Corner Bakery Cafe franchise
2025 filing · April 17, 2025Fewer locations
Corner Bakery Cafe at a glance
A fast-casual bakery cafe serving breakfast, sandwiches, salads, soups and baked goods, with catering. At the end of 2024 there were 99 Corner Bakery Cafe locations in the US, 32 franchised and 67 company-owned, so most are run by the company itself.
The business
- Franchisor
- Best Cafe - Franchises, LLC
- The company that sells the franchises
- Franchisor based in
- Dallas, Texas
- Typical size
- 2,200–4,600 sq ft
What you pay
- Cost to open
- $1.09M–$2.33M
- Excluding real property
- Franchise fee
- $40,000
- Paid once, when you sign
- Royalty
- 5%
- 5% of gross sales, paid monthly
- Brand fund
- 1.25%
- 1.25% of gross sales, paid monthly
- Renewal fee
- See terms
- 50% of our then- current standard initial franchise fee
- Agreement length
- 20 years
- Territory
- Protected
- Protected territory
- Franchisor financing
- None offered
Where it is
- US locations, 2024
- 99
- Franchised and company-owned
- Franchised
- 32
- Company-owned
- 67
- Change in 1 years
- −12
- Franchised locations, 2022–2024
- States
- 17
- Most in California, Texas and Illinois
From Best Cafe - Franchises, LLC’s 2025 filing; SBA status from the SBA Franchise Directory, October 28, 2026.
Where it ranks
Corner Bakery Cafe among all franchises with the same figure.
| Figure | Corner Bakery Cafe | Among all franchises |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to open, midpointHalfway between the low and high estimate | $1,712,500 | Costs more than 91% of franchises |
| Franchise feePaid once, when you sign | $40,000 | Lower than 46% of franchises |
| RoyaltyShare of sales paid to the franchisor | 5% | Lower than 69% of brands with a set rate |
| US locationsFranchised and company-owned | 99 | More than 76% of franchises |
How much a Corner Bakery Cafe franchise costs
Opening excluding real property costs an estimated $1,090,000 to $2,335,000. That covers the franchise fee and everything else needed to open, through the first months of working capital.
Source: Best Cafe - Franchises, LLC, 2025 filing, page 18
Corner Bakery Cafe franchise fee
The franchise fee is $40,000. You pay it when you sign the franchise agreement.
Source: Best Cafe - Franchises, LLC, 2025 filing, page 11
Royalty and ongoing fees
| Royalty | 5% of gross sales, paid monthly. |
|---|---|
| Brand or marketing fund | 1.25% of gross sales, paid monthly. |
| Technology Fee | $400 |
| Renewal Fee | 50% of our then- current standard initial franchise fee |
The typical franchise royalty is 6% of sales, plus 2% for marketing. See franchise fees and royalties to compare.
Source: Best Cafe - Franchises, LLC, 2025 filing, pages 11 and 12
Other fees as filed, from pages 12–14. The filing lists every fee, including late fees and audit costs.
Sales and earnings
No figures Corner Bakery Cafe does not share sales or profit figures for its locations. Talking to current and former franchise owners is the usual way to learn what a location earns.
Source: Best Cafe - Franchises, LLC, 2025 filing, page 50
- Estimate Estimated yearly sales per location
- $1.3M–$2.4M
Estimated from the sales that 292 comparable franchises file, matched on industry, format, cost to open, fees and size.
SBA loans to Corner Bakery Cafe franchisees
Lenders approved 8 SBA 7(a) loans for Corner Bakery Cafe franchisees from 2008 to 2026, $9.12M in all. Of the 7 that have ended, 6 were paid in full and 1 was charged off. The other one hasn’t ended yet.
A charged-off loan is one written off as uncollectible. See SBA franchise loans for how 7(a) and 504 loans work.
Source: SBA 7(a) and 504 loan data, as of September 30, 2026
How Corner Bakery Cafe compares
Of the 58 breakfast franchises on this site, Corner Bakery Cafe is the 50th cheapest to open and the 12th largest by number of locations.
| Figure | Corner Bakery Cafe | Typical breakfast brand | Typical franchise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost to open, low end | $1.09M | $640K | $222K |
| Cost to open, high end | $2.33M | $1.2M | $477K |
| Franchise fee | $40K | $40K | $40K |
| Royalty | 5% | 5% | 6% |
| Brand fund | 1.3% | 1.4% | 2% |
| US locations | 99 | 13 | 21 |
| Closed or left per year | 13.5% | 3% | – |
| Change in franchised locations, 1 yrs | −27.3% | +6.7% | – |
| Shares earnings figures | No | 46 of 58 | 2,147 of 3,352 |
Typical is the median across the 58 brands in breakfast franchises; typical franchise, across every brand here.
Locations opened and closed
| Year | Franchised | Company-owned | Opened | Closed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 39 (−5) | 97 | – | – |
| 2023 | 37 (−2) | 67 | – | – |
| 2024 | 32 (−5) | 67 | 0 | −5 |
Closed or left counts terminations, non-renewals, locations bought back by the franchisor and locations that stopped operating.
See which brands grew most in the fastest-growing franchises rankings.
More in the guides: sandwich and sub franchise costs and franchise failure rates.
Source: Best Cafe - Franchises, LLC, 2025 filing, page 51
Where Corner Bakery Cafe locations are
At the end of 2024, Corner Bakery Cafe had locations in 18 states and territories. The most are in California, Texas and Illinois.
- California31
- Texas27
- Illinois14
- Colorado4
- Utah4
- Pennsylvania3
| State | Franchised | Company-owned | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 4 | 27 | 31 |
| Texas | 12 | 15 | 27 |
| Illinois | 0 | 14 | 14 |
| Colorado | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Utah | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Pennsylvania | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| District of Columbia | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Georgia | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Virginia | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Wisconsin | 2 | 0 | 2 |
All 18 states
| Kansas | 1 |
|---|---|
| Kentucky | 1 |
| Maryland | 1 |
| Nevada | 1 |
| New Mexico | 1 |
| Oregon | 1 |
| Tennessee | 1 |
| Washington | 1 |
Source: Best Cafe - Franchises, LLC, 2025 filing, page 51
Who owns Corner Bakery Cafe?
Corner Bakery Cafe franchises are sold by Best Cafe - Franchises, LLC. It is a subsidiary of Best Cafe, LLC.
From Best Cafe - Franchises, LLC’s 2025 filing, page 6.
Lawsuits and bankruptcy
| Lawsuits and regulatory actions | Yes. The filing describes past or pending cases involving the franchisor, its affiliates or its executives on pages 9–10. |
|---|---|
| Bankruptcy | The brand's previous owners, CBC Restaurant Corp and related companies, filed for Chapter 11 in March 2023; the current owner bought the assets in a court-approved sale. |
Franchisors must disclose lawsuits and bankruptcies involving the company, its parents and affiliates, and its executives. Many cases are routine disputes with franchisees over fees or contracts; read the descriptions in the filing and ask current owners about anything that worries you.
Source: Best Cafe - Franchises, LLC, 2025 filing, litigation on pages 9–10, bankruptcy on page 10
Corner Bakery Cafe filings
The figures on this page come from Best Cafe - Franchises, LLC’s 2025 filing, issued April 17, 2025, on record with the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
| Filing | Issued | Registry | On this page |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 filing | April 17, 2025 | Minnesota | Costs, fees and locations, 2022–2024 |
Each link opens the filing as a PDF. See the newest filings across all brands.
Other breakfast franchises
All breakfast franchises
Corner Bakery Cafe is also on these lists: sandwich franchises, bakery franchises, restaurant franchises, food franchises.