Food & Beverage

Jamba Franchise

A smoothie and juice bar franchise founded in San Luis Obispo, California in 1990, now owned by GoTo Foods (formerly Focus Brands) alongside Auntie Anne's, Cinnabon and Carvel, which is why co-branded Jamba and Auntie Anne's stores appear in the FDD. The franchisor entity was formed in 2018 when the brand was acquired; US franchised store count has been drifting down since 2023.

Losing locationsFounded 1990HQ: Atlanta, GA

Every franchisor has to file a document called an FDD before they can legally sell you a franchise. Buried in it are the two things a sales rep won't volunteer: what you'll actually spend to open, and whether existing locations are opening or closing. That's what's below, pulled straight from Jamba's own filing.

What it costs to open

From the filing's investment breakdown -- not a "starting at" number a sales rep quoted you.

Franchise fee

$35,500

Total to open

$480,850–$941,300

Ongoing royalty

6% of gross sales

What you'd actually spend, over time

The upfront cost is only part of it. Plug in what you expect a location to bring in, and see the real total once royalties over a few years are added on top.

Your estimated annual revenue

Defaulted to a rough food & beverage industry average, not a figure from Jamba's own FDD -- change it to your own estimate.

Years of ownership

Total cost of ownership over 5 years

$780,850 – $1,241,300

Startup investment

$480,850–$941,300

Royalty per year (6%)

$60,000

Total royalty, 5yr

$300,000

When would you break even?

Revenue alone doesn't tell you this -- it depends on what's left after rent, labor, and everything else. Jamba's FDD doesn't disclose a reliable profit figure (most franchisors don't), so this starts from a typical food & beverage profit margin (~8%) and applies it to the revenue you entered above -- adjust the percentage to your own realistic estimate.

Estimated profit margin (% of revenue)

%≈ $80,000/year

Defaulted to a general food & beverage industry benchmark, not a figure from Jamba's own filing -- this is a starting point to adjust, not a promise about what franchisees actually make.

At that profit, you'd break even in about

6.0–11.8 years

Weigh that payback period against what you already know: Jamba is currently losing locations. A long payback period on a shrinking brand is a very different bet than the same payback period on a growing one.

Is Jamba actually growing?

Franchisors have to report, every year, how many locations opened, closed, or changed hands. Most franchise sites never show you this. Here it is:

Locations opened vs. closed, by year

Shrinking

From Item 20 of Jamba's FDD, the section franchisors use to disclose real openings and closings.

-2

-7

-17

202320242025

Year	Franchised units, start	Franchised units, end	Net change
2023	735	733	-2
2024	733	726	-7
2025	726	709	-17

Most recent year (2025): lost 17 franchised units, ending the year at 709 total.

How Jamba compares to other Food & Beverage franchises

Across the 52 food & beverage franchises we've hand-verified so far, the typical range to open runs $860,899–$2,165,095, with royalties averaging around 5.6% of gross sales (based on the 48 of them that charge a flat %-of-revenue royalty).

Dave's Hot Chicken

$617,800–$2,170,000 · 6% royalty

Slim Chickens

$1,188,900–$4,944,000 · 5% royalty

Ziggi's Coffee

$315,830–$2,093,361 · 6% royalty

Crumbl

$848,566–$1,472,533 · 8% royalty

Little Caesars

$376,500–$1,769,200 · 6% royalty

Tropical Smoothie Cafe

$300,000–$720,500 · 6% royalty

Playa Bowls

$188,675–$636,458 · 6% royalty

Kona Ice

$114,730–$228,601 · non-%-of-revenue royalty

Firehouse Subs

$166,671–$950,351 · 6% royalty

Wingstop

$310,400–$1,048,500 · 6% royalty

Jersey Mike's Subs

$436,176–$1,162,228 · 6.5% royalty

Dunkin'

