Caribou Coffee franchise: what it costs
Before you buy, a brand must give you the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). For the Caribou Coffee franchise, the 2026 document lists $898,100 as the low cost and $1,515,000 as the high cost to open a coffeehouse.
Caribou Coffee franchise cost, item by item
- Full startup cost
- $898,100 to $1,515,000 Item 7, 2026 FDD
- Franchise fee you pay one time at the start
- $30,000 Item 5, 2026 FDD
- Royalty, your ongoing payments to the brand
- 5% taken from gross sales Item 6, 2026 FDD
- Marketing fund, which covers shared advertising
- as much as 3% of gross sales (the brand fund gets 2% right now) Item 6, 2026 FDD
- Figures on sales or earnings
- Shared, with no single main number Item 19, 2026 FDD
- Location count at the close of 2025
- franchise owners ran 144, the company ran 350 Item 20, 2026 FDD
Each number above comes straight from the 2026 Caribou Coffee Franchise Disclosure Document, which Caribou Coffee Development Company, Inc. filed with the Minnesota Department of Commerce. Each small label points to the numbered part of the FDD where that figure sits.
Caribou Coffee FDD: sales and earnings
Caribou Coffee gives figures in Item 19, the FDD part where a brand may state how much its locations sell or earn. Still, no single main number can be quoted. Before you rely on any of them, go through the Item 19 tables all the way.
Our guide walks you through reading an Item 19 before you trust any figure in it.
Caribou Coffee beside other coffee franchises
Most coffee franchises on this site cost less to open than Caribou Coffee; the middle one starts at $672K.
| Brand | Total cost to opentotal, lowest to highest | Upfront feeone-time fee | Royaltyongoing, usually a % of sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dunn Brothers Coffee | $449K to $728K | $30,000 | 5% |
| PJ's Coffee | $523K to $899K | $15,000 to $40,000 | 5% |
| Dunkin' | $532K to $1.83M | $40,000 to $90,000 | 5.9% |
| Ziggi's Coffee | $587K to $1.76M | $40,000 | 6% |
| The Human Bean | $672K to $1.53M | $35,000 | None |
| Caribou Coffee | $898K to $1.51M | $30,000 | 5% |
| 7 Brew | $941K to $2.28M | $35,000 | 4.5% to 7% |
| Tim Hortons | $988K to $3.31M | $50,000 | 4.5% to 6% |
| Scooter's Coffee | $1.16M to $1.35M | $40,000 | 6% |
Before you buy, a brand has to hand over its Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD); the brand's latest one is where every figure comes from. After you open, the brand keeps getting a royalty from you, either a share of sales or a set amount. A K stands for thousand, an M for million. Sales or earnings figures appear in the FDD for all 9 brands (open one to see them). Each FDD here went to the Minnesota Department of Commerce in 2026.
All coffee franchises, side by side
Caribou Coffee location count
At the end of 2025, Caribou Coffee had 494 locations across the United States, with franchise owners running 29% of them (Item 20). In that same part of the FDD, you get phone numbers for owners still running stores and ones who left. Your best way to learn how these costs play out in real life is to call a few of them.
Get the Caribou Coffee FDD read by a franchise attorney
Before you sign, one franchise attorney can go through the Caribou Coffee FDD and franchise agreement with you.