COBS Bread Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $934K – $1.3M
- Disclosed sales
- partial, no system average
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
COBS Bread is a bakery franchise selling fresh-baked bread, pastries, and treats made in-store daily. Franchisees run neighborhood bakeries managing baking, counter service, and staffing.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A COBS Bread franchise requires a total initial investment of $934K – $1.3M, including a $25K franchise fee and an ongoing 7.0% royalty[2]. The 2025 FDD on file does not yield a unit-revenue figure we can publish. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: low - issued within the last 12 months
Evidence: strong✓ 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 scored4 of 5 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $934K – $1.3M
- 92nd pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- N/A
- Projection
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- 90th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 194
- 83rd pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Quick-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Quick-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 $934K – $1.3M including a $25K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSItem 19 reports operating profit rather than annual gross sales, so unit revenue is not directly comparable.
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 49/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +12 franchised outlets in the latest year (0 opened, 0 closed) (Item 20).
- DATAItem 19 reports operating profit rather than annual gross sales, so unit revenue is not directly comparable. Ask franchisees directly for full unit-level revenue.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- COBS USA Inc.
- Parent company
- Bakers Delight Holdings Ltd. (Australian corporation)
- FDD Item 1, page 9 of the 2025 FDD
- Ultimate parent
- Bakers Delight Holdings Ltd.
- FDD Item 1, page 9 of the 2025 FDD
- CEO title
- President
- Aaron Gillespie
- Founder active
- Yes
- Original founder still leading the business
- Incorporated in
- DE
- HQ
- Suite 210, 1100 Melville Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6E 4A6
- Auditor
- Brantley Janson
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $3.3M
- vs $2.1M prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Overview
About
- CEO
- Aaron Gillespie
- Headquarters
- CT
- Founded
- 2014
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 2
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 127% above the typical quick-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2025 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $25K | $25K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $18K | $65K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $892K | $1.2M |
| Total initial investment | $934K | $1.3M |
Source: COBS Bread 2025 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
- $934K – $1.3M
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $18K – $65K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $25K – $25K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 3.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 10.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 7.0% of net sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 3.0% of net sales |
| Technology fee | $290 |
| Training fee | $10K |
| Renewal fee | $25K |
| Inventory (initial) | $42K – $60K |
| Total fee load | 10.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
No Item 19 revenue figure for COBS Bread is on file. The return models need a revenue figure to start from, and the operating costs that turn gross sales into a profit are in no FDD. Enter your own and the calculator runs on your assumptions — nothing here is modelled until you do.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one COBS Bread 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 annual revenue, 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.
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: 2025 FDD
Financial Performance
Reported as earnings, not sales — gross sales is not profit
- Item 19 type
- operating profit
- Sample size
- 168
- vs category median 19 · large
- Reporting year
- 2025
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- The FDD edition these figures were read from
- Transparency
- 8 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 781 Quick-Service Restaurants brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 10.0% — above the Quick-Service Restaurants median of 7.5%.
Disclosure
Item 19 reports operating profit rather than annual gross sales, so unit revenue is not directly comparable.
Operator retention
System roughly stable (0.0% 3-year CAGR) with 194 units.
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 Quick-Service Restaurants medians
How COBS Bread 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.
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 194
- 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
- 6
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 20%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +0.0%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +0.0%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Transfer rate
- 4.1%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
- Ceased ops
- 2.1%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 2 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.
2
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?
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation is required to be disclosed in this disclosure document.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Brantley Janson
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
FY ended June 25, 2025. Revenues comprise retail sales 3,192,636; royalty and service fees net 34,024; marketing fees 51,445; amortization of franchise fees 0; miscellaneous income 51,293. Audited by Brantley Janson CPAs (Federal Way, WA). Franchisor (COBS USA Inc.) reports a going-concern / stockholders' deficiency position; net loss of 4,452,243.
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 49 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORModest unit growth of 6.8% YoY suggests slowing expansion momentum in a mature 194-unit system
- 02MEDHigh initial investment ($934K–$1.27M) relative to disclosed net income ($186.9K) yields only 15–20% annual return before accounting for owner labor
- 03MINOR7% royalty on net sales is standard but compounds pressure on thin margins if actual performance lags averages
- 04MINORBakery category faces structural headwinds (commodity pricing, rising labor costs, changing bread consumption trends)
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 10.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Not allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 1 year |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 3 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 21 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | New York, New York |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | NY |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation is required to be disclosed in this disclosure document.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 50 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 590 hrs
- Training location
- Corporately-owned or franchised locations in Canada or the United States
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 6 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- Franchisor
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- COBS Bread POS System (Bready System)
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: COBS Bread POS System (Bready System)
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
188 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a COBS Bread franchise?
The total investment to open a COBS Bread franchise ranges from $934K – $1.3M, with an initial franchise fee of $25K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do COBS Bread franchise owners earn?
Item 19 of the COBS Bread FDD discloses figures for part of the system but no single average across all outlets. These are gross sales figures, not profit; the Revenue section shows what the filing reports and on what basis. Item 20 of the FDD lists current and former franchisees; asking them directly is the standard way to fill this gap.
Who owns COBS Bread?
COBS Bread is franchised by COBS USA Inc.. Its parent company is Bakers Delight Holdings Ltd. (Australian corporation). The ultimate parent named in the FDD is Bakers Delight Holdings Ltd.. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the COBS Bread 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 COBS Bread FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is COBS Bread's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for COBS Bread (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 COBS Bread franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, COBS Bread has 194 total units in the United States, including 188 franchised units and 6 company-owned units.
Is COBS Bread a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates COBS Bread as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 49 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
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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.