Business models / Ice Cream / Dessert Shop / Own a franchise

An ice cream / dessert shop franchise, or your own?

12 franchise brands run an ice cream / dessert shop. 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 an ice cream / dessert shop: $150k to $500k in sales, and the owner keeps 18% to 24% 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 ice cream / dessert shop and each brand, side by side

The independent version

Your own ice cream / dessert shop

Built and run under your own name

Cost to open
$95k to $534k
Annual sales
$270ktypical
Franchise fee
None
Royalty + ad fund
Noneall marketing is yours
$56,700
The owner keeps in a year, after about $8k of marketing
Taking new owners

Jeremiah's Italian Ice

Italian ice and soft serve

Total investment
$103k to $696k
Avg. annual sales
$576k
Franchise fee
$12k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 5% of sales
$75k
The owner keeps in a year at $576k in sales (what it reports), after $63k to the brand
$18k more a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Dippin' Dots

Beaded ice cream

Total investment
$113k to $344k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$15k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 2% of sales
$41k
The owner keeps in a year at $270k in sales (your sales), after $22k to the brand
$16k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Rita's Italian Ice

Italian ice and custard

Total investment
$176k to $435k
Avg. annual sales
$342k to $376k
Franchise fee
$35k
Royalty + ad fund
6.5% + 3% of sales
$52k
The owner keeps in a year at $359k in sales (what it reports), after $34k to the brand
$5k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Häagen-Dazs Shops

Premium ice cream

Total investment
$215k to $568k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$30k
Royalty + ad fund
4% of sales
$46k
The owner keeps in a year at $270k in sales (your sales), after $11k to the brand
$11k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

sweetFrog

Self-serve frozen yogurt

Total investment
$257k to $659k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$15k
Royalty + ad fund
5% + 3% of sales
$43k
The owner keeps in a year at $270k in sales (your sales), after $22k to the brand
$14k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Yogurtland

Self-serve frozen yogurt

Total investment
$295k to $638k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$30k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 2% of sales
$41k
The owner keeps in a year at $270k in sales (your sales), after $22k to the brand
$16k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Baskin-Robbins

Ice cream

Total investment
$307k to $623k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$25k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 5% of sales
$35k
The owner keeps in a year at $270k in sales (your sales), after $30k to the brand
$22k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Cold Stone Creamery

Ice cream

Total investment
$336k to $655k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$12k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 2% of sales
$41k
The owner keeps in a year at $270k in sales (your sales), after $22k to the brand
$16k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Carvel

Ice cream and cakes

Total investment
$392k to $786k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$31k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 3% of sales
$41k
The owner keeps in a year at $270k in sales (your sales), after $24k to the brand
$16k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Bahama Buck's

Shaved ice

Total investment
$528k to $1.2M
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$35k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 2% of sales
$41k
The owner keeps in a year at $270k in sales (your sales), after $22k to the brand
$16k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Bruster's Real Ice Cream

Ice cream made in store

Total investment
$1.2M to $2.6M
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$20k
Royalty + ad fund
5% + 3% of sales
$43k
The owner keeps in a year at $270k in sales (your sales), after $22k to the brand
$14k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Dairy Queen

Ice cream and burgers

Total investment
$1.5M to $2.6M
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$45k
Royalty + ad fund
4% + 5% to 6% of sales
$38k to $41k
The owner keeps in a year at $270k in sales (your sales), after $24k to $27k to the brand
$16k to $19k less a year than on your own
Free account

See all 12 ice cream / dessert shop 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.