Dutch Bros Franchise: Cost, 2026 Status, and Alternatives

Dutch Bros says: “Dutch Bros no longer offers the option to franchise.” Its franchise FAQ, checked 2026-10-14, describes regional operator positions for people already inside the company. Existing franchise partners still operate shops, but that does not make a new Dutch Bros franchise available to outside buyers.

The sections below explain the closed franchise program, distinguish existing shops from new franchise availability, and compare dated FDD costs for drive-thru alternatives.

Is Dutch Bros a franchise in 2026?

Dutch Bros has existing franchised shops, but does not offer new franchises to outside buyers. Its FAQ states: “Dutch Bros no longer offers the option to franchise. Moving forward, all locations are company-owned, and regional operator positions are offered exclusively to those within the company who have shown outstanding employment history and exemplify the culture.” That wording was checked against the saved official page on October 14, 2026.

The filings distinguish the existing franchise system from the company’s current strategy: 325 franchised shops at December 31, 2025 (2025 10-K) and 337 at June 30, 2026 (Q2 2026 10-Q). An internal operator position is not an offer to sell a franchise to an outside buyer.

What does a Dutch Bros franchise cost in 2026?

There is no price: Dutch Bros says it ‘no longer offers the option to franchise’ (its franchise FAQ, checked 2026-10-14). The 325 franchised shops at December 31, 2025 (2025 10-K) and 337 at June 30, 2026 (Q2 2026 10-Q) belong to existing franchise partners. On July 27, 2026, the company bought the franchise rights and assets of 31 Arizona locations for about $63.5 million (Q2 2026 10-Q, Note 18).

For a drive-thru format with disclosed opening costs, compare the alternatives below and the coffee franchise cost guide.

When and why Dutch Bros closed the door on new franchisees

Dutch Bros franchised for years. In its S-1/A filed with the SEC in September 2021, the company wrote that it historically “used a franchising strategy alongside company-operated shop development to drive growth in select markets,” and that over time it “only offered franchise partnership opportunities to the highest-quality employees within our network.” The same filing dates the pullback: “In 2008, we stopped selling franchises to people that did not come from within our system. In 2017, we decided to stop franchising altogether and moved to a company-operated strategy with all operators recruited from within our system.”

Forbes’ 2016 reporting shows what the 2008 rule looked like in practice: new franchisees had to have worked inside Dutch Bros for a minimum of three years before they could buy a location, a policy the magazine quoted franchise consultant Ed Teixeira calling “unheard of among major American franchisors.” That requirement alone filtered out most outside capital and most outside operators long before the 2017 decision.

The 2017 decision did not erase the existing system. The 2025 10-K reports 1,136 shops at December 31, 2025, of which 811 were company-operated and 325 were franchised. It states: “Since 2017, our focus has been a company-operated strategy with all operators recruited from within our organization.” Existing franchise partners, it says, “continue to open new shops as they look to infill their high-demand markets”.

The Q2 2026 10-Q reports 1,225 shops at June 30, 2026: 888 company-operated and 337 franchised, with 12 franchised openings during the first six months of 2026. Note 18 reports a subsequent purchase: on July 27, 2026, Dutch Bros bought the franchise rights and assets of 31 Arizona locations from a franchisee for approximately $63.5 million. The June 30 shop counts precede that purchase.

For how a mixed ownership system compares with an entirely company-owned chain or a joint venture, see franchise vs. chain store vs. joint venture.

The 10-K says the company anticipates that “the majority of new shops we open each year going forward will continue to be company-operated shops.” Existing franchise development therefore does not contradict the closed offer to new buyers.

Drive-thru coffee brands that franchise (checked 2026-10-14)

These 2026 FDDs disclose franchise fees and opening investments for drive-thru formats. An FDD does not establish that a brand is accepting new applicants; the status column separates the filing from application availability. Dates below are cover dates, even where download filenames end in 2025.pdf.

Brand	Initial fee (Item 5)	Total investment (Item 7)	FDD issued	Status
Scooter’s Coffee 1	$40,000; separate $20,000 opening support fee	Kiosk $1,163,650-$1,345,750; end cap $658,898-$1,068,525	April 3, 2026	Official real estate page: “Discover exciting franchise opportunities in emerging markets across the nation.”
Ziggi’s Coffee 2	$40,000; $10,000 launch fee per franchise	Drive-thru only $586,830-$1,759,855; freestanding cafe with drive-thru $655,336-$2,093,361; endcap cafe with drive-thru $592,336-$1,148,361	March 31, 2026	Official franchise page: “Form is for those interested in franchising and opening a Ziggi’s Coffee location.”
Ellianos Coffee 3	$30,000 first store; $15,000 each additional store with identical owners	Traditional $797,450-$1,397,400; End Cap Café $693,700-$918,700; Non-traditional $186,500-$526,000, excluding real estate costs	March 17, 2026	FDD issued: “Issuance Date: March 17, 2026”; no application-status claim
7 Brew 4	$35,000 first store; $25,000 each later store	Traditional drive-thru $940,500-$2,283,500; initial store plus minimum ten-store development rights, not construction of all ten	May 11, 2026	Official support page, checked 2026-10-14: “not accepting new franchise applications”

For a closer look at The Human Bean alongside Dutch Bros, see the Human Bean vs Dutch Bros comparison.

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See the coffee franchise cost guide for the full investment breakdown, the drive-thru coffee franchise guide for format and site comparisons, and the coffee franchise comparison for ongoing fees across more brands.

