FRANCHISE RESALES

Casual Cowboy Chicken restaurant interior with wooden tables and chairs, a counter for ordering, menu boards above, and a wall mural featuring a horse and branding for wood fire rotisserie chicken.

Buy a Cowboy Chicken Franchise

Cowboy Chicken is a fast-casual restaurant franchise founded in 1981 in Dallas, Texas by Phil Sanders. The concept is built around all-natural, wood-fired rotisserie chicken: fresh, never frozen, coated in a secret dry rub and slow-roasted over real wood rather than gas. The rotisserie chicken anchors a menu of scratch-made sides, including Twice-Baked “Potaters,” coleslaw and barbecue beans.

The restaurants operate as brick-and-mortar, territory-based units serving families and casual diners across multiple dayparts. Each location pairs dine-in with takeout, curbside, catering and delivery, giving operators several revenue channels from a single kitchen at both lunch and dinner.

With more than four decades in the market, Cowboy Chicken has grown from its Dallas roots into a multi-unit footprint expanding across the southern and western U.S., including Florida and California. The brand positions itself as a differentiated fast-casual concept, leaning on real wood-fired cooking and an all-natural menu to stand apart from conventional fried-chicken competitors.

Latest Resales

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A man wearing gloves and a cap holds a rotisserie chicken in front of a commercial rotisserie oven at Cowboy Chicken, where wood fire grilling brings out the rich flavours of multiple chickens roasting inside.

Why buy a Cowboy Chicken Franchise?

A Cowboy Chicken franchise offers an established, differentiated niche within fast casual: wood-fired rotisserie chicken backed by more than 40 years of brand history and a loyal following in its core Texas markets. In a fast-casual category that has stayed resilient through economic cycles, the all-natural, better-for-you positioning gives the brand a clear identity against conventional fried-chicken chains.

The model spreads revenue across dine-in, takeout, curbside, catering and delivery, so a single location is not dependent on one channel or daypart. Franchisees draw on a national supply chain and approved-vendor relationships, standardized operating systems, and ongoing corporate and field support, while years of national recognition lend consumer credibility a new independent restaurant would have to earn from scratch.

Cowboy Chicken Franchise Costs & Information

  • Minimum Qualifications

    • Initial Franchise Fee

      $35,000

    • Initial Investment

      $582,000 – $1,422,000

    A person wearing a glove rotates skewers with whole Cowboy Chicken rotisserie chickens over an open flame in a wood-fired grill oven.

  • Royalty

    • Royalty Fee

      5%

      of gross sales

  • Training & Support

    • 311 hours on the job training

    • 4 hours classroom training

    • Ongoing support

    A person collects a Cowboy Chicken takeaway bag from a shelf under a "Pick-Up" sign, ready to enjoy their famous wood fire grilling.

Cowboy Chicken – Additional  Information

  1. Training & Support

    Cowboy Chicken provides incoming operators with initial training built around 4 hours of classroom instruction and 311 hours of on-the-job training covering operations, food safety and customer service. Once a unit is open, franchisees receive ongoing corporate and field support, standardized operating procedures, access to a national supply chain and approved vendors, and national, regional and local marketing support. Because the brand requires prior restaurant experience, resale buyers should confirm what transfer training the franchisor provides to new ownership and which supplier and system access carries over at the change of hands.

  2. Ideal Owner

    Cowboy Chicken is built for experienced, hands-on restaurant operators rather than first-time owners. The franchisor looks for candidates with several years of restaurant-operations experience and real-estate familiarity in their development market. Day to day, the owner manages a local team, controls labor and food costs, upholds food-safety and quality standards, and drives catering and community traffic. It suits operators comfortable running a brick-and-mortar, multi-channel restaurant who want a proven, emotionally resonant brand rather than an untested concept.

  3. Recognition & Awards

    Cowboy Chicken has earned steady industry recognition. It has appeared on Fast Casual's Top 100 Movers & Shakers list every year since 2012, was named Restaurant Business's Emerging Chain of the Year in 2017, and ranked among QSR's 40 most exciting fast-casual concepts under 40 units. The brand has also been cited as one of Foodable's Top 25 Most Loved Brands and highlighted by Forbes as a restaurant chain to buy into. For resale buyers, this recognition should be weighed alongside the specific unit's local reviews, referral sources and community standing.

  4. Industry / Market

    Cowboy Chicken sits in two expanding U.S. categories. The U.S. fast-casual restaurant market was estimated at about $48.5 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow at roughly a 6.4% annual rate over the following decade (Expert Market Research). Chicken-focused quick service is also strong, with U.S. fast-food chicken revenue reaching about $63.7 billion in 2025 after years of mid-single-digit growth (IBISWorld). Demand is driven by appetite for convenient, flavorful and relatively healthier protein. For resale buyers, these national tailwinds still depend on a unit's local competition and traffic.

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