Drive-Thru Coffee Franchise Opportunities 2026: Costs and Economics

A drive-thru coffee franchise serves customers through a vehicle lane, often from a small-footprint kiosk or drive-thru-only building, as described in Scooter’s, Ziggi’s and Caribou’s format materials. The dedicated drive-thru formats in the cost table span $586,830 for Ziggi’s drive-thru-only shop (March 31, 2026) to $2,283,500 for 7 Brew (May 11, 2026), per their 2026 FDDs. Those are different formats and commitments: 7 Brew’s total includes minimum ten-store development rights, while the lower-priced Caribou host-location kiosk is listed separately as a comparison.

Drive-thru coffee franchises you can open now

The table distinguishes brands inviting inquiries from brands whose published statements restrict new applications. Status reflects the saved official pages checked on the dates shown, not an assurance of approval or territory availability. Toastique is included only as a non-drive-thru comparison.

Brand	Drive-thru format	Accepting new franchisees?	Source, checked date
Scooter’s Coffee	Kiosk or drive-thru end cap	Invites inquiries: “Discover exciting franchise opportunities in emerging markets across the nation.”	Official real estate page, 2026-10-14
Ziggi’s Coffee	Drive-thru only or cafe with drive-thru	Invites inquiries: “Form is for those interested in franchising and opening a Ziggi’s Coffee location.”	Official franchise page, 2026-10-14
Caribou Coffee	Drive-thru-only Cabin; certain other formats allow drive-thru	Qualified multi-unit operators: “Minimum commitment of 10+ locations” and “$3 million in cash/liquid assets”	Official franchising page, 2026-10-13
7 Brew	Traditional drive-thru	Per its support page, checked 2026-10-14: “At this time, we are not accepting new franchise applications or expressions of interest.”	Official support page, 2026-10-14
Dutch Bros	Drive-thru coffee shops	Per its support page, checked 2026-10-14: “Dutch Bros no longer offers the option to franchise.” Its 2025 Form 10-K states: “Since 2017, our focus has been a company-operated strategy with all operators recruited from within our organization.”	Official support article and 2025 Form 10-K, 2026-10-14
Toastique (non-drive-thru comparison)	Cafe	Per its investment page, checked 2026-10-14: “For the rest of 2026 our team is focused on our current owners. Leave your details and we will be in contact when the next round opens.”	Official investment page, 2026-10-14

For a related beverage-brand cost breakdown, see the HTeaO franchise cost guide.

For a separate build-path example, the Aroma Joe’s franchise cost guide compares existing-building conversion and ground-up estimates from its March 3, 2026 FDD.

The Human Bean vs Dutch Bros comparison explains how their ownership paths differ despite a similar drive-thru format.

For another drive-thru brand that no longer offers franchises, see Black Rock Coffee Bar’s franchise status.

What the major brands cost

These are the printed Item 7 estimates, Item 5 initial fees and Item 6 ongoing charges, labeled by each FDD’s cover date. A download filename ending in 2025.pdf does not change a document’s 2026 issuance date. The royalty column includes selected advertising and technology obligations, not every operating expense.

For a focused comparison of Scooter’s with a cafe-and-drive-thru brand, see the Biggby vs Scooter’s franchise comparison.

