From the filed FDD — automated extraction, check the source
2026 FDD
SBA-eligible · directory code S0400 since 2017
Cold Stone Creamery
Ice cream & frozen custard · parent company: not identified
Cold Stone Creamery is an ice cream chain where mix-ins are folded into ice cream on a frozen granite slab. Franchisees operate retail ice cream shops selling ice cream, shakes, and cakes to walk-in customers.
Cold Stone Creamery net unit count grew 17.9% over 2021–2025 per its FDD Item 20.
New to franchising? Start here
A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.
Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. Most numbers on this page come from that document; others come from federal SBA loan records and labor and census data, each labelled with its source:
- Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
- Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
- Item 20 — how many locations opened, transferred and left the system, the main basis for our verdict, which rates how strong the disclosed record is, or says when the system is too new, the filing too old, or the disclosure too thin to judge.
Our rating · opinion
Proven & steady
The operating record would rate Strong, but SBA loans to its franchisees approved FY1997–2020 charged off more often than franchise loans of the same years (285 vs about 210 expected, 1.4×) — so we cap it one step below. Units grew 18% (2021–2025: 894 → 1,054); the fiscal 2025 exit rate was 0.3%, below the 4.6% median across 133 comparable systems (food & dining).
Exit rate · fiscal 2025
0.3%
vs 4.6% median across 133 comparable systems (food & dining)
Cost to open
$391K–$681K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan losses · vs same-year loans
1.4×
285 of 912 charged off vs ~210 expected
Market density · California
Typical density
12% denser than the national average
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Data as of 2026-10-29. Figures come from Cold Stone Creamery's public FDD filings (latest: ND 2026, extracted 2026-08-02) and SBA FOIA loan records (through FY2026), extracted by us and possibly containing errors. The rating is our opinion, not investment, legal, or tax advice. Franchisor or owner and see something wrong? Report a correction — we review every request.
Where the sources disagree
FDD record · SBA loans · model · auditor
The operating record alone would rate Strong; franchisee loans defaulting more often than same-year loans keeps it one step below.
FDD record · Item 20
Strong operating record
Units grew 18% (2021–2025: 894 → 1,054); exit rate 0.3% (fiscal 2025) vs 4.6% median.
SBA loans · vs same-year loans
More defaults than expected (1.4×)
285 charge-offs among 912 resolved loans approved FY1997–2020; about 210 expected.
Modeled risk
Moderate
The brand's own loan record contradicts this prediction; the record leads.
Auditor opinion · Item 21
Not extracted
We did not extract the audit opinion.
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
latest consecutive years · Item 20 Table 1
terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3
transfers vs. base · Table 3
actual vs. projected openings · Table 5
Item 19 disclosure + completeness · shown, not counted in the verdict
Systemwide units
2021–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 3 of 992 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 0.3% (fiscal 2025), vs a 4.6% median across 133 comparable systems (food & dining). An exit is not a failure: this counts terminations, non-renewals and "ceased — other reasons" as reported, and excludes transfers to new owners.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 882 | 894 | 912 | 953 | 994 |
| Opened | 18 | 27 | 49 | 52 | 63 |
| Transfers | 82 | 83 | 79 | 62 | 79 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 3 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 1 |
| Outlets at end | 894 | 912 | 953 | 994 | 1,054 |
| Net change | +12 | +18 | +41 | +41 | +60 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan outcomes · compared with franchise loans of the same years
Banks have made 1,249 SBA-backed loans to Cold Stone Creamery franchisees since 1997. Of the 912 approved FY1997–2020 that have resolved, 285 charged off — where about 210 would be expected for franchise loans made in the same years. That is 1.4× the expected rate: these loans defaulted more often than comparable franchise loans.
All-time, 286 of 931 resolved loans charged off (30.7%). That raw figure mixes every approval year since 1997 — loans made in 2006–08 failed at several times the rate of loans made in 2010–13 across all franchises — so it is shown as evidence, not as the score.
