Business models / Bar / Pub / Own a franchise

A bar / pub franchise, or your own?

Six franchise brands run a bar / pub. Here they are beside the independent version of the same business, with each brand’s fees as it publishes them and worked out in dollars. A brand can bring customers an independent has to earn one by one. The question is whether it brings in more than it costs.

Typical for a bar / pub: $450k to $1.3M in sales, and the owner keeps 14% to 20% after paying for its own marketing. Change either to your own numbers.

Work each brand out at

How the two sides are counted

  • Sales. A brand’s name brings customers an independent wins one at a time, so each brand is worked out at the sales it reports where we have them, and at yours where we don’t.
  • Marketing. On your own you pay for all of it, about 3% of sales here (the SBA’s usual range for ongoing marketing). The ad fund does part of that job, so it is counted once, not twice.
  • Survival. New franchised businesses were about 5 to 6 points more likely to make it through their first two years in Census data, and about half of all new businesses close within five years. It is not in the dollars; each brand’s details give the sources.

Your own bar / pub and each brand, side by side

The independent version

Your own bar / pub

Built and run under your own name

Cost to open
$200k to $965k
Annual sales
$760ktypical
Franchise fee
None
Royalty + ad fund
Noneall marketing is yours
$129,200
The owner keeps in a year, after about $23k of marketing
Taking new owners

The Brass Tap

Craft beer taproom

Total investment
$535k to $1.7M
Avg. annual sales
$1.3M to $1.4M
Franchise fee
$25k
Royalty + ad fund
5% + 2% of sales
$161k
The owner keeps in a year at $1.3M in sales (what it reports), after $94k to the brand
$31k more a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Beef 'O' Brady's

Family sports pub

Total investment
$813k to $1.5M
Avg. annual sales
$1.6M to $1.7M
Franchise fee
$25k
Royalty + ad fund
5% + 3% of sales
$197k
The owner keeps in a year at $1.6M in sales (what it reports), after $131k to the brand
$68k more a year than on your own
Taking new owners

The Greene Turtle

Sports bar and grill, Mid-Atlantic

Total investment
$1.5M to $2.7M
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$45k
Royalty + ad fund
4% + 1.5% of sales
$99k
The owner keeps in a year at $760k in sales (your sales), after $42k to the brand
$30k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Walk-On's Sports Bistreaux

Cajun sports restaurant and bar

Total investment
$1.7M to $6.6M
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$60k
Royalty + ad fund
5% + 2% of sales
$91k
The owner keeps in a year at $760k in sales (your sales), after $53k to the brand
$38k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Twin Peaks

Sports lodge bar and grill

Total investment
$2.3M to $6.9M
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$50k
Royalty + ad fund
5% + 3% of sales
$91k
The owner keeps in a year at $760k in sales (your sales), after $61k to the brand
$38k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Buffalo Wild Wings

Sports bar and grill, wings

Total investment
$2.9M to $4.9M
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$13k
Royalty + ad fund
5% + 4% of sales
$84k
The owner keeps in a year at $760k in sales (your sales), after $68k to the brand
$46k less a year than on your own
Free account

See all 6 bar / pub brands side by side

  • Every brand’s investment and fees, and what the owner keeps against running your own
  • The yearly sales the first 3 report, and a plus to add brands to your comparison and benchmark them in your account
  • Members see the sales every franchisor reports, for every brand

Free, no card. A new account accepts the Terms and the Privacy Policy. smbnest is a self-assessment tool and never takes a cut of your deal or a fee from a franchisor.

Before you sign: what to read in the disclosure document

Every franchisor must give you its Franchise Disclosure Document at least 14 days before you sign or pay. These are the parts that answer the questions above.

  • Items 5 to 7, the fees and the investment. The franchise fee, every other fee (technology, training, transfer, renewal), and the full opening budget, including working capital.
  • Item 19, what owners earn. Whether the brand states owner sales or earnings at all, and for which units. Put its figures in the boxes above in place of the typical ones.
  • Item 20, units opened, closed and sold. How many owners left in each of the last three years, and a list of current and former owners you can call.
  • Item 12, the territory. Whether you get a protected area, and what the brand can open or sell inside it.
  • Item 21, the franchisor’s own finances. Whether the company behind the brand is in good health.

smbnest is a self-assessment tool, not individualized advice. Fees are as each brand publishes them on its franchising page and in its disclosure document, reviewed in the month shown, and change; the figures in dollars are worked out at the sales you enter and are not a forecast. We never take a cut of your deal or a fee from a franchisor. Before you sign, speak with a franchise attorney and a qualified financial adviser, and call owners from the disclosure document.