Marble Slab Creamery franchise
2025 filing · April 30, 2025Fewer locationsShares sales figures
Marble Slab Creamery at a glance
An ice cream shop folding mix-ins into fresh ice cream on a frozen marble slab. At the end of 2024 there were 249 Marble Slab Creamery locations in the US, all franchised.
The business
- Franchisor
- Marble Slab Franchising, LLC
- The company that sells the franchises
- Franchisor based in
- Beverly Hills, California
What you pay
- Cost to open
- $355K–$477K
- Traditional restaurant
- Franchise fee
- $25,000
- Paid once, when you sign
- Royalty
- 6%
- 6% of net sales, paid weekly
- Brand fund
- 2%
- 2% of net sales
- Renewal fee
- See terms
- 40% of then-current initial fee
- Agreement length
- 15 years
- Franchisor financing
- None offered
Where it is
- US locations, 2024
- 249
- Franchised and company-owned
- Franchised
- 249
- Company-owned
- 0
- Change in 3 years
- −5
- Franchised locations, 2022–2024
- States
- 17
- Most in Texas, Louisiana and Georgia
From Marble Slab Franchising, LLC’s 2025 filing; SBA status from the SBA Franchise Directory, October 28, 2026.
Where it ranks
Marble Slab Creamery among all franchises with the same figure.
| Figure | Marble Slab Creamery | Among all franchises |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to open, midpointHalfway between the low and high estimate | $415,575 | Costs more than 56% of franchises |
| Franchise feePaid once, when you sign | $25,000 | Lower than 82% of franchises |
| RoyaltyShare of sales paid to the franchisor | 6% | Higher than 35% of brands with a set rate |
| US locationsFranchised and company-owned | 249 | More than 88% of franchises |
| Sales per locationYearly, as the brand reports it | $385,098 | Lower than 82% of brands that share sales figures |
| Sales against cost to openYearly sales over the cost midpoint | 0.9× | Lower than 81% of brands that share sales figures |
How much a Marble Slab Creamery franchise costs
Opening Traditional restaurant costs an estimated $354,500 to $476,650. That covers the franchise fee and everything else needed to open, through the first months of working capital.
Source: Marble Slab Franchising, LLC, 2025 filing, page 35
Marble Slab Creamery franchise fee
The franchise fee is $25,000. You pay it when you sign the franchise agreement.
Source: Marble Slab Franchising, LLC, 2025 filing, page 23
Royalty and ongoing fees
| Royalty | 6% of net sales, paid weekly. |
|---|---|
| Brand or marketing fund | 2% of net sales. |
| Transfer | $15,000 |
| Renewal Fee | 40% of then-current initial fee |
| Local Advertising | Currently 2% of total net sales |
The typical franchise royalty is 6% of sales, plus 2% for marketing. See franchise fees and royalties to compare.
Source: Marble Slab Franchising, LLC, 2025 filing, pages 24 and 25
Other fees as filed, from pages 25–29. The filing lists every fee, including late fees and audit costs.
Sales and earnings
Shares figures Marble Slab Creamery publishes sales or earnings figures for its locations. The full tables, with notes on which locations are counted, are in its filing.
- Average net sales
- $385,098
- Median net sales
- $329,578
Yearly figures for 2024, covering stand-alone (not co-branded) franchised U.S. stores open all 12 months of 2024 (75 locations). The average is about 0.9 times the midpoint of the cost to open.
Sales are what a location takes in before rent, payroll, royalties and other costs, not what its owner keeps.
Source: Marble Slab Franchising, LLC, 2025 filing, pages 87–92
SBA loans to Marble Slab Creamery franchisees
Lenders approved 224 SBA 7(a) loans for Marble Slab Creamery franchisees from 1991 to 2024, $46.5M in all. Of the 217 that have ended, 154 were paid in full and 63 were charged off (29%). The other 7 haven’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
Growth and closures
Share of franchised locations, 2024 / 2022–2024. Typical means the median: half of brands are above it, half below.
| Measure | Marble Slab Creamery | Typical ice cream brand | Typical franchise |
|---|---|---|---|
| GrowthNet change in franchised locations | +0.4% / −2% | +6.2% / +18% | +1.2% / +10% |
| ClosuresTerminated, not renewed or stopped operating | 4.8% / 12% | 2.4% / 9.5% | 3.9% / 16% |
| Bought backLocations the franchisor took back | 0% / 0% | 0% / 0% | 0% / 0% |
Typical ice cream brand is the median of the 33 brands in ice cream franchises with three years of counts.
How Marble Slab Creamery compares
Of the 101 ice cream franchises on this site, Marble Slab Creamery is the 71st cheapest to open and the 13th largest by number of locations.
| Figure | Marble Slab Creamery | Typical ice cream brand | Typical franchise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost to open, low end | $355K | $285K | $222K |
| Cost to open, high end | $477K | $597K | $477K |
| Franchise fee | $25K | $35K | $40K |
| Royalty | 6% | 6% | 6% |
| Brand fund | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| Sales per location | $385K | $561K | $794K |
| US locations | 249 | 18 | 21 |
| Shares earnings figures | Yes | 76 of 101 | 2,147 of 3,352 |
Typical is the median across the 101 brands in ice cream franchises; typical franchise, across every brand here.
Locations opened and closed
| Year | Franchised | Company-owned | Opened | Closed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 250 (−4) | 0 | +5 | −9 |
| 2023 | 248 (−2) | 0 | +7 | −9 |
| 2024 | 249 (+1) | 0 | +13 | −12 |
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: ice cream franchise costs and franchise failure rates.
Source: Marble Slab Franchising, LLC, 2025 filing, page 95
Where Marble Slab Creamery locations are
At the end of 2024, Marble Slab Creamery had franchised locations in 17 states. The most are in Texas, Louisiana and Georgia.
- Texas142
- Louisiana22
- Georgia21
- Alabama10
- South Carolina10
- Tennessee10
| State | Franchised |
|---|---|
| Texas | 142 |
| Louisiana | 22 |
| Georgia | 21 |
| Alabama | 10 |
| South Carolina | 10 |
| Tennessee | 10 |
| Florida | 9 |
| Oklahoma | 6 |
| Mississippi | 5 |
| Arkansas | 4 |
All 17 states
| Missouri | 2 |
|---|---|
| North Carolina | 2 |
| Pennsylvania | 2 |
| Alaska | 1 |
| Kentucky | 1 |
| Maryland | 1 |
| Oregon | 1 |
Source: Marble Slab Franchising, LLC, 2025 filing, page 96
Who owns Marble Slab Creamery?
Marble Slab Creamery franchises are sold by Marble Slab Franchising, LLC. It is a subsidiary of Marble Slab Franchise Brands LLC.
Marble Slab Creamery is one of the 9 FAT Brands franchises here. FAT Brands is a public company whose shares were listed on Nasdaq. It and its affiliate Twin Hospitality filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2026 to restructure their debt.
From Marble Slab Franchising, LLC’s 2025 filing, page 10; FAT Brands.
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 19–21. |
|---|---|
| Bankruptcy | The franchisor, its parent FAT Brands and their affiliates filed for Chapter 11 in January 2026. |
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: Marble Slab Franchising, LLC, 2025 filing, litigation on pages 19–21, bankruptcy on page 21
Marble Slab Creamery filings
The figures on this page come from Marble Slab Franchising, LLC’s 2025 filing, issued April 30, 2025, on record with the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
| Filing | Issued | Registry | On this page |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 filing | April 30, 2025 | Minnesota | Costs, fees and locations, 2022–2024 |
Each link opens the filing as a PDF. See the newest filings across all brands.
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