1.4×
285 of 912 resolved (FY1997–2020) vs ~210 expected
30.7%
286 of 931 resolved, every approval year
67.2%
charged-off $ ÷ approved $, defaulted loans
$386,413
what recent franchisees borrowed
74 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
69 vs 43
distinct banks still lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%) · dashed line = all franchise loans that year
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO COLD STONE CREAMERY BY SBA FRANCHISE NAME/CODE · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL · EXPECTED = SAME-YEAR RATE ACROSS ALL SBA FRANCHISE LOANS, LOANS ≥ ~6 YEARS OLD
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
Who finances it
Fifth Third Bank
13.2% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 27.0% of its resolved SBA loans to other franchise brands in the FOIA file, vs 14.8% nationally — a read on that lender's portfolio mix, not a finding about the bank.
Who buys it
69.6%
borrowers with no other franchise SBA loan on record
The rest already owned at least one other franchise. Across the corpus, brands bought mostly by repeat operators have charged off less often than brands sold mostly to newcomers (see methodology).
Does experience help here?
−4.6pp
multi-unit vs single-unit owners
Owners of multiple units default at 30.9%; single-unit owners at 35.5% (each on 15+ resolved loans, owners identified by borrower-name matching).
Computed from 1,249 SBA 7(a)/504 loans matched to Cold Stone Creamery by SBA franchise code in the SBA FOIA file. Debt service assumes level amortization at the average disclosed term and rate. Owner-level splits rely on borrower-name matching and may misclassify. A lender's rate excludes its loans to this brand, so it reads the lender, not the brand.
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $27,000 franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $391K–$681K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$391K–$681K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$27,000
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
6%
of sales, ongoing
Starts at a placeholder of $900K — a round figure for the sector, not from Cold Stone Creamery’s filings. Set your own figure and check it against this brand's Item 19 and what owners tell you.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$54K
6% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$540K
royalties alone, excl. ad fund
This estimate is computed by software from the brand's public filings and any inputs you enter. No CPA prepared it for you and no assurance is provided on it. Actual results will differ, and the differences may be material.
This is not profit. It covers what the FDD fixes: what you put in, and the royalty you owe on sales. Your take-home depends on food and packaging cost, labor, rent, and the months to breakeven, none of which the FDD fixes for your unit (some Item 19s include cost data — read it).
Build a real pro-forma for Cold Stone Creamery with a buyer-paid CPAHow the earnings claim is built
FDD ITEM 19 · BASIS · 2026 FDD
This filing makes an Item 19 earnings claim; we have not yet read how it is built. Open Item 19 and check which units it covers, which it leaves out, and whether it shows costs.
Show the basis ↓Hide the evidence ↑
Labor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 69 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $89K in back wages for 619 workers, including 41 child-labor cases. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
69
Back wages owed
$89K
Employees affected
619
Since 2020
17
41 of these cases involved child-labor violations, covering 350 minors across the system's franchised locations.
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual Cold Stone Creamery franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not Cold Stone Creamery itself. The franchisor is not the respondent and in most cases is not a party. What the record shows is how this system's operators run their payrolls, which is worth knowing before you become one of them. Counts rise with system size and with age: a 20-year-old, 10,000-unit system will out-count a young one regardless of conduct. Cases are matched to the brand by trade name and may include misattributed employers. Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division concluded compliance actions, FY2005–present, most recent finding 2024.
Modeled risk
FDD Risk Score · a prediction from disclosure and loan-file features
This brand's own loan record is worse than the model predicts: its franchisees' SBA loans charged off at 1.4× the rate of same-year franchise loans, where the model expects about 1.0×. We lead with the observed record; the model is shown for context.
Observed · vs same-year loans
1.4×
285 of 912 seasoned loans charged off
Risk percentile
Moderate
Directional · no point estimate
Modeled · vs same-year loans
band only
too few seasoned loans to check
Top drivers: Share financed by high-loss lenders (raises) · System size (log units) (lowers) · Item 20 exit rate (lowers) · No Item 19 disclosure (raises). The observed record differs from the model, so treat the score as context only. A linear scorecard trained on brands' vintage-adjusted SBA loss records; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.
Public records
Bankruptcy, closure & federal court records · coverage is selective · dockets are not scored
We have no verified public-record signals published for Cold Stone Creamery. This is not evidence that no events exist. Check PACER, the FDD's Item 3 (litigation) and Item 4 (bankruptcy), and recent news yourself.
9 questions to ask a Cold Stone Creamery franchisee
Built from this brand's own disclosures · take it to your validation calls
The franchisor will give you a list of owners to call. Most buyers ask whether they like it. These questions come from what Cold Stone Creamery has disclosed. Each one carries the number it came from, so you can check the answer against the record.
