Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk Franchise Cost & 2026 FDD Data
71/100
Strongest tier
71 this brand51 Quick-Service Restaurants medianlikely 56–86: narrower with more SBA loans (low confidence)
Higher is better · an editorial assessment, not investment advice
#479 of 3,068 graded brands
Why an A: Helped by scale and transparency. See all six factors
- Total investment
- $188K – $402K
- Estimated Expenditures For A Kiosk Scoop Shop; excl. real estate
- Avg gross sales
- not extracted
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from the FDD filing. Analysis by FranchiseVerdict · Methodology · Website · Report an error · Franchisor? Claim this listing
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026 FDD
Per the 2026 FDD, a Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk franchise requires a total initial investment of $188K – $402K for the Estimated Expenditures For A Kiosk Scoop Shop format (the filing prices $188K to $631K across three formats), excluding real estate. Once open, the ongoing royalty is 3.0%. The 2026 FDD on file does not yield a unit-revenue figure we can publish. Verdict grade: A (Strongest tier), an editorial assessment, not investment advice.
Sources: 2026 FDD · What one unit could make and lose →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: low (issued within the last 12 months)
Evidence for the headline figures: thin✓ Investment (Item 7)✗ Item 19 status✗ Units and owners (Item 20)✗ SBA loan coverage✓ Litigation (Item 3)✓ Financial statements (Item 21)✓ Franchisor identityhow this is scored3 of 3 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
Quick verdict · vs Quick-Service Restaurants median
Top edge: green = better than the Quick-Service Restaurants median by more than 10%, red = worse by more than 10%, gray = within 10% or no benchmark. Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a).
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Methodology
Bottom line
- RETURNSChart 1 covers Scoop Shops continuously open all 12 months of 2025 (n=126); Chart 2 covers Seasonal Shops open an abbreviated number of months (n=17); Satellite Shops (n=16) and Special Venue Scoop Shops (n=18, separate FDD) and 2 Company-Owned Shops are excluded from Charts 1-2 and reported separately. All figures are unaudited, franchisee-reported Gross Sales (product sales plus off-premise/catering/cake sales), excluding sales tax, with no deduction for cost of goods or operating expenses.
AT STAKEOne unit at the Item 7 midpoint: $38K a year in payments on assumed SBA 7(a)-style terms.You put in about $59K of your own cash and personally guarantee a $236K loan. Assumptions are labeled in Sales; not investment advice.See what one unit could make and lose
Things to check before you sign (4)
- 3 pending matters name the franchisor in Item 3 (litigation). Pending claims are allegations, not findings.
- The franchisor keeps the right to compete inside your territory (Item 12, territory).
- The franchisor receives rebates or payments from suppliers you buy from (Item 8, required suppliers).
- An owner must run the business personally (Item 15, owner participation). Ask whether a trained manager can ever stand in.
Checked and clear: no auditor doubt that the franchisor can keep operating and the full filing on file. Not on file here, so ask: unit trend, SBA charge-off rate against the category median and jury-trial waiver.
What to do next
Step 1: Read the FDD itself.
Free: the franchisor must give it to you at least 14 days before you sign or pay. Or look it up in a state registry (Wisconsin, Minnesota, California). What to read first.
Step 2: Talk to current and former owners.
Free: Item 20 of the FDD lists every current owner and those who left last year, most with a phone number. Questions to ask.
Step 3: Talk to an SBA lender.
Free: the SBA's Lender Match. Ask what you would personally guarantee and what the monthly payment would be. If you plan to use retirement savings, ask a CPA about the rules for that first.
Step 4: Have a franchise attorney review the FDD and agreement.
Free: your state bar's lawyer referral service can name franchise lawyers, and many offer a short first consultation. Bring the checks listed above.
Research steps, not investment or legal advice.
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost (the Item 7 midpoint) is 39% below the Quick-Service Restaurants median ($487K).
