Royalties on gross sales, an advertising or marketing fund contribution, technology and point-of-sale fees, mandatory supply arrangements, renewal charges, and periodic refurbishment. Model them as percentages of revenue rather than annual guesses, because they are deducted before profit. Government charges and professional fees sit outside all of this and outside the invested capital; confirm current official amounts when each step arises.
Test the unit against the non-marginality question
Run the model after royalties and levies and ask what the business supports beyond a minimal living for the owner. That is the substance behind non-marginality, and a franchise with thin unit economics can struggle with it even when the brand is strong. No ten-job figure settles the point either way.
Ask for an itemized scope from any adviser, and note which franchise payments are refundable if the plan does not proceed. Add a question about what the franchisor's figures actually describe. Where average unit results are quoted, ask what they average over: how many units, of what age, in what markets, and whether closed units are included.
A system's strongest cohort is not a forecast for a new unit in an unfamiliar location. Then rebuild the model on the applicant's own assumptions and see whether the capacity argument still holds. Hypothetical example: a print-shop franchise applicant discovers the quoted figures cover units open more than four years and exclude those that closed, and rebuilding the model on first-year performance changes both the funding requirement and the honest answer to whether the unit can support more than a minimal living.