BrewDog Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $3.4M – $5.7M
- Disclosed sales
- $2.9M
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
BrewDog is a craft beer franchise operating bars that serve its house craft beers alongside pub food. Franchisees run the bars, managing beer service, kitchen, and staffing.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A BrewDog franchise requires a total initial investment of $3.4M – $5.7M, including a $50K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2024 FDD, average unit revenue was $2.9M[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: D (Below average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: 2024 filing · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: high - figures are from a filing two or more years old
Evidence: partial✓ 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 scored8 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $3.4M – $5.7M
- 40th pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $2.9M
- Company-owned only
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 8th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 8
- 11th pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Full-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Full-Service Restaurants median · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- COSTTotal investment $3.4M – $5.7M including a $50K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $2.9M/year (median $2.7M) (company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance), with an estimated 3% cash-on-cash return (based on EBITDAR).
- RISKVerdict D (Below average), verdict score 29/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHFlat: no net change in franchised outlets in the latest year (0 opened, 0 closed); 1 signed but not yet open (Item 20).
- FLAGAuditor disclosed a going-concern note, which flagged doubt about the franchisor's ability to continue operations. Verify against the latest FDD.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- BrewDog Franchising LLC
- Parent company
- BrewDog USA Inc.
- FDD Item 1, page 10 of the 2024 FDD
- Ultimate parent
- BrewDog PLC
- FDD Item 1, page 10 of the 2024 FDD
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- John Graham
- Incorporated in
- OH
- HQ
- 96 Gender Road, Canal Winchester, Ohio 43110
- Auditor
- IndigoSpire CPA Group, LLC
- Audited financials
- ⚠ Going-concern note
- Disclosed in FDD 2024
- Status as of 2024; may have been resolved in a later filing we don't yet have.
Overview
About
- CEO
- John Graham
- Headquarters
- OH
- Founded
- 2019
- FDD year
- 2024
- States available
- 3
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 571% above the typical full-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2024 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2024 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $50K | $50K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $50K | $200K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $3.3M | $5.5M |
| Total initial investment | $3.4M | $5.7M |
Source: BrewDog 2024 FDD, Items 5 and 7[2]. “Equipment, build-out, other” is computed as total minus disclosed line items above.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $3.4M – $5.7M
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $50K – $200K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $50K – $50K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 6.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
- Payback period
- 36.7 yrs
- From FDD / Item 19
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% |
| Technology fee | $2K |
| Training fee | $50K |
| Transfer fee | $25K |
| Renewal fee | $25K |
| Inventory (initial) | $75K – $150K |
| Total fee load | 6.0% of rev |
A 6.0% total fee load is unusually lean. More of each revenue dollar stays with the franchisee.
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 79% above the full-service restaurants norm.
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
Source: FDD 2024 · Item 19
Single-unit · not modelled
Returns at a glance
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit, and the operating costs that turn one into the other are in no filing. We publish no modelled return for BrewDog until someone supplies them — yours, in the models below.
—
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
Total invested capital · disclosed
$4.7M
Item 7 initial investment plus working capital, as filed — the one figure here that needs no assumption.
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
FDD-reported earnings
The FDD reports $248K as EBITDAR. This is a disclosed figure, not our estimate — we publish no modelled profit for BrewDog.
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit, read against the 30–60% reference band · Yale SOM, Post-MBA Path Exhibit 2 (2023). Below that band a passive index fund likely outperforms; above it the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses, and it is the top line only — gross sales are not profit. No FDD discloses the operating costs that turn one into the other, so those fields start empty and nothing is modelled until you supply them from your own lease quote, labor market and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one BrewDog unit return on the cash you put in?
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.
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Your modelled return on total invested capital, before any debt financing.
—
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
A 25-unit return is built on a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in Model A above and this model runs on that figure, or take the whole scenario to the full ROI workbench, where the portfolio and LBO models accept your own per-unit economics directly.
