 a year before any other cost.
The Cheese Steak Shop lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)
The Cheese Steak Shop's most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2025) 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.
The Cheese Steak Shop closures & failure rate
Before you sign, The Cheese Steak Shop 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 The Cheese Steak Shop's most recent filing shows, and whether it's normal for a quick-service restaurant 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. The Cheese Steak Shop's latest tables show a stable franchised network. Net franchised outlets moved 0 to 14 in the latest reported year.
Who owns The Cheese Steak Shop?
The Cheese Steak Shop's franchise is offered by One Cheese Steak Franchising, LLC — the franchisor named on the cover of its most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2025), 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.
Quick-service restaurant franchises at a similar investment level
Anyone weighing The Cheese Steak Shop 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.
The Cheese Steak Shop franchise — frequently asked
Who owns The Cheese Steak Shop — who is the franchisor?
The Cheese Steak Shop's most recently filed FDD (2025) names One Cheese Steak Franchising, LLC as the franchisor — the entity you would actually sign the franchise agreement with, as stated on the disclosure document itself. A registry filing names the franchisor, not necessarily its ultimate parent company.
How much does a The Cheese Steak Shop franchise cost?
The Cheese Steak Shop's most recently filed FDD (Item 7) puts the total estimated initial investment at $354,000 – $625,000 and a 5% royalty. That price is the franchisor's own estimate of what it takes to open, not a quote. Against quick-service restaurant peers it sits in the upper quartile (median $604,609).
How much profit does a The Cheese Steak Shop franchise make?
The Cheese Steak Shop discloses unit earnings in Item 19, but that figure is revenue — sales — not profit. Royalties (5% of gross for The Cheese Steak Shop), the ad fund, rent, payroll and supplies all come out of it, and no FDD discloses what an owner nets. Any The Cheese Steak Shop franchise profit number quoted elsewhere is an estimate. The headline figure The Cheese Steak Shop discloses is $1,128,924 in average unit revenue.
Does The Cheese Steak Shop disclose financial performance (Item 19)?
Yes — The Cheese Steak Shop reports unit-level earnings in Item 19. The headline figure is $1,128,924 in average unit revenue, as the franchisor states it.
Are there lawsuits against The Cheese Steak Shop?
No — The Cheese Steak Shop's most recently filed FDD (2025) discloses no litigation in Item 3. Franchisors must disclose material litigation involving themselves, their predecessors, parents, affiliates and management, so an empty Item 3 is a genuine signal rather than an omission.
Is The Cheese Steak Shop a good franchise to buy?
Nobody can answer that from The Cheese Steak Shop's numbers alone — it comes down to how its investment, earnings, litigation and franchisee churn stack up against quick-service restaurant peers and against your own budget. Our read on this filing is low risk. Every figure behind that read is on this page for free. If you're comparing options, the free shortlist on this page matches you with 5–10 franchises that fit your budget and industry.
Get a free email when something changes on The Cheese Steak Shop or quick-service restaurant: a new FDD registration, a new lawsuit, an outlet count that shifts, or Item 19 earnings going from undisclosed to disclosed. Pulled straight from the same state registries this page is built on.