Brand and format	Total investment (Item 7)	Initial fees (Item 5)	Royalty and selected ongoing charges (Item 6)	FDD issued
7 Brew, traditional drive-thru 1	$940,500-$2,283,500; initial store plus minimum ten-store development rights, not construction of all ten	$35,000 first store; $25,000 each later store; minimum ten-store development fee $125,000	4.5%, 5.5% or 7% of weekly Gross Sales, tier determined by prior week’s Gross Sales; 2% brand fund; separate technology fee below	May 11, 2026
Scooter’s Coffee 2	Kiosk $1,163,650-$1,345,750; end cap $658,898-$1,068,525	$40,000; separate $20,000 opening support fee	6% of Net Sales; national advertising currently 2%, cap 4%; separate local/co-op obligations	April 3, 2026
Ziggi’s Coffee, drive-thru only 3	$586,830-$1,759,855	$40,000; $10,000 launch fee per franchise; development discounts below	6% of Gross Sales; currently 1% marketing and technology fee, cap 2%; separate third-party fees and potential local/regional obligations	March 31, 2026
Ziggi’s Coffee, freestanding cafe with drive-thru 3	$655,336-$2,093,361	Same fees as Ziggi’s drive-thru-only format	Same rates as Ziggi’s drive-thru-only format	March 31, 2026
Ziggi’s Coffee, endcap cafe with drive-thru 3	$592,336-$1,148,361	Same fees as Ziggi’s drive-thru-only format	Same rates as Ziggi’s drive-thru-only format	March 31, 2026
Caribou Coffee, drive-thru-only Cabin 4	$606,100-$979,000, excluding lease	$30,000	5% of Gross Sales; $6,000 annual royalty minimum starts 12 months after signing; currently 2% Brand Fund + 1% local	April 28, 2026
Caribou Coffee, nontraditional kiosk comparison 4	$281,100-$712,000, excluding lease	$15,000; university/hospital exception below	6% of Gross Sales, or 4% at an airport, university or hospital; same royalty minimum; marketing exceptions below	April 28, 2026
Toastique, non-drive-thru cafe comparison 5	$471,152-$890,846	$55,000 single unit	6% of weekly Gross Sales; brand fund currently not assessed, cap 2% of weekly Gross Sales; local minimum 2% of monthly Gross Sales	January 9, 2026

Year-over-year comparison: Scooter’s April 3, 2025 FDD lists $692,150-$1,523,400 across its single-store formats; the April 3, 2026 FDD lists $658,898-$1,345,750. 7 Brew’s May 28, 2025 FDD lists $894,000-$2,178,500 with a five-store commitment, versus $940,500-$2,283,500 with a ten-store commitment in its May 11, 2026 FDD. The commitments differ, so this is not a like-for-like construction-cost trend. Scooter’s prior FDD provides the earlier baseline.

Compare drive-thru brands side by side

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Use the drive-thru vs cafe cost comparison tool to compare startup-cost assumptions. The coffee franchise comparison covers more brands, and the coffee franchise cost guide explains the investment categories.

Site-selection math: lot size, stacking lanes and footprint

A building’s square footage does not describe its entire site. Start with the franchisor’s format requirements, then check access, vehicle queues, parking and the applicable local rules for the actual parcel.

Scooter’s real estate criteria, checked 2026-10-14 from the saved page, specify a minimum half-acre pad site, a standard 664-square-foot kiosk, potential for minimum 10-car stacking, and at least six employee parking spaces. The page also calls for full turning movements from access points, delivery and trash pickup access, and potential for a bypass lane. These website design criteria are separate from the FDD’s 650-700-square-foot kiosk range.

Cabin Coffee’s Express description specifies a 600-square-foot building and a minimum one-eighth-acre lot. Cabin Coffee is a separate brand from Caribou Coffee’s Cabin format; the similar names do not make their site requirements interchangeable.

Local stacking rules can differ from a brand’s criteria. MyVillager’s March 10, 2026 article reports that St. Paul’s amended ordinance requires new drive-through lanes to hold “at least 14 cars at coffee shops, 12 cars at fast-food restaurants and six cars at pharmacies and banks.” It says stacking must be off the street on the business’s property. Treat this as a dated report about St. Paul, and verify the rules for the proposed site with the local planning department.

Scooter’s criteria also specify morning commuter routes, visibility, access from all directions and “Traffic speed at or below 45 mph”. Review those conditions alongside the queue and parking layout before comparing parcels solely by purchase price or rent.

