Is Dutch Bros a Franchise? What to Do Instead in 2026

You’ve probably had this thought while sitting in a Dutch Bros drive-thru line: could I open one of these? The short answer is no, not right now, and not through any channel a legitimate franchise buyer would use. Dutch Bros stopped selling franchises in 2017, and the company still says so on its own site today.

This piece answers the “is Dutch Bros a franchise” question straight, walks through when and why the company closed the door on new franchisees, and then does the more useful thing: points you toward drive-thru coffee brands that are actually accepting applications in 2026, with real investment numbers attached. It also covers a few other coffee names that dropped out of franchising, or never really franchised at all, so you stop chasing a deal that isn’t on the table.

FranchiseFeast doesn’t sell franchises and isn’t paid by any brand named here. Every figure below comes from a franchisor’s own franchise disclosure document (FDD), a company’s own franchising page, or a dated news report, cited at the bottom of this page. Where sources disagreed with each other, we say so instead of picking whichever number looked cleanest.

Is Dutch Bros a franchise in 2026?

No. Go straight to the source, and here’s what Dutch Bros itself says on its own support page: “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’s not a third-party summary. That’s the company’s own current language, verified directly on dutchbros.com.

There’s no application to fill out, no FDD to request, and no franchise fee to negotiate, because there’s no franchise product being sold. The only path into ownership Dutch Bros describes is internal: work for the company, build a track record, and get considered for an operator role that functions more like an internal promotion than a franchise purchase. If a listing site, a lead-gen form, or a broker tells you otherwise, they’re describing something that isn’t currently for sale.

When and why Dutch Bros closed the door on new franchisees

Dutch Bros franchised in the traditional sense starting in 1999, and it grew that way for years. The pullback didn’t happen all at once. Starting in 2008, the company moved to what amounted to an internal franchising model: new franchisees had to have worked inside Dutch Bros for a minimum of three years before they were eligible to buy a location, according to Forbes’ 2016 reporting on the brand, which quoted longtime franchise consultant Ed Teixeira calling the policy “unheard of among major American franchisors.” That requirement alone filtered out most outside capital and most outside operators long before the door fully closed.

By 2017, Dutch Bros stopped awarding franchises to anyone, inside or outside the company. All new growth from that point forward came from company-owned stores, and the operator model, internal promotion with a stake in a store’s performance, replaced franchising as the only way to run a location. As of June 2021, right around the company’s IPO, Dutch Bros still had 264 franchised locations on the books alongside 207 company-owned stores, per Wikipedia’s account of the company’s history, a reminder that the 2017 policy stopped new franchise sales without erasing the existing ones overnight.

Those legacy franchises have been shrinking ever since, and 2026 is bringing more of that. In May 2026, Dutch Bros announced it would acquire a 29-shop franchise territory in the Phoenix East Valley, converting it to company operation after the retiring franchisee, who had run the territory for close to two decades, stepped away. The company’s own announcement framed the deal as part of a broader pattern: existing franchise territories converting to company ownership as long-time operators retire or sell, not new franchise agreements being written. Dutch Bros currently operates more than 1,100 locations and, at its March 2025 Investor Day, set a goal of 2,029 shops by 2029, with a long-term addressable market it puts at more than 7,000 shops nationwide, all of it built on the company-owned model, not new franchising.

Why walk away from a growth engine every other brand in this article is currently using? The consistent explanation across the company’s own communications and trade coverage is culture control. Dutch Bros built its identity around “Broista” energy, employees delivering a specific kind of loud, personal enthusiasm at the drive-thru window, and the company has said this is easier to protect when every location answers to one corporate structure instead of hundreds of independently owned franchises making their own hiring and training calls. Whether that tradeoff was worth giving up franchise fees and royalty income is a call for the company’s board, not something this article can settle. What matters for you is simpler: the door is closed, and every signal from 2026 points to it staying that way.

Coffee brands that currently franchise, if the Dutch Bros model is what you want

If what actually attracted you to Dutch Bros is the format, a small building, a drive-thru lane, high-energy service, fast transactions, several other coffee brands sell exactly that model as an open franchise right now. Here’s what’s published in each brand’s own materials or FDD Item 7.

