Jimmy John's franchise: what it costs
Opening a Jimmy John's restaurant runs $366,200 to $733,500. The source is the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), the required papers a brand must hand you before you buy.
Item by item: Jimmy John's franchise cost
- Full cost of opening
- From $366,200 to $733,500 Item 7, 2026 FDD
- Franchise fee you pay one time at the start
- $35,000 Item 5, 2026 FDD
- Royalty, your ongoing payments to the brand
- 6% of gross sales each week Item 6, 2026 FDD
- Marketing fund, which covers shared advertising
- 4.5% of gross weekly sales Item 6, 2026 FDD
- Figures on sales or earnings
- $1,007,437 a year on average across 2,581 locations it counts, before costs Item 19, 2026 FDD
- Location count at the end of 2025
- Franchise owners ran 2,737, the company 40 Item 20, 2026 FDD
Every figure here comes from the 2026 Jimmy John's Franchise Disclosure Document. It was submitted by Jimmy John's Franchisor SPV, LLC to the Minnesota Department of Commerce and is dated March 26, 2026. Each small label points to the numbered part of the FDD where that figure sits.
Sales and earnings numbers from Jimmy John's FDD
Item 19 is the FDD section where a brand may give the sales or earnings of its locations, and Jimmy John's shares figures there. Main figure: average yearly sales of $1,007,437 across 2,581 franchised US restaurants open throughout 2025. It is money the store takes in, not profit, because rent, wages and every other cost get paid from it.
Check the guide to reading an Item 19 before you rely on any of its figures.
Jimmy John's beside other restaurant franchises
Among the restaurant franchises compared here, Jimmy John's costs less to open than most; the middle one begins at $1.34M.
| Brand | Total cost to opentotal, lowest to highest | Upfront feeone-time fee | Royaltyongoing, usually a % of sales | Sales or earnings showndoes the brand show sales figures | Year filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subway | $263K to $630K | $15,000 | 8% | No | 2026 |
| Jimmy John's | $366K to $734K | $35,000 | 6% | Yes | 2026 |
| Firehouse Subs | $405K to $876K | $20,000 | 6% | Yes | 2026 |
| Jersey Mike's | $436K to $1.16M | $20,000 | 6.5% | Yes | 2026 |
| Arby's | $869K to $2.46M | $37,500 | 4% | Yes | 2026 |
| Five Guys | $928K to $1.38M | $25,000 | 6% | No | 2026 |
| Panera Bread | $1.34M to $4.57M | $50,000 | 5% | Yes | 2026 |
| McDonald's | $1.47M to $2.64M | $45,000 | 5% (plus rent) | Yes | 2024 |
| Sonic Drive-In | $1.49M to $2.52M | $15,000 | 5% | Yes | 2026 |
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 opening, you keep paying the brand a royalty, either a share of sales or a set amount. "Sales or earnings shown" tells you whether the brand reveals what its locations take in. A K stands for thousand, an M for million. The filing year is the year that FDD was listed with the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
The number of Jimmy John's locations
At the end of 2025, the United States had 2,777 Jimmy John's locations, with franchise owners running 99% 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 Jimmy John's FDD read by a franchise attorney
Before you sign, one franchise attorney can go through the Jimmy John's FDD and franchise agreement with you.