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McAlister's Deli vs Cousins Subs — which franchise is the better buy?

Side by side from the public FDDs — no franchisor spin.

	McAlister's Deli	Cousins Subs
Disclosure honesty	B	C
Investment from	$910,175	$464,700
Total fees	7%	8%
Outlets	572	92
Lawsuits	4	0

McAlister's Deli: what their numbers say

Net sales by quartile for 477 traditional franchises FY2025. Top quartile averaged $2.75M; 44% of franchises met/exceeded system average of $1.87M. Excludes non-traditional locations, express formats, affiliate-owned.

Cousins Subs: what their numbers say

Discloses affiliate-owned shop gross receipts and EBITDA by revenue tier (3 years). EBITDA data is company stores only—no royalties paid, no corporate overhead allocated—making profitability appear better than franchisee reality. No franchisee net income shown.

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