Question 1

Is Auntie Anne's or Once Upon A Child cheaper to open?

Accepted Answer

Auntie Anne's costs $157,795–$835,500 and Once Upon A Child costs $355,700–$485,900 to open (FDD Item 7). Auntie Anne's has the lower entry cost.

Question 2

Which earns more, Auntie Anne's or Once Upon A Child?

Accepted Answer

Auntie Anne's reports $792,496 average annual unit revenue vs $1,268,984 for Once Upon A Child (FDD Item 19). Once Upon A Child is higher. For Auntie Anne's: Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system; Reported as net sales, not gross sales.

Question 3

Which is safer, Auntie Anne's or Once Upon A Child?

Accepted Answer

SBA 7(a) charge-off rate is 4.7% for Auntie Anne's and 3.6% for Once Upon A Child. Lower is safer, so Once Upon A Child has the stronger loan-repayment record.

Question 4

Which is the better franchise, Auntie Anne's or Once Upon A Child?

Accepted Answer

FranchiseVerdict grades Auntie Anne's A and Once Upon A Child A, from FDD Items 5–7, 19–21 and SBA loan performance. See the full side-by-side above.

Metric	Auntie Anne's	Once Upon A Child
Verdict Grade	AStrongest tierStrongest tier	AStrongest tierStrongest tier
Investment Range	$158K – $836K	$356K – $486K
Franchise Fee	$36K	$25K
Royalty Rate	7.0%	5.0%
Average Revenue (Item 19)	$792KOutlet subset	$1.3M
SBA Charge-Off Rate	4.7% (78 loans)	3.6% (228 loans)
Total Units	1,247	441
Unit Growth (YoY)	N/A	N/A
Year Began Franchising	2017	1993
FDD Year	2026	2026

Auntie Anne's vs Once Upon A Child