Franchise Facts Report → what is Item 19?
What is Item 19? Plain English.
Before you buy a franchise, the franchisor must hand you a long legal document called the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). Item 19 is its earnings page — the one and only place the franchisor is allowed to tell you what its locations actually make.
The one-paragraph version
Franchisors are legally barred from making earnings claims anywhere except Item 19. If a salesperson tells you "our owners average $500,000 a year" and that number isn't in Item 19, it doesn't count — it's not a disclosure, and nobody stands behind it. And here's the part most buyers don't know: putting earnings in Item 19 is optional. The franchisor decides whether to tell you. Of the 2178 brands we track, 1123 (52%) disclose earnings. The rest ask you to commit a five- or six-figure investment without telling you what their locations earn.
What an Item 19 actually contains
- Usually revenue, not profit. Most Item 19s report gross sales. Rent, payroll, royalties, food or supply costs — what determines whether you make money — often aren't in it.
- Often a curated subset. Some franchisors report only company-owned units, only mature units, or only the top half. The fine print around the table matters as much as the number in it.
- Averages hide ranges. An "average unit volume" can be pulled up by a few big locations. The better Item 19s show medians, quartiles, or how many units hit the average — most don't.
None of that makes Item 19 useless — it makes it the start of the diligence, not the end. A franchisor that discloses is at least willing to be checked.
The fine print — two exceptions, and two things you can always get
The FTC rule (16 CFR §436.9(c)) bars a franchisor from giving prospects any earnings figure outside Item 19, with exactly two carve-outs. Buying an existing location? The franchisor may hand you that specific outlet's actual historical records, even with no Item 19. Supplements: a franchisor that already makes an Item 19 representation may add written detail for a particular location or circumstance — but a brand with no Item 19 has nothing to supplement, so this never helps there. And two financial sources exist regardless: every FDD contains the franchisor's own audited financials (Item 21 — the corporate books, which tell you the franchisor's health, not what a location earns), and Item 20 gives you a contact list of current and former franchisees — the gag order binds the franchisor, not its franchisees, so calling them is the standard way buyers fill the gap.
Why a missing Item 19 is itself a signal
When a brand makes no Item 19 representation, there is no franchisor-backed earnings figure for it — full stop. Any number you've heard is an estimate someone made up or passed along. The absence doesn't prove the units do poorly, but you're being asked to wire an investment (median $292,125 across our corpus) on trust, while 52% of franchisors — often direct competitors — put their numbers on paper. Ask the obvious question: what would disclosing cost them?
Who discloses, by category
From the 2178 FDDs in our corpus — tap a category for every brand's disclosure status, or the "disclosed earnings" list for the brands that put figures on paper.
| Category | Disclose Item 19 | Brands with earnings on paper |
|---|---|---|
| Automotive | 45% (24 of 53) | ranked list → |
| Beauty & personal care | 70% (57 of 81) | ranked list → |
| Business services | 50% (48 of 96) | ranked list → |
| Child services & education | 61% (71 of 117) | ranked list → |
| Cleaning & restoration | 69% (59 of 85) | ranked list → |
| Financial services | 40% (6 of 15) | ranked list → |
| Fitness | 60% (94 of 157) | ranked list → |
| Food & beverage | 39% (148 of 384) | ranked list → |
| Full-service restaurant | 46% (27 of 59) | ranked list → |
| Health & wellness | 55% (57 of 103) | ranked list → |
| Home services | 69% (143 of 206) | ranked list → |
| Pet services | 74% (35 of 47) | ranked list → |
| Quick-service restaurant | 52% (141 of 272) | ranked list → |
| Real estate | 26% (9 of 34) | ranked list → |
| Retail | 59% (38 of 64) | ranked list → |
| Senior & home care | 60% (33 of 55) | ranked list → |
| Staffing & recruiting | 45% (5 of 11) | ranked list → |
| Travel & hospitality | 34% (17 of 50) | ranked list → |
What is Item 19 — frequently asked
What is Item 19 in an FDD?
Item 19 is the earnings section of the Franchise Disclosure Document — the legal document every franchisor must give you before you buy. It's the only place a franchisor is allowed to make claims about how much money its locations make. Everything else in the sales process — a salesperson's "our owners do $500k a year," a figure in a Facebook group — is not a disclosure and isn't backed by anything.
Is Item 19 required?
No. Disclosing earnings is optional — the franchisor chooses. If it opts out, Item 19 is a paragraph saying no representation is made. Across the 2178 brands we track, 1123 (52%) disclose earnings and the rest don't.
Does Item 19 show profit?
Usually not. Most Item 19s report revenue (sales), not profit — and often only for a subset of locations, such as company-owned units or the longest-running ones. Read what's included, what's excluded, and whether costs appear at all. Revenue is not what you'd take home.
What does it mean if a franchise has no Item 19?
It means the franchisor chose not to put its unit economics on paper, and no earnings figure you hear for that brand is franchisor-backed (one exception: if you're buying a specific existing outlet, they may show you that outlet's actual records). That's worth weighing directly — many of its competitors do disclose — and it shifts your diligence to the signals the FDD does contain: fees, litigation, outlet closures, and calls to the franchisees listed in Item 20.
Can a franchisor tell me earnings outside Item 19?
Under the FTC Franchise Rule (16 CFR §436.9(c)), no — with two narrow exceptions: the actual historical records of a specific existing outlet you're buying, and written supplements to an Item 19 representation that already exists. Franchisees themselves aren't bound by the rule and can tell you their numbers.
Every brand page on this site shows whether a franchise discloses Item 19. The full report gives you the actual figures where they exist — and where they don't, what the fees, litigation and outlet closures say instead — ranked against category peers.