It's healthy, right? Look at those veggies. (Source)

Ah, it's good to be king. A burger king, that is. You could be a McDonald's monarch, a Smashburger sovereign, or a head honcho at The Habit.

Maybe being a burger king isn't your jam, but you still like the thought of being a fast-food ruler. Howzabout being a sandwich sultan instead? Maybe a taco tsar? A preeminent and prestigious pizza principal? Okay there aren't too many alliterative titles left; can you just pick one?

Restaurant franchises are chains of hundreds of stores that have already proven to be hits and have made a big name for themselves. Being a franchise owner is like starting a restaurant with some of the work done for you. 

You'll have the menu, uniforms, and general attitude of the place all set up for you. No worrying about whether you want a cool, urban joint with minimalist chairs or a down-home Southern-style diner—as a Five Guys franchise owner, you know that you're going to be working with classic red and white tiling and lots of Cajun fries.

Instead of opening a new restaurant that nobody's ever heard of, having the headache of creating a menu that people like, and forking over oodles of cash for publicity, and TV, print, and radio commercials, you can buy the secret sauce and focus on cashing in on their success.

With so many franchises to choose from, it could be difficult to pick which one's best for you—but if we're talking profit margins, the top restaurant franchise revenue earner is chicken—as in Chick-fil-A, which averages $3.1 million gross per store per year.

McDonald's is a close second at $2.6 million in sales per store, with the Jason's Deli sandwich chain coming in third at $2.55 million per store.

The average fast food restaurant takes in about $750,000 a year. That's a lot of moolah. Not all of it goes into your pocket, of course. You have staff to pay and outfit, a building to pay rent on, equipment to upkeep, and supplies to order. Still, you can make a reasonable salary. 

Once the staff has been paid, the fryers have been repaired, the refrigerators have been replaced, and the taxes have been paid, a franchise owner gets around $66,000 per year (source). If you own multiple successful franchises, as some franchisers do, you could find yourself rolling with the millionaire crowd.

Before you get too excited, you should know that there are many restaurants that don't even break even. In fact, 60% tank in the first year and 80% go under in less than five years (source). And guess how much it costs to launch a fast food franchise store?

If you answered, "Between $250,000 and a million dollars," give yourself a prize. Yep, it costs an awful lot to launch a fast food franchise store, and you could lose it all if your store does poorly (source). That's why, before you get to cut that ribbon and start dishing out the burgers, you have to go to franchising school.

No, really. Just when you thought you were finished with school and people telling you what to do, there's franchise school and training that will take up your every waking moment to teach you how to run a successful business.

Franchises run 12-, 16-, or 18-week courses to teach you how to do it their way. Not yours. Theirs. If you're the super-independent type, opening your own restaurant may be more your style, because a franchise owner's job is to do the same thing that every other franchise owner of that particular chair is doing. 

You'll be making the same fries, the same sandwiches, and the same sundaes as everyone else—and you'll get into trouble if you start doing something unique. The whole idea behind franchising is that one follows a specific formula with a branded item and replicates everything that works about it, over and over, to make beaucoup bucks.

This spot would be perfect for a Chipotle, we just know it. (Source)

Unfortunately, before you can make beaucoup bucks, you need to have beaucoup bucks—and be willing to fork them over. No franchiser will even consider taking you seriously if you can't show that you've got the cash for more than your franchise fee. You'd better have the dough to pay lawyers, accountants, building costs, rent, insurance, equipment, employee training and salary, and advertising—a veritable cornucopia of costs. It's mighty expensive to open a restaurant, even if you're not starting from scratch (source).

So besides money and experience, what else does it take to open a good franchise? Well, in addition to all the obvious things—super-yumalicious food, a pleasing atmosphere, and friendly, fast service—where you put the restaurant will be key in determining success.

Put a restaurant in the middle of nowhere—or even worse, in a crime-riddled location— and you're gonna have loads of issues.

You don't see Batman stopping for a burger in Gotham City, do you? That's because nobody wants to eat in a place where bad guys are robbing places and pulling out guns willy-nilly. Also, because he's Batman and he's probably got crime to fight. Just sayin'.

Once you've picked out a safe, busy location for your franchise location, you're going to need a crazy work ethic and killer stress-management skills to get the doors of your place open. Anyone who's watched "Restaurant Wars" on Top Chef knows how hard it is opening up a restaurant. 

Even with all the ground work done and a blueprint to follow, you're going to have to put in the long hours getting the store up and running and making sure it's going smoothly. Don't expect to see your family for a while—you may be sleeping in the back of the restaurant for the first few months. At least breakfast will be hot and ready for you every morning.

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