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7 (fees and startup costs)
The filing's Item 7 TOTAL row prints $188,300 to $402,300. Its own line items add to $188,300 to $412,300. The total is shown as the franchisor printed it; the lines are listed as printed. The difference is in the high: the kiosk lines include the $39,500 franchise fee, and the full-size table on the same pages adds to its total with that same fee.
Do you qualify? The filing states no minimum net worth or liquid capital. Ask Ben & Jerry's Franchising, Inc. (Item 1: 35 Thompson Street, South Burlington, Vermont 05403-6828) and your lender what they require, and keep living costs for the first year outside the deal.
Item 7 (startup costs) · 3 formats · 2026 FDD
Every building format
The filing prints a separate Item 7 table for each format. Every total excludes real estate (FDD p.37).
3 formats, from $188K to $631K
| Format | Total investment | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated Expenditures For Full-Sized ShopsAPPROXIMATELY 750-1200 SQ.FT | $280K – $631K | p.31 |
| Estimated Expenditures For In-Line ShopsAPPROXIMATELY 450-650 SQ.FT | $228K – $435K | p.33 |
| Estimated Expenditures For A Kiosk Scoop Shop(the range shown above)APPROXIMATELY 100-200 SQ.FT | $188K – $402K | p.34 |
Full Item 7 breakdown17 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $8K | $39.5K | |
| Plans, Development & Permits | $3.5K | $12K | |
| Leasehold Improvements & Construction | $10K | $85K | |
| Kiosk base cost - includes front and back counters, lighting, sinks, sneeze guards, and delivery | $60K | $85K | |
| Equipment, and Smallwares | $30K | $60K | |
| Menu Board Systems | $4K | $8K | |
| Signage | $2.5K | $10K | |
| Professional Fees | $3K | $6K | |
| POS | $1.8K | $2.3K | |
| Online Ordering System Hardware | $1K | $1.5K | |
| Internet Connectivity, and Telephone | $1K | $1.5K | |
| Deposits | $3K | $8K | |
| Initial Training | $1K | $3K | |
| Inventory | $6K | $10K | |
| Insurance | $500 | $2.5K | |
| Grand Opening Advertising | $3K | $3K | |
| Additional Funds (3 months) | $50K | $75K | |
| Total initial investment | $188K | $402K |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. The total row is the total as printed in Item 7; the lines above add to $188,300 to $412,300, $10,000 at most from the printed total, which is the figure shown. Actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Item 6 · what you pay once you are open
Ongoing fees
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 3.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fundBrand-wide marketing pool. Current allocation: Local Advertising 2% + Fund contributions 2% (total advertising obligation varies but will not exceed 4% of Gross Sales) | 2.0% |
| Technology feeCurrently $0/month; franchisor may in the future charge a Technology Fee not to exceed $3,500 annually. | $3,500/month |
| Transfer fee | $7,000 |
| Renewal fee | $12,000 |
| Total fee loadbelow the Quick-Service Restaurants median of 7.0% (lean) | 5.0% of sales |
Items 6 (other fees), 7 (startup costs) and 19 (sales and earnings) · assumptions labeled
What you could make and lose: one unit
What one Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk unit would ask of you, from the filing's Item 7 total and labeled assumptions.
How these figures are worked out
- Loan (assumption): 80% of the $295K Item 7 midpoint (Estimated Expenditures For A Kiosk Scoop Shop format) is a $236K loan, paid over 10 years at 10.5%: $38K a year. SBA 7(a)-style terms on a long-term rate; your lender sets yours.
What you put at risk
Your own cash in: about $59K Assumption (the part the loan does not cover of the $295K Item 7 midpoint), plus whatever anything Item 7 leaves out (its notes say what). The loan is $236K.
Personal guarantee. SBA 7(a) loans require a personal guarantee from anyone who owns 20% or more of the business. If the unit cannot pay, the lender can collect from you personally, which can include your savings and your home. The worst case is losing the cash you put in and still owing the rest of the loan.
