Panera Bread franchise: what it costs
Opening a Panera Bread bakery-cafe runs $1,337,139 to $4,569,880, based on its 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), the paperwork a brand must give you ahead of your purchase.
Item-by-item cost of a Panera Bread franchise
- Total opening cost
- $1,337,139 to $4,569,880 Item 7, 2026 FDD
- Franchise fee you pay one time at the start
- $50,000 Item 5, 2026 FDD
- Royalty, your ongoing payments to the brand
- 5% of the net sales Item 6, 2026 FDD
- Marketing fund, which covers shared advertising
- To the national advertising fund: 4% of net sales Item 6, 2026 FDD
- Figures on sales or earnings
- $2,541,217 a year on average across 1,073 locations it counts, before costs Item 19, 2026 FDD
- Location count at the end of 2025
- Franchise owners ran 1,106; the company ran 1,108 Item 20, 2026 FDD
Every figure above comes from the 2026 Panera Bread Franchise Disclosure Document, which Panera, LLC filed with the Minnesota Department of Commerce. Each small label points to the numbered part of the FDD where that figure sits.
Sales and earnings data in the Panera Bread FDD
In Item 19, the FDD section where a brand may report what its locations sell or earn, Panera Bread shares its figures. The key figure: yearly net sales averaged $2,541,217 across 1,073 bakery-cafes run by franchisees and open all through fiscal 2025. It is money the store takes in, not profit, because rent, wages and every other cost get paid from it.
Use this guide to read an Item 19 before you count on any number it gives.
Other restaurant franchises next to Panera Bread
Most restaurant franchises listed here open for less than Panera Bread; the middle one starts 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. "Sales or earnings shown" tells whether the brand says how much its locations bring in; after opening, the royalty is either a cut of sales or a fixed sum you still pay the brand. 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 Panera Bread locations
At the end of 2025, the United States had 2,214 Panera Bread locations, with franchise owners running 50% 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 Panera Bread FDD read by a franchise attorney
Before you sign, one franchise attorney can go through the Panera Bread FDD and franchise agreement with you.