- 01
Cold Stone Creamery’s own Item 20 shows 3 of 992 franchised outlets left the system in fiscal 2025 — about 0.3%. Do you know any of those owners, and do you know why they left?
A franchisor will call these “transitions.” An owner three doors down usually knows whether they sold at a profit or handed the keys back.
FDD Item 20 · FY2025
- 02
79 units transferred to new owners in fiscal 2025. When you look at those, were they people cashing out a good business — or getting out of a bad one?
Item 20 counts transfers as neutral, but a transfer can be a good sale or a reluctant exit — the filing does not say which.
FDD Item 20 · FY2025
- 03
SBA loans to Cold Stone Creamery franchisees approved 1997–2020 defaulted more often than franchise loans made in the same years: 285 charge-offs among 912 resolved loans, where about 210 would be expected (1.4×). Did you finance with an SBA loan, and how close did your first two years come to trouble?
This is the lender's view of how these loans ended, from public federal records matched by SBA franchise code — independent of anything the franchisor discloses — compared with franchise loans made in the same years. A charge-off is a loan outcome, not proof the business closed.
SBA 7(a)/504 loan record, seasoned loans FY1997–FY2020 · 1.4× of same-vintage franchise loans
- 04
You pay 6.0% royalty on gross sales, plus the ad fund, before any of your own costs. On your actual revenue last year, what did you take home as the owner — not revenue, take-home?
Royalty is charged on sales, not profit. This is the number the brochure never shows and the one your life actually runs on.
FDD Item 6
- 05
Cold Stone Creamery makes an earnings claim in Item 19. Does your unit look like that number — and do you know which units they included to build it?
Item 19 is legal to build from a flattering subset. Ask whether they excluded new units, closed units, or company stores.
FDD Item 19 · 2026
- 06
How many months did it take to cover your own costs, and how much cash did you burn getting there?
Ramp-to-breakeven working capital is the most underestimated line in any franchise purchase, and the most common reason otherwise-good units fail.
Not disclosed in any FDD — ask an owner
- 07
What does the franchisor charge for that you didn't expect — required tech fees, mandatory remodels, approved-supplier pricing?
Required spending appears across Items 6, 8 and 11 rather than in one place, so buyers routinely miss the total.
FDD Items 6, 8, 11
- 08
If your agreement came up for renewal tomorrow at current terms, would you sign again?
The single most predictive question you can ask. A hesitation is the answer.
Ask every owner you speak to
- 09
Who else should I call — including someone who left?
The franchisor's list is curated by definition. Former franchisees are where the unflattering truth lives, and current owners usually know how to reach them.
Ask every owner you speak to
Want this as a checklist you can take to the calls?
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A broker is usually paid by the franchisor to place you. I'm paid only by you, never by a franchisor you're considering — and the job is pressure-testing Cold Stone Creamery’s numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
This page is what buyers see before they call you for validation. If the record above is wrong — or right in a way the numbers can't show — say so. Franchisors: send corrections with the page reference and we will review them against the filing and update or annotate the page. Corrections are checked against the filings; nothing you write is published with your name unless you agree to it.
Cold Stone Creamery franchise questions, answered from the filings
How many Cold Stone Creamery franchised outlets left the system last year?
In Cold Stone Creamery's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 3 of 992 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 0.3% — compared with a 4.6% median across 133 comparable systems (food & dining) tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons" as the franchisor reported them; it excludes transfers to new owners. The FDD does not say why each outlet left, and an exit is not the same as a failure.
How much does a Cold Stone Creamery franchise cost?
Per Cold Stone Creamery's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $27,000 (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $391K–$681K (Item 7).
What royalty does Cold Stone Creamery charge?
Cold Stone Creamery charges an ongoing royalty of 6.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does Cold Stone Creamery disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — Cold Stone Creamery makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.
How often do SBA loans for Cold Stone Creamery franchises default?
SBA loans to Cold Stone Creamery franchisees approved 1997–2020 defaulted more often than franchise loans made in the same years: 285 charge-offs among 912 resolved loans, where about 210 would be expected (1.4×). All-time, 286 of 931 resolved loans since 1997 charged off (30.7%); that raw figure mixes every approval year, so we compare with same-year loans instead. A charge-off is a loan loss, not proof the business closed. Source: public SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA data.