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: 2024 FDD
Financial Performance
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
- Avg gross sales
- $2.9M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $2.7M
- Avg ebitdar
- $248K
- Reported as EBITDAR in FDD Item 19
- Cash-on-cash
- 2.7%
- Based on EBITDAR / investment midpoint
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- gross sales
- Sample size
- 6 outlets
- vs category median 18 · small
- Range (low → high)
- $1.2M→$5.0MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 65 of the 2024 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2023
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2024
- Disclosed in the 2024 filing, covering 2023
- Transparency
- 9 / 10
- vs category median 3 / 10 · above
Compared against 801 Full-Service Restaurants brands
Revenue is only 0.6x the investment. This means each unit may take 5+ years to recoup the initial outlay at typical margins.
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $2.9M/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 0.6x. Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 6.0% (near the Full-Service Restaurants median).
Disclosure
Transparency score 9/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Full-Service Restaurants medians
How BrewDog Compares
Category median of published Full-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.
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2024 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 8
- Opened
- 0
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- N/A
- Company-owned
- 8
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 0%
- vs corporate-owned
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 1
- 0.13 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 1
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 3 states reported
The Territory Map
FDD Item 12 reports the state count, but the specific list isn't in our current data. The map will appear once we re-extract from the FDD or enough franchisee contacts are available.
3
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
What could kill this investment?
The auditor flagged going-concern doubt (Item 21) — the single biggest risk here.
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
BrewDog's micro-franchise network (8 units), modest unit economics, and thin profit margins present execution risk despite protected territories and no litigation.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · IndigoSpire CPA Group, LLC⚠ Going-concern note flagged
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Audited statement of operations for BrewDog Franchising LLC reports Revenues, net of $0 for both FY2023 and FY2022; the franchisor had not yet earned franchise revenue.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 29 / 100 verdict
- 01MEDOnly 8 units system-wide with unknown growth trajectory suggests limited proven scalability and potential contraction risk
- 02MINORNet profit margin of 8.6% ($248,068 on $2.87M revenue) is thin for hospitality, leaving minimal buffer for underperformance or economic downturns
- 03MINORHigh initial investment ($3.4M-$5.75M) relative to modest average net income creates extended payback period (13-23 years)
- 04MINORRoyalty structure of 5% on total receipts (not net profit) provides BrewDog recurring revenue while franchisee bears operational risk
- 05MINORExtremely small unit count (8) raises questions about viability of support infrastructure, supply chain leverage, and brand leverage
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 6.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2024 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory radius | 1 mi |
| Online sales rights | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 10 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 4 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Canal Winchester, Ohio |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | OH |
| Litigation count | 0 |
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 30 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 50 hrs
- Training location
- Columbus, Ohio (franchisor's designated training locations)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Site selection
- Franchisor must approve site; franchisee selects within approved Site Selection Area
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- NCR
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: NCR
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a BrewDog franchise?
The total investment to open a BrewDog franchise ranges from $3.4M – $5.7M, with an initial franchise fee of $50K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do BrewDog franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the BrewDog FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $2.9M. The median is $2.7M. Important context: Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns BrewDog?
BrewDog is franchised by BrewDog Franchising LLC. Its parent company is BrewDog USA Inc.. The ultimate parent named in the FDD is BrewDog PLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2024 filing.
What is Item 19 in the BrewDog 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 BrewDog FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is BrewDog's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for BrewDog (fewer than 10 loans on file). Charge-off rates are one way to gauge franchise risk, but not all franchise loans go through the SBA program. We recommend reviewing turnover and closure data in the FDD and speaking with current franchisees.
How many BrewDog franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, BrewDog has 8 total units in the United States.
Is BrewDog a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates BrewDog as a D-grade franchise with a verdict score of 29 out of 100 (higher is better). The grade is a deterministic score built from six weighted dimensions — financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency — then calibrated against SBA loan charge-off rates and FDD age. Transparency is one of the six, so a filing that discloses less scores lower on that dimension than one that discloses more. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
Are you the franchisor?
If you represent BrewDog, you can request corrections or provide updated information.
Other Full-Service Restaurants franchises
Compare similar franchise opportunities in the Full-Service Restaurants category
Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). 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.