Can you buy a Starbucks franchise?
No. Starbucks has no franchises for sale in the United States. Every store is run by the company or licensed to a large retail company.
The annual report from Starbucks lists two store types: company-operated locations and licensed stores. For licensed stores, the operator buys products from Starbucks, which takes a royalty on sales. Individual buyers are not the usual licensees. Most are prominent retailers that already have access to their own retail space, and a Starbucks FDD is not available to read. Source: Starbucks annual report for fiscal 2024 (Form 10-K).
Coffee franchises available to buy instead
You can buy a franchise from all 9 of these coffee brands, and each one lists its costs in a current FDD.
| Brand | total, lowest to highest | one-time fee | ongoing, 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, you keep paying the brand either a share of sales or a set amount as the royalty. A K stands for thousand, an M for million. Each of the 9 brands includes sales or earnings figures in its FDD, so open a brand to view them. The Minnesota Department of Commerce received every FDD here in 2026.
Want something like Starbucks that you can own?
A franchise consultant can suggest brands in the same field that fit your cash and your area.