The Best Coffee Franchises to Open in Florida (2026)

Florida is dense with coffee traffic, from tourist corridors to snowbird-heavy suburbs, which makes it easy to assume the state is wide open for a coffee franchise. It mostly is, and unusually it has two home-grown franchise brands. But the same catch that trips up buyers everywhere applies here: some of the most visible names, like Dutch Bros, do not actually franchise. So before you fall for a logo, the first question is not which coffee franchise is best in Florida, but which ones you can actually buy. This guide covers the real, verified options franchising and expanding across Florida, with cost tiers, the two Florida-founded brands worth knowing, and the ones people wrongly assume they can open.

Dutch Bros doesn’t franchise: its official FAQ says it ‘no longer offers the option to franchise’ (checked 2026-10-14).

First, the brands you cannot actually open

This trips up more Florida buyers than anything else, so it comes first. Dutch Bros is one of the most visible drive-thru names in the country, but its own support page states that it no longer offers the option to franchise and that, moving forward, all locations are company-owned; the “regional operator” roles you may read about are offered to people already within the company, not to outside franchisees. That wording describes new growth, not the whole system: its Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 reports 1,136 shops at December 31, 2025, of which 811 were company-operated and 325 were franchise, and its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 counts 1,225 shops, of which 888 were company-operated and 337 franchised. The 10-Q also says that on July 27, 2026 the company purchased the franchise rights and assets of 31 Arizona locations from a franchisee for approximately $63.5 million. Black Rock Coffee Bar is the same story: its Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 states that its stores are 100% company-operated, and it completed an initial public offering on Nasdaq in September 2025, so you can buy its stock but not a franchise. Both are worth studying for how the drive-thru model works, but neither is a franchise you can buy. If that model is what draws you, the franchisable brands below run it too. The Black Rock franchise status guide explains its company-owned model and compares drive-thru alternatives that offer franchises.

The coffee franchises that franchise and expand in Florida

Every brand here franchises to outside operators and lists Florida locations or Florida franchise availability on its own site, with one exception flagged in the table: 7 Brew has Florida units, but its support page says it is not accepting new franchise applications or expressions of interest, as of September 29, 2026. The figures below come from the cited FDDs, brand franchise pages loaded on September 29, 2026, and dated reporting. The Ellianos figures use its March 17, 2026 FDD. These sources cover different dates, so confirm the investment for your format in the current FDD.

For Florida buyers considering Aroma Joe’s, the Aroma Joe’s franchise cost guide separates its build paths and ongoing fees.

For a closer comparison of Biggby and Scooter’s, see the Biggby vs Scooter’s franchise comparison.