$532,400–$1,832,500 · 5.9% royalty

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen

$1,222,045–$3,923,245 · 5% royalty

Del Taco

$1,461,200–$3,313,500 · 5% royalty

Blaze Pizza

$757,000–$1,297,100 · 5% royalty

Church's Texas Chicken

$1,202,400–$1,886,300 · 5% royalty

MOD Pizza

$924,732–$1,220,633 · 5% royalty

Twin Peaks

$2,959,000–$5,734,000 · 5% royalty

McDonald's

$1,470,500–$2,642,000 · 5% royalty

Subway

$263,000–$630,000 · 8% royalty

Taco Bell

$1,859,750–$4,312,200 · 5.5% royalty

Domino's Pizza

$231,450–$743,500 · 5.5% royalty

KFC

$2,107,575–$4,155,000 · 5% royalty

Burger King

$2,039,200–$4,730,600 · 4.5% royalty

Chick-fil-A

$317,521–$3,463,155 · non-%-of-revenue royalty

Penn Station

$507,500–$858,750 · non-%-of-revenue royalty

Nekter Juice Bar

$243,155–$647,160 · 6% royalty

Jimmy John's

$366,200–$733,500 · 6% royalty

Sonic Drive-In

$1,485,200–$2,522,900 · 5% royalty

Papa John's

$281,485–$890,267 · 5% royalty

Hungry Howie's Pizza & Subs

$238,982–$697,322 · 5.5% royalty

Jack in the Box

$1,909,500–$4,041,500 · 5% royalty

Wendy's

$1,523,957–$2,992,000 · 4% royalty

Marco's Pizza

$286,477–$811,186 · 5.5% royalty

Pizza Hut

$846,000–$2,130,000 · 6% royalty

Chicken Salad Chick

$777,000–$998,500 · 5% royalty

Teriyaki Madness

$392,667–$1,121,405 · 6% royalty

Cold Stone Creamery

$390,675–$680,775 · 6% royalty

Scooter's Coffee

$1,163,650–$1,345,750 · 6% royalty

Nothing Bundt Cakes

$475,200–$994,100 · 6% royalty

Five Guys

$977,850–$1,375,750 · 6% royalty

Tim Hortons

$427,500–$3,312,500 · 6% royalty

7 Brew

$940,500–$2,283,500 · non-%-of-revenue royalty

Swig

$608,400–$1,718,000 · 7% royalty

Culver's

$3,406,350–$10,294,100 · 4% royalty

Dairy Queen

$1,516,200–$2,543,050 · 4% royalty

Paris Baguette

$727,515–$1,860,550 · 5% royalty

Jollibee

$1,614,568–$4,589,057 · 5% royalty

Smoothie King

$329,850–$683,215 · 6% royalty

IHOP

$380,550–$3,735,850 · 4.5% royalty

Cinnabon

$256,950–$703,500 · 6% royalty

Jamba Franchise FAQ

How much does it cost to franchise a Jamba?

Based on Jamba's own FDD, total initial investment to open one location runs $480,850–$941,300, including the $35,500 franchise fee. California DFPI Registration Renewal, App ID APP00004564, filed 3/28/2026, effective 6/5/2026. FDD issued March 27, 2026. Item 5: $35,500 for a traditional or non-traditional store; $71,000 for a co-branded store. Item 6: 6% of net sales royalty for standard stores (7% on the Auntie Anne's portion of co-branded sales). Item 7: traditional store $480,850-$941,300; traditional store with drive-thru $517,000-$960,700; non-traditional $249,025-$825,200; co-branded $472,375-$1,811,400. Item 20 Table 1 franchised outlets.

What is the Jamba franchise fee and royalty rate?

The initial franchise fee is $35,500, and the ongoing royalty is 6% of gross sales, per the filing on record.

Is the Jamba franchise growing or shrinking?

Shrinking. Across 2023–2025, Jamba lost a net 26 franchised locations, per its own annual FDD filings.

Keep going

Jamba and Nothing Bundt Cakes are both food & beverage franchises; Nothing Bundt Cakes's total investment starts about $5,650 lower than Jamba's. Nothing Bundt Cakes Franchise
Jamba and Penn Station are both food & beverage franchises; Jamba's total investment starts about $26,650 lower than Penn Station's. Penn Station Franchise

Where this came from: California DFPI Registration Renewal, App ID APP00004564, filed 3/28/2026, effective 6/5/2026. FDD issued March 27, 2026. Item 5: $35,500 for a traditional or non-traditional store; $71,000 for a co-branded store. Item 6: 6% of net sales royalty for standard stores (7% on the Auntie Anne's portion of co-branded sales). Item 7: traditional store $480,850-$941,300; traditional store with drive-thru $517,000-$960,700; non-traditional $249,025-$825,200; co-branded $472,375-$1,811,400. Item 20 Table 1 franchised outlets. You can pull the same filing yourself from the California DFPI's public franchise search. Filed 2026-03-28. None of this is investment advice -- get the franchisor's current FDD and talk to a real attorney or accountant before you sign anything.

If you see a different unit count elsewhere: franchisors only have to refile their FDD annually, so the numbers here can run 6–18 months behind a franchisor's own real-time marketing claims -- which often aren't independently verified, and sometimes count signed-but-not-yet-open locations. A gap isn't necessarily an error on either side; it's two different snapshots in time from two different sources.