Related planning guides:

• Drive-thru coffee stand site selection
• Drive-thru headset and intercom planning
• Driveway alert and chime planning
• Sliding concession window planning

For expansion context alongside these site and cost requirements, see the fastest-growing coffee chains and franchises guide.

The market context behind the format

Drive-thru coffee segment size

Datassential’s 2026 Datassential 500 summary, retrieved 2026-10-13, reports that the Limited Service Restaurant Coffee segment generated $51.5 billion in systemwide sales in 2025, growing nearly 5% year over year. That is the broader limited-service coffee segment, not a standalone measurement of drive-thru-only coffee.

The same source reports +139% systemwide sales growth and +87.5% unit growth for 7 Brew in 2025. These are chain-level expansion measures, not an individual shop’s sales, earnings or forecast. They do not establish what a proposed franchise location will earn.

Build a budget for the specific format

Use the proposed format’s Item 7 table alongside the actual site’s lease or purchase terms. Keep development rights separate from construction: the 7 Brew total includes rights for a minimum ten-store commitment, while the Caribou Cabin and kiosk totals exclude lease. Check initial fees, ongoing charges, advertising obligations and real estate assumptions together.

For host-location formats, see the coffee kiosk franchise guide. The editorial methodology explains how sources are selected and checked.

Footnotes

1. 7 Brew’s May 11, 2026 FDD, Items 5-7. Royalty tiers use prior-week Gross Sales: below $20,000, 4.5%; $20,000-$25,000, 5.5%; above $25,000, 7%. These are fee thresholds. The $125,000 development fee includes the first $35,000 franchise fee plus $10,000 for each of nine additional stores; those additional payments do not offset later $25,000 franchise fees. The 2% brand fund is both the current rate and cap. The separate technology fee is currently 0.25% of weekly Gross Sales, also its cap. ↩

2. Scooter’s April 3, 2026 FDD, Items 5-7. Local advertising is currently none, capped at 2% of Net Sales; regional co-op is currently none, capped at 3%. Item 6’s co-op row states a 5% maximum advertising expense, while Note 3 states a 6% combined maximum; keep the national fund’s separate 4% cap distinct. Multi-store development costs $20,000 per additional store, credited toward its then-current fee; Item 7’s initial-store-plus-development range is $678,898-$1,465,750. Real estate purchases are optional; Item 7 reports purchases by franchisees and affiliates of $250,000-$1,300,000. ↩

3. Ziggi’s March 31, 2026 FDD, Items 5-7. Under a development agreement, the initial fee is $30,000 per franchise for three to eight shops or $25,000 for at least nine. The $10,000 launch fee applies to each franchise and is separate from opening marketing spending. The marketing and technology fee is currently 1% of Gross Sales, capped at 2%; separate third-party service fees also apply. Local advertising is currently none, but the franchisor may require at least 1% of Gross Sales; regional advertising is currently none, with a potential fee capped at 1%. The website’s $560,000-$2,000,000 range differs from these per-format Item 7 totals. Its Mobile Unit is a truck or trailer for approved events and locations, so it is excluded from the drive-thru comparison. ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Caribou’s April 28, 2026 FDD, Items 1 and 5-7. The $7,000 fee applies only to a kiosk in a university or hospital. The kiosk is a host-location format; some locations may allow a drive-thru. It is not the approximately 600-square-foot drive-thru-only Cabin. Marketing is up to 3% of Gross Sales combined, currently 2% Brand Fund + 1% local; allocation can change, and certain nontraditional locations may receive reduced requirements. Development payment is the first location’s full initial fee plus half the initial fee for each additional location, credited against franchise fees. The official franchising page’s multi-unit qualifications appear in the availability table above. ↩ ↩²

5. Toastique’s January 9, 2026 FDD, Items 5-7. These are single-restaurant fees and investment. Qualifying multi-franchise addenda waive the royalty for the first three months after opening; multi-unit agreement totals and payments differ from the single-unit row. ↩