Coffee brands that don’t franchise, or that stopped

Dutch Bros isn’t alone in stepping back from, or never entering, the open franchise market. A few other names worth knowing if you’re mapping out this space:

Starbucks does not report a franchise system. Its SEC Form 10-K reports two store types, company-operated and licensed. Starbucks’ SEC Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 (year-end September 28, 2025) shows 21,514 company-operated stores (52 percent) and 19,476 licensed stores (48 percent) worldwide. If someone tries to sell you a “Starbucks franchise,” ask them to show you the FDD, because the company’s Form 10-K reports licensed stores, not franchises.

Philz Coffee: Forbes reported in 2016 that CEO Jacob Jaber would not permit practices he felt were “antithetical to Philz’ focus on product quality,” including franchising and licensing goods to other retail locations. Philz’s own site had no franchise text or franchise link on its home page as of its September 29, 2026 check. The 2016 statement is historical and does not establish current application availability.

Black Rifle Coffee Company does franchise some Outposts. Its parent BRC Inc.’s 10-K for 2025 reports 17 company-owned Outposts and 18 franchised locations across ten states as of December 31, 2025, and says that “new unit growth in this channel is currently limited”. The company’s 2024 10-K said it planned to grow Outposts “by opening new Company-operated and franchised locations”; the equivalent sentence in the 2025 10-K no longer includes that phrase. As of September 2026, neither filing says whether Black Rifle is accepting franchise applications, and its home page mentions no franchising, so confirm directly with the company before assuming an Outpost franchise is available.

A handful of smaller coffee names come up in the same searches. The cited September 29, 2026 site checks found no franchise page for these brands. Better Buzz Coffee, a drive-thru coffee brand whose locations page lists California, Phoenix and Las Vegas locations, has no franchise-named page in its own site’s sitemap, and its /franchise URL returned a 404. La La Land Kind Cafe likewise has none in its own site’s sitemap, and its /franchise URL returned a 404. On The Grind Coffee (otgcoffee.com), a drive-thru coffee brand around New Braunfels, Texas, describes itself on its own site as “a locally owned and operated business since 2013,” lists 12 Texas addresses on its locations page, and has no franchise page in its sitemap.

Pony Espresso, a three-location coffeehouse in Southern Oregon that its own site says was founded in Jacksonville in 1995, has no franchise page in its sitemap and no mention of franchising on its cited pages as of September 29, 2026.

International franchise information also needs a market-specific reading. Espresso House, described on its own franchising page as “the leading premium coffee shop brand in the Nordics,” operating “nearly 500 coffee shops across Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Germany,” names those five European countries and nowhere else. The United States doesn’t appear on its franchising page at all, and its about page describes it as part of JAB Holding BV. The company doesn’t publish a franchise fee or investment figure on that page; its inquiry asks applicants for net worth and liquid capital instead, and it describes a 6 to 12 month process from first email to signed agreement. For Costa Coffee, see our dedicated breakdown of its US situation, which found no public US franchise offering from Costa as of September 29, 2026: Costa Coffee franchise availability in the US.

The trickiest name in this group is Second Cup, because two separate companies use it. Second Cup Cafe (secondcup.com) has a French-language home page that carries a Foodtastic Inc. copyright notice and describes the brand as the largest specialty coffee retailer in the country, tracing it to a 1975 mall kiosk. Second Cup Coffee Company (mysecondcup.com) is a separate international site. Its franchising page lists six store formats, Cart, Standard, Kiosk, Flagship, Express, and Grand, but names no country and publishes no fee or investment figures, and its own story timeline lists international cafes from 2003 onward. Neither cited site, checked September 29, 2026, says whether a US franchise is available, so those pages do not establish US availability.

What to do instead if you want a drive-thru coffee franchise

Choose a format and market before comparing budgets. Request the current FDD from each brand under consideration, confirm application availability and territory, and compare Item 5 initial fees, Item 6 ongoing charges and Item 7 opening costs. A lower investment endpoint may describe a different building format or exclude real estate.

For the sourcing standard behind these comparisons, see the editorial methodology.

Footnotes

1. Scooter’s April 3, 2026 FDD, Items 5 and 7. Its official real estate page supplies the status quote, checked 2026-10-14. The saved website cost page, checked 2026-10-14, matches both single-store Item 7 ranges and the $40,000 fee. ↩

2. Ziggi’s March 31, 2026 FDD, Items 5 and 7. The initial fee under a development agreement is $30,000 per franchise for three to eight shops or $25,000 for at least nine. The official franchise page, checked 2026-10-14, supplies the status quote. Its $560,000-$2,000,000 website range differs from the per-format Item 7 totals above. ↩

3. Ellianos March 17, 2026 FDD, Items 5 and 7. The status quote is from the FDD cover, checked 2026-10-14; it dates the offering rather than claiming applications are open. Item 7’s format totals exclude real estate. The investment website figure previously cited on this page, checked 2026-09-29, differs from this FDD total; the table uses the FDD, reviewed 2026-10-14. ↩

4. 7 Brew’s May 11, 2026 FDD, Items 5 and 7. Its $125,000 minimum development payment includes the first $35,000 franchise fee and $10,000 for each of nine additional stores; those later development payments do not offset later $25,000 franchise fees. The official support page, checked 2026-10-14, states: “At this time, we are not accepting new franchise applications or expressions of interest.” ↩