5.8 billion dollars was how much Chick Fil A made in 2021.
1.2 billion dollars was the profit.
A 20.7% margin.
2,861 locations currently total.

Chick Fil A is one of the most popular fast food franchises in the US, but unlike almost every other fast food brand, they aren’t public.

There is no stock available and the founder wrote it into his will that his children can’t ever take the company public.

But what would the company be worth if they were public?

To figure this out the best comparison by far is McDonald’s, which has over 80% of locations being franchise owned.

202 billion is McDonald’s current market cap.
23.2 billion was revenue in 2021.
7.5 billion was profit.
A 32% margin.

With margins being somewhat comparable and Chick Fil A having similar land deals with franchise owners, it seems fair to value the companies the same.

McDonalds is valued 8.8x revenue and 26.9x profit.

The margins aren’t exactly the same, but if we went by revenue Chick Fil A would be worth 51 billion dollars.

If we went by profit, Chick Fil A would be worth 32.3 billion dollars.

This is kind of thin for a post, so want to just compare to other publicly traded fast food franchises.

Yum Brands owns KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut.

34.6 billion dollars is the companies market cap.
6.6 billion was revenue in 2021.
1.5 billion dollars was the profit.

Yum trades for 5.2x revenue and 23x profit.

The reason it trades at a lower market cap over McDonalds is it having a 23% margin.

Chick Fil A has the worst margins, so comparing to McDonald’s might be tough, presenting the case if they went public the valuation could look more like Yum and the company would be worth 28 billion dollars.

The benefit though for Chick Fil A is still rapid growth.

Chick Fil A celebrated reaching 1,500 stores in 2010, but now twelve years later is nearly double that, seeing growth levels few other major chains have.

The other benefit is the revenue on the stores, where Chick Fil A averages 5.3 million in gross sales, which is over 2x what the average McDonald’s makes

Chick Fil A also isn’t big internationally, where the chicken element could make it popular in Asia eventually, similar to KFC, which has over 10,000 stores in Asia.

Chick Fil A would be valued at a higher premium to revenue/profit over Yum, but less over McDonalds for something in the high 30s and low 40s for billions.