Brand	Total Investment (Item 7)	Franchise Fee	Royalty + Ad Fund	FDD Year
7 Brew (reference; paused new applications in 2026)	$941,000 to $2,284,000	$35,000	4.5%-7% + 2% marketing	2026
Scooter’s Coffee	$658,898 to $1,345,750	$40,000	6% + 2% marketing	2026
Ziggi’s Coffee	$560,000 to $2,000,000 (varies by format)	$40,000	6% + 1% marketing	2025
Ellianos Coffee	$797,450 to $1,397,400	$30,000	6% + 2% marketing	2026

A few notes before you get excited about the low end of any of these ranges. 7 Brew’s spread is the widest here because it covers both smaller modular drive-thru builds and larger ground-up construction with pricier land, per FranchisePayback’s summary of the brand’s 2026 FDD. One caveat before you put 7 Brew on your shortlist: as of 2026 it states on its own support page that it isn’t accepting new franchise applications or expressions of interest, and its recent growth has come through a small number of large multi-unit development partners, such as Flynn Group’s 160-unit agreement, rather than new single-store buyers. The figures above are still accurate as a benchmark, but there’s no open application for a new individual location right now, so treat 7 Brew as reference here, not a live path. Scooter’s Coffee publishes its own investment breakdown directly on its franchising site, separating a smaller endcap format from a larger kiosk format, and the $658,898 to $1,345,750 range spans both. Ziggi’s runs three separate formats, drive-thru only, freestanding cafe with drive-thru, and endcap with drive-thru, each with its own Item 7 range, and the $560,000 to $2,000,000 figure on the company’s own franchise page covers that full spread. Ellianos, the newest name here for most readers, publishes a tighter $797,450 to $1,397,400 range straight from its 2026 FDD, with a $30,000 franchise fee, the lowest of the four.

None of these numbers tell you what a location earns. That’s Item 19 territory, a separate disclosure each brand handles differently, and it’s worth reading in full before you sign anything. For a deeper walkthrough of drive-thru coffee economics specifically, including site-selection math that never shows up in an Item 7 table, see our drive-thru coffee franchise breakdown. And if you want more brands lined up side by side on fees, royalties, and footprints, our coffee franchise comparison covers a wider set including Caribou, PJ’s, Toastique, and Biggby. For a roundup built specifically around Dutch Bros alternatives that accept outside operators, with sourced fees and totals, see brands like Dutch Bros that franchise.

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 was never really a franchise business in the legal sense, and it isn’t one now. What looks like a Starbucks inside an airport or a grocery store is almost always a licensed store, a different legal arrangement where a third party operates under the Starbucks name and format, but the underlying contract isn’t a franchise agreement under the FTC’s Franchise Rule. As of fiscal year-end 2025 (September 28, 2025), Starbucks ran a global mix of 52.5% company-operated stores and 47.5% licensed stores, according to the company’s SEC Form 10-K. If someone tries to sell you a “Starbucks franchise,” ask them to show you the FDD, because the company’s own filings describe licensing, not franchising.

Philz Coffee has said plainly that it won’t franchise. Forbes reported in 2016 that co-founder Jacob Jaber views franchising and licensing to other retailers as “antithetical to Philz’ focus on product quality,” and as of this writing Philz’s own site still makes no mention of franchise opportunities. That said, Philz was acquired by private equity firm Freeman Spogli & Co. for $145 million in August 2025, and new ownership sometimes rewrites old policy to fund faster growth. Nothing public as of this writing suggests that’s happened, but it’s worth watching if you’re tracking this brand specifically.

Black Rifle Coffee Company did franchise, and some locations still operate under existing agreements, but the company paused new franchise applications in late 2023 to focus on its company-owned “outposts” instead. As of the sourcing available for this article, that pause hasn’t been publicly lifted, so treat any “Black Rifle Coffee franchise” listing you find with the same skepticism you’d apply to a Dutch Bros one: confirm directly with the company before assuming the opportunity is live.

What to do instead if the coffee franchise itch is real

If Dutch Bros was your entry point into thinking about a coffee franchise, don’t let the “no” on that one specific brand talk you out of the category. The math that made Dutch Bros interesting, small footprint, high transaction volume, habit-driven repeat customers, still applies to every brand in the table above. What changes is which company gets your franchise fee and which company’s operating system you’re betting your capital on.

Start by requesting the actual FDD from any brand you’re seriously considering, not a summary from a listing site, including this one. Item 7 gives you the real investment range for your specific market and format. Item 19, when a brand publishes one, is the only legal place to look for anything resembling actual unit performance, and plenty of franchisors choose not to include one at all. Our coffee franchise cost guide breaks down what actually makes up that total investment figure, line item by line item, so you know what you’re negotiating before a franchise development rep gets you on a call.

For the full method behind how we source and verify every figure on this site, including this one, see our editorial methodology page before you build your own shortlist from any of the brands above.