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Waba Grill franchise — is it worth it?

Medium risk Shrinking network Item 19 disclosed

Waba Grill is a quick-service restaurant franchise that discloses Item 19 financial performance representations, showing average gross sales for both company-owned and franchised outlets.

Everything below is free, read straight off Waba Grill's registered filing. Weighing Waba Grill against other options? Get a free shortlist of franchises that fit your budget.

Figures above are as disclosed in Waba Grill's most recent FDD (registered 2025). Source: California Dept. of Financial Protection and Innovation — Franchise Registration · filing app-33568 — check it yourself. See every other California-registered franchise.

How much does a Waba Grill franchise make?

Waba Grill 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 $891,062 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.

Waba Grill 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 Waba Grill's 5% royalty, the ad fund, rent, payroll, supplies and debt service. No FDD tells you a Waba Grill franchise's profit, because profit depends on your site, your rent and how you run it — so treat any "Waba Grill franchise profit" figure quoted elsewhere as someone's estimate, not a disclosure. On $891,062 of revenue, a 5% royalty alone is about $44,553 a year before any other cost.

Waba Grill lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)

Waba Grill's most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2025) does disclose 1 legal proceeding in Item 3 . Item 3 is the item where a franchisor must put its material legal history on the record. Two things it is not: it covers the franchisor and its predecessors, parents and affiliates, so a disclosed case is not necessarily a suit against Waba Grill itself; and a disclosure is a fact, not a finding of wrongdoing — most entries are contract disputes with former franchisees, which every large system accumulates. Item 3 of the source FDD describes each case.

Waba Grill closures & failure rate

Before you sign, Waba Grill 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 Waba Grill'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. Waba Grill's latest tables show a shrinking franchised network — more units left than opened. Net franchised outlets moved -2 to 186 in the latest reported year.

Who owns Waba Grill?

Waba Grill's franchise is offered by WaBa Grill Franchise Corp fka WaBa Grill, Inc. — 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.

Other quick-service restaurant franchises

Anyone weighing Waba Grill 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.

Waba Grill franchise — frequently asked