Gross sales are not profit, and none of these figures is take-home pay until tax and every operating cost are paid. The assumptions are ours, not the filing's. Not investment advice.
Returns modelOne unit · several units · editable
No Item 19 gross sales figure for Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk is on file. The return models need one gross sales figure to start from, plus the operating costs that turn gross sales into a profit. Enter your own and the calculator runs on your assumptions; nothing here is modelled until you do.
Returns model · one unit
What would one Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk unit leave you each year after the loan payment?
Not disclosed in Item 19. Enter your own gross sales assumption
Gross sales, not profit: the costs below decide what is left.
This brand's Item 19 prints cost or operating-income lines that are not on this page yet. Read them in Item 19 and enter them here.
Illustrative category typicals, not sourced to any filing, survey or sample. Replace them with figures from franchisee validation calls before you rely on the output.
Item 7 midpoint of $188K to $402K
Item 7's $50K to $75K additional funds are already in the total
Left after the loan payment · per year
The unit's EBITDA minus the assumed loan payment. Before tax, depreciation and any cost your inputs leave out (insurance, accounting and legal, licenses, technology fees): not take-home pay.
Gross sales are not profit. Neither the filing nor a stated assumption on this page supplies annual revenue, COGS, labor, rent / occupancy and other operating costs. Enter your own (a lease quote, owner calls) and the model runs on it.
Loan of $236K at 10.5% over 10 years, an assumption, not a quote. Return and payback are before tax, depreciation and the costs above. The loan usually needs your personal guarantee.
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2026 FDD · filed by Ben & Jerry's Franchising, Inc.
Financial performance
Chart 1 covers Scoop Shops continuously open all 12 months of 2025 (n=126); Chart 2 covers Seasonal Shops open an abbreviated number of months (n=17); Satellite Shops (n=16) and Special Venue Scoop Shops (n=18, separate FDD) and 2 Company-Owned Shops are excluded from Charts 1-2 and reported separately. All figures are unaudited, franchisee-reported Gross Sales (product sales plus off-premise/catering/cake sales), excluding sales tax, with no deduction for cost of goods or operating expenses.
Item 19 covers the parent format. The filing's Item 19 groups describe Ben & Jerry’s, not this format, so they are printed on the Ben & Jerry’s page.
vs Quick-Service Restaurants medians
How Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk compares
Category median of published Quick-Service Restaurants brands that report the figure; the middle half spans the 25th to 75th percentile and n counts the brands behind it. Medians are used because a few very large systems pull an average far from the typical brand. Revenue is disclosed gross sales, not profit.
System figures: see Ben & Jerry’s
System figures: see Ben & Jerry’s
Government records
SBA loan data
Matched to this brand from SBA 7(a) and 504 FOIA loan records.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
What are the risks?
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Verdict grade + FDD Items 3 (litigation), 4 (bankruptcy), 8 (required suppliers), 16 (what you may sell), 21 (audited financials)
Risk and legal
Grade A: Strongest tier, 71/100 (category median 51); the full grade is at the top of the page.
How the grade is built
Why an A, factor by factor
- Financial health NeutralAudited financials; no going-concern doubt; statements are the parent's, so this stays near neutral; 90% of its assets are owed to it by related companies (Item 21; shown, not scored)
- Unit economics NeutralNo Item 19 sales figure to set against the investment, so neutral
- Unit growth NeutralTurnover 2.3%
- Scale HelpsFranchising since 1981
- Legal Neutral6 matters naming the franchisor among the Item 3 matters we list
- Transparency HelpsItem 19 status not confirmed (neither credit nor penalty); audited financials
From the six scored dimensions, an editorial assessment, not investment advice. How the score is built
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: the franchisor is a named party (defendant).