Brand	Franchise fee	Total investment (cited FDDs, brand pages, or reporting)	Florida presence
Ellianos Coffee	$30,000 (FDD Item 5)	Traditional: $797,450 to $1,397,400; End Cap Café: $693,700 to $918,700; Non-traditional: $186,500 to $526,000, excluding real estate, per the FDD issued March 17, 2026	Florida-founded (Lake City); its territories page lists existing Florida stores
Foxtail Coffee Co.	Not stated on Foxtail’s franchise page; see the FDD	$357,000 to $713,000, per the FDD as reported by Franchise Times (December 2025)	Florida-founded (Winter Park); based in Central Florida; 105 units across six states at that date
PJ’s Coffee	$40,000 (free-standing and end cap), $30,000 (non-traditional), $15,000 for subsequent units	$280,500 to $1,680,000 by format ($925,500 to $1,680,000 free-standing; $522,500 to $899,000 end cap/inline; $280,500 to $585,500 non-traditional)	Location finder lists Kissimmee, Middleburg, Panama City Beach, and Pensacola; over 30 Florida licenses awarded as of a July 2023 post
The Human Bean	$35,000 per its FAQ	$672,000 to $1,527,000	Marianna and Callaway (opened 2024 and 2025) and Winter Springs (January 2026)
Scooter’s Coffee	$40,000	$658,898 to $1,068,525 (end cap) / $1,163,650 to $1,345,750 (drive-thru kiosk)	Florida listed among its preferred states; franchisees announced for Riverview and Englewood in 2022
Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii	Not stated on the brand’s franchise pages; see the FDD	$452,200 to $920,500 per its multi-unit page (three-store minimum)	Territories page lists Lutz, Miramar Beach, Naples, Pensacola, Pensacola Beach, and Santa Rosa Beach, plus Florida development agreements; a 20-unit Gulf Coast agreement was announced in 2022
Biggby Coffee	$20,000 (FDD Item 5, issued April 30, 2026)	$242,200-$610,000 (whitebox leasehold) / $457,750-$826,000 (modular) / $484,200-$973,000 (site-built drive-thru), per its FDD	First Florida shops in Ormond Beach and Clearwater; Jacksonville opened November 2023
Aroma Joe’s	$25,000 ($12,500 for veterans)	$431,300 to $905,100 (existing building conversion) / $937,300 to $2,168,800 (ground-up build) / non-traditional from $180,300	Locations page lists Pompano Beach, Wilton Manors, Cape Coral, Port Charlotte, and North Fort Myers
Dunkin’	$40,000 to $90,000 depending on Development Area Type (FDD Item 5)	By format per its FDD issued March 26, 2026: $532,400 to $1,832,500 freestanding; $443,000 to $1,333,500 shopping center or storefront; $216,400 to $1,065,500 gas station or convenience store; $142,000 to $862,500 non-traditional	Has a Florida section in its official store locator; confirm current availability with the brand
7 Brew	Not stated on its support page, which says franchise details are published in its FDD	Not stated on its support page	Its location directory lists 57 Florida stands, but it is not accepting new franchise applications (support page, September 29, 2026)

Ellianos’ investment page, verified September 29, 2026, showed $803,450 to $1,427,400 excluding real estate. That differs from the March 17, 2026 FDD figures above; the FDD governs.

What makes Florida different for a coffee franchise

Florida suits the drive-thru coffee brands well, for reasons that stack, along with two cautions that are specific to the state.

On the positive side, the climate may fit the format. Florida’s year-round heat plausibly supports the iced, frozen, and cold-brew-forward menus these brands lean on, though that is a reasoned inference rather than a Florida-specific figure. Tourism adds traffic on top of local demand: the governor’s office reported, citing preliminary VISIT FLORIDA estimates, that Florida welcomed 143.3 million visitors in calendar year 2025, so a location in a tourist or snowbird corridor can draw well beyond the commuter base most coffee models assume, as long as you size labor and inventory to real multi-season volume rather than a single peak. And Florida has no state personal income tax, which the Florida Department of Revenue confirms and which owners often count as a business-climate positive.

Two Florida cautions balance that. Hurricane season is a real operating risk: storms bring closures, power outages, and spoiled inventory, so ask your insurer specifically about flood and business-interruption coverage and keep a written storm plan. And food-service licensing in Florida can fall under either of two agencies: the FDACS retail food program issues retail food permits to establishments selling directly to customers, while the DBPR Division of Hotels and Restaurants regulates public food service establishments. Confirm which applies to your specific concept, and note that both agencies’ pages describe Certified Food Protection Manager requirements.

For systemwide expansion context alongside this Florida shortlist, see the fastest-growing coffee chains and franchises guide, then confirm availability in the specific Florida market.

How to choose, and what to verify

Start with the same discipline you would anywhere. Match the format and the total investment to your budget using our coffee franchise cost guide, and remember the fee is a small slice of the whole. Confirm the brand is actually recruiting new franchisees in your specific Florida market, since availability changes, and some brands list existing or committed Florida development agreements on their own territory pages, as Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii does. Check that the brand is on the SBA Franchise Directory if you plan to finance with an SBA loan, using our SBA directory guide. And read the full FDD, especially Item 7 for the true investment, with a franchise attorney and an accountant before you commit. If you are comparing states, our Texas coffee franchise guide runs the same analysis there.