Verified — real FDD extraction
Not found in the SBA Franchise Directory — SBA financing may be unavailable; verify with your lender
Peet's Coffee
Food & Dining · independent · est. —
Peet's Coffee is a specialty coffee chain known for dark-roasted coffee, espresso drinks, teas, and pastries. Cafés serve handcrafted beverages for in-store and to-go customers and sell whole-bean coffee. A franchisee operates a coffeehouse, managing baristas and daily café service.
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. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:
- 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 and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).
The verdict
Not enough disclosure
Distress
No verified FDD extraction to judge from. Any figures shown are labelled sample data or independent federal records.
Exit rate · latest year
Not disclosed
Cost to open
$1.0M–$1.7M
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
No loan record
no SBA 7(a)/504 loans found for this brand
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
3-yr trend · 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
Systemwide units
2021–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 0 of 0 franchised outlets left the system. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 224 | 217 | 203 | 202 | 199 |
| Opened | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Transfers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Outlets at end | 217 | 203 | 202 | 199 | 196 |
| Net change | -7 | -14 | -1 | -3 | -3 |
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $35K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $1.0M–$1.7M (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$1.0M–$1.7M
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$35K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
6%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$60K
6% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$600K
royalties alone, excl. ad fund
This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.
Build a real pro-forma for Peet's Coffee with an independent CPADistress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
Franchise litigation docket: Al-Kubaisi v. Peet's Coffee, Inc. (District Court, N.D. California)
CourtListener/RECAP · 7mo ago
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Peet's Coffee's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →Peet's Coffee franchise questions, answered from the filings
How much does a Peet's Coffee franchise cost?
Per Peet's Coffee's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $35K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $1.0M–$1.7M (Item 7).
What royalty does Peet's Coffee charge?
Peet's Coffee charges an ongoing royalty of 6.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does Peet's Coffee disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — Peet's Coffee makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $1.4M. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.