Ice cream franchise costs

The ice cream list covers very different businesses. Shaved ice and Italian ice brands sell from trucks, trailers and walk-up stands that cost little and open seasonally. Scoop shops and frozen yogurt stores lease a small storefront. At the top, frozen custard and soft serve chains run full restaurants with burgers and a drive-thru, and cost as much to build as any fast food brand.

Most ice cream businesses are seasonal: a summer can bring most of the year’s sales outside the Sun Belt. Ask brands for sales by month, not only for the year.

What an ice cream franchise costs

Across the 101 brands on the ice cream list, the typical cost to open runs from $285K at the low end of each brand’s estimate to $597K at the high end. The low end is a small location in a cheaper market with little build-out; the high end a large site in an expensive one. Of these brands, 38 start at $250K or less and 7 at $100K or less.

Where the money goes

Each franchisor itemizes its cost to open. Grouping the lines for the 77 ice cream brands with a full breakdown shows what a typical budget pays for, as an average share of the high estimate, with the typical amount.

For shops, the leasehold build-out and equipment dominate: freezers, dipping cabinets, soft-serve machines and, for brands that make their own ice cream in the store, batch freezers. Trucks and stands swap the build-out for the vehicle. Restaurant formats add a kitchen and a drive-thru, which is why the high end of the range is so far above the typical shop.

Cheapest and most expensive ice cream franchises

The cheapest ice cream brands with at least 20 US locations, by the low end of the cost to open. Use the full range on each brand’s page for budgeting, not the low end alone.

Fees and royalties

The typical ice cream brand charges a franchise fee of $35K, a royalty of 6% of sales and 2% to a marketing fund. Another 11 brands charge a flat or tiered royalty instead of a single percentage. Royalties and marketing come off sales before rent, staff or loan payments, so on a $561K year they cost about $45K. The fees and royalties guide compares industries.

What ice cream franchise locations sell

Of the ice cream brands, 33 publish a comparable yearly sales figure per location. The typical one is $561K, below the $797K typical across all brands.

Custard and soft-serve restaurants that also sell food post the highest sales, because they trade all day, not only for dessert. Scoop shops sell far less, so their cost to open matters more. Ask how much of a shop’s sales come from cakes, pints and catering, which even out the seasons.

Which ice cream franchises are growing

Of the 62 ice cream brands with three years of figures, 44 added US locations from 2023 to 2025 and 13 shrank. The typical brand with 20 or more locations changed by +8%, against +3.8% across all franchises.

The brands that lost the most locations were TCBY (36), Baskin-Robbins (34) and Friendly's (27). The fastest-growing franchises ranking covers every industry.

Who runs an ice cream franchise

Of the ice cream brands whose agreements are clear, 77 let a trained manager run the business day to day and 21 require the owner to. Initial training typically runs 66 hours, against 71 across all brands. The typical brand loses 1.9% of its franchised locations a year to closures, terminations and non-renewals. On the SBA Franchise Directory are 48 of the 101 brands, so SBA-backed loans are available for them.

Best ice cream franchises to own

These ice cream brands pass all five tests on the best franchises to own ranking: they grew, lost no more owners than is typical, publish earnings figures, are on the SBA directory and had 100 or more US locations three years ago.

Before you buy an ice cream franchise

Check the hours and months the brand expects you to open and the staffing that needs, often teenagers in summer and few people in winter. Ask how much of the product you must buy from the franchisor and how its price has changed. Trucks and stands need a list of events, schools and neighborhoods to work, and local permits for each.

Older scoop-shop brands and younger dessert brands grow at different rates; compare them in the growth table above and on each brand’s page, and see the cheap restaurant franchises for the lowest-cost ways in.