Smoothie and juice franchise costs

Smoothie franchises run from kiosks and small counters to cafes that add wraps, toasts and salads, which makes them closer to a fast-casual restaurant. Juice bars add cold-pressed juice, made in the shop or bought in, and bowl shops center the menu on acai and pitaya bowls. The menu decides the kitchen and the space, and so most of the cost.

Brands with a fuller food menu trade through lunch and dinner; drink-led shops depend on mornings, gyms and foot traffic. The acai bowl franchises page lists the bowl brands apart.

What a smoothie franchise costs

Across the 60 brands on the smoothie list, the typical cost to open runs from $227K at the low end of each brand’s estimate to $519K 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, 36 start at $250K or less and 3 at $100K or less.

Where the money goes

Each franchisor itemizes its cost to open. Grouping the lines for the 52 smoothie brands with a full breakdown shows what a typical budget pays for, as an average share of the high estimate, with the typical amount.

The build-out is most of the bill even for a small shop: plumbing for blenders and sinks, a counter, refrigeration and freezers for fruit, and the dining area. Equipment is mostly blenders, juicers and freezers; cold-press juice brands add a press. Drive-thru formats and cafes with a hot kitchen sit at the top of the range.

Cheapest and most expensive smoothie franchises

The cheapest smoothie 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 smoothie brand charges a franchise fee of $35K, a royalty of 6% of sales and 2% to a marketing fund. One brand charges 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 $586K year they cost about $47K. The fees and royalties guide compares industries.

What smoothie franchise locations sell

Of the smoothie brands, 19 publish a comparable yearly sales figure per location. The typical one is $586K, below the $797K typical across all brands.

Shops with a food menu sell more than drink-only bars, and the highest sellers are often the brands with a drive-thru. Fruit, cups and labor are a large share of every sale, so ask for food and paper costs as a share of sales from owners, not just total sales.

Which smoothie franchises are growing

Of the 36 smoothie brands with three years of figures, 27 added US locations from 2023 to 2025 and 7 shrank. The typical brand with 20 or more locations changed by +13%, against +3.8% across all franchises.

The brands that lost the most locations were Jamba (28), Maui Wowi (23) and Frutta Bowls (13). The fastest-growing franchises ranking covers every industry.

Who runs a smoothie franchise

Of the smoothie brands whose agreements are clear, 51 let a trained manager run the business day to day and 8 require the owner to. Initial training typically runs 80 hours, against 71 across all brands. The typical brand loses 2.2% of its franchised locations a year to closures, terminations and non-renewals. On the SBA Franchise Directory are 37 of the 60 brands, so SBA-backed loans are available for them.

Best smoothie franchises to own

These smoothie 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 a smoothie franchise

Fast growth brings shops opening close to each other. Ask how many shops the brand plans in your market and whether your territory is protected. Check the seasonality where you live: cold-weather months are slower for frozen drinks.

Read each brand’s closures on its page and in the failure rates guide.