Item 3 discloses 8 distinct cases: (1) Class I Directors of Ben & Jerry's board (on behalf of Ben & Jerry's Homemade) v. Conopco/Unilever PLC/Ben & Jerry's Holdco/TMICC: breach of 2000 Acquisition Agreement and settlement agreement, pending; (2) Dana Hughes v. Homemade; CA Trap and Trace Law/TikTok tracking claim, pending; (3) Center for Environmental Health v. Aesop USA et al. (incl. Homemade); CA Prop 65 BPS thermal paper claim, pending; (4) Mittal v. Unilever/TMICC/Senf; defamation/false light by former board chair, pending; (5) Dovid Tyrnauer v. Homemade; class action re: alleged migrant child labor supply chain, dismissed 2024; (6) Ido Ben-Ami v. Homemade (Israel); anti-discrimination class action re: Israel/disputed territories, settled 2022 for $25,000 combined with Spiegelman case; (7) Rebecca Spiegelman v. Homemade (Israel); same subject, settled jointly; (8) Avi Avraham Zinger/American Quality Products v. Homemade/Unilever US/Conopco; license termination dispute, settled 2022 via new business arrangement.
Largest disclosed settlement in the franchisor's own cases: $25,000
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · KPMG LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
ⓘ These are the parent company's consolidated financials (the parent guarantees the franchisor), not this brand's standalone results; the figure reflects the whole corporate group, not this brand alone.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
Ask what the franchisor earns on the supplies it sells you or the rebates it takes (Item 8).
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- Franchisor takes supplier rebates: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: Yes
System figures: see Ben & Jerry’s
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 5.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before your own operating costs.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12 (territory), 15 (owner participation) and 17 (renewal, termination and disputes)
Contract and territory detail
| Allowed renewals | 1 |
|---|---|
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territory | No |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Who runs it (Item 15) | Owner must run it |
| Non-compete (years) | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles) | 5 mi |
| Right of first refusal | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
Items 10 (financing), 11 (training and support)
Training and operations
- Training duration
- 3 days
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Site selection
- franchisor (authorizes/denies proposed sites; provides limited site selection assistance under Development Agreement)
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Square-based POS System (Dashboard/Square Priority Support Services)
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 (initial fees) & 11 (training and support)
Franchisor support
Franchisee contacts
We hold no owner list for this brand. Item 20 of the FDD lists the current and former owners; the free FDD is the source.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to open a Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk franchise?
Per the 2026 FDD, the total investment to open a Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk franchise ranges from $188K to $402K for the Estimated Expenditures For A Kiosk Scoop Shop format. Across every format the filing prices, totals run from $188K to $631K (three formats). This is the Item 7 total in the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD): the startup costs the franchisor lists, such as build-out, equipment, inventory and working capital. The filing says these totals do not include real estate.
What do Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk franchise owners earn?
No average owner earnings figure for Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk is on file. Item 19, where a franchisor may disclose what its outlets earn, is voluntary under the FTC Franchise Rule, and we have not established what this brand's FDD says. Item 20 of the FDD lists current and former franchisees; asking them directly is the standard way to fill this gap.
Who owns Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk?
Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk is franchised by Ben & Jerry's Franchising, Inc. Its parent company is Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc.. The ultimate parent named in the FDD is The Magnum Ice Cream Company N.V. (TMICC). Source: FDD Item 1, 2026 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk's franchise failure rate?
There is no published franchise failure rate, and Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk has too few resolved SBA 7(a) loans on file (fewer than 10) to show an SBA charge-off rate that would mean anything. The SBA charge-off rate is the share of a brand's resolved SBA 7(a) loans to its franchisees that the SBA wrote off, including purchased guarantees. Resolved means paid in full or charged off; active loans are excluded because their outcome is not yet known. It is a lending outcome, not a count of closed businesses. Review the turnover and closure figures in Item 20 of the FDD and speak with current and former franchisees.
Is Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict gives Ben & Jerry’s Kiosk an A Verdict grade (Strongest tier) with a verdict score of 71 out of 100 (higher is better), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Helped by scale (franchising since 1981) and transparency. The “Why an A” section on this page lists all six dimensions and any adjustment. Speak with current franchisees before making any investment decision.
Other Quick-Service Restaurants franchises
Similar investment first, then by grade
This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.