Great American Cookies Cost: New Owners Since June 2026

Most brand pages on this site can tell you what a franchise costs. This one leads with something that matters more right now: Great American Cookies has been owned by a different company since June 16, 2026, having been sold out of its former parent’s Chapter 11.

What happened, in order

FAT Brands Inc. was a publicly traded multi-brand franchisor holding Great American Cookies alongside Fatburger, Round Table Pizza, Johnny Rockets, Marble Slab Creamery, Pretzelmaker and others.

Its last annual report, for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2024, described $1.3 billion in whole-business securitization debt, an accumulated deficit of $458.6 million, negative working capital of $210.3 million and a total stockholders’ deficit of $455.7 million. Those are figures from the company’s own filing.

It filed voluntary Chapter 11 petitions on January 26, 2026, and was removed from Nasdaq effective February 4, 2026. The business was then sold in pieces under court supervision. FBG Bid Co. acquired eleven concepts including Great American Cookies on June 16, 2026 for approximately $595 million. Twin Peaks went to a separate buyer, Hot Dog on a Stick and Elevation Burger to two others, and Smokey Bones was closed.

The legal matter, stated precisely

The 2024 annual report disclosed that on May 10, 2024 the Department of Justice indicted the company on two violations of Section 402 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, concerning extensions of credit to its former chief executive. That executive was charged separately, and the SEC filed a parallel civil complaint.

Those charges were dismissed. Restaurant Dive reported that on July 29, 2025 the US Attorney for the Central District of California moved to dismiss all charges against the company, its former chief executive and two other individuals, citing Department of Justice memoranda on shifting enforcement priorities.

An indictment is an accusation, not a finding of guilt, and these charges ended in dismissal rather than conviction. We are reporting the sequence because it appears in the company’s own SEC filing and a prospective franchisee will encounter it, not to suggest any conclusion about anyone’s conduct. As of that July 2025 reporting the related SEC civil matter was described as still pending, and we could not establish its status since.

What the brand itself discloses

A 6 percent royalty, calculated as a percent of net sales.

That basis matters, and it puts Great American Cookies in a group this site keeps finding: Robeks, Jamba, Del Taco, Your Pie, PJ’s Coffee and Scooter’s all charge on net sales too. A 6 percent net-sales royalty is not the same price as a 6 percent gross-sales royalty, and how different depends on the deduction list in the franchise agreement, which is not public.

370-plus franchised units, 149-plus of them co-branded, across 31 states and 5 countries. No as-of date appears with those figures, so treat them as undated. Note also that the parent’s last 10-K gave no brand-level unit breakdown at all, only a company-wide figure of roughly 2,300 locations at about 92 percent franchised.

Co-branding is elective. Its own page describes co-branding with Marble Slab Creamery as owning two different franchises, and the numbers bear that out: of 370-plus units, 149-plus are co-branded, so roughly 60 percent are standalone. If you assumed the two brands came as a package, they do not.

What nobody can tell you right now

This is the unusual part, and it is worth being direct about.

No franchise fee, investment range, net-worth requirement or liquid-capital requirement is published on the brand page or on any franchisor page we could load. Third-party directories carry figures. None is traceable to the franchisor, and after an ownership change they would be doubly unreliable.

Franchisees objected to the transfer. Reporting dated May 13, 2026 describes an association of Great American Cookies franchisees formally objecting during the bankruptcy to the brand being transferred to a new owner. We are not characterising the merits, and we could not establish how the court resolved it. What it tells a prospective buyer is that the existing franchisee base had concerns it thought worth filing, which makes talking to current franchisees more valuable here than usual.

Nothing we found postdates the June 2026 sale. Every signal that the brand is actively franchising, including its own apply-now calls to action, either predates the change of ownership or is silent about it. A new owner inherits the right to set standards, revise the disclosure document and change development plans. We found no post-sale statement confirming franchise development is continuing on the same terms, and we are not assuming it.

The veteran programme is 15 years old on paper. A Great American Patriot Program offering 40 percent off the initial franchise fee was announced in September 2011. We found no confirmation it still runs.

That combination makes this a brand where the ordinary advice, get the current FDD, carries unusual weight. The document issued under the new owner is the only source that can answer any of the above, and it will differ from anything written before June 2026.

Questions to ask before you rely on any figure

• Who is the franchisor entity today, and which FDD is currently in force under it?
• What is the initial franchise fee, the Item 7 investment range, and the net-worth and liquid-capital requirement?
• How does the franchise agreement define net sales for the 6 percent royalty?
• What advertising or marketing fee applies, and on which basis?
• What changed for existing franchisees through the Chapter 11 and the sale, in support, supply terms or the agreement itself?
• Were franchised locations affected by the bankruptcy proceedings, and how?
• Is the Great American Patriot veteran programme still active?
• Is co-branding with Marble Slab Creamery available in my market, and does it change the terms?
• Will a franchise attorney and an accountant review the full FDD with me before I commit?