In this exclusive Franchise Chatter FDD Talk post, you’ll learn the following:
Section I – Estimated initial investment (franchise costs) for a Great Harvest franchise, based on Item 7 of the company’s 2024 FDD
Section II – Initial franchise fee, royalty fee, and marketing fee for a Great Harvest franchise, based on Items 5 and 6 of the company’s 2024 FDD
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Section IV – News updates on the Great Harvest franchise opportunity
Section V – Presentation and analysis of Great Harvest’s financial performance representations (average revenues and/or profits), based on Item 19 of the company’s 2024 FDD, including information on the:
- 2023 average and median annual gross sales for the 32 single-site Great Harvest bakery cafes and 7 sets (14 total) of hub-and-spoke Great Harvest bakery cafes (new concept) that were open during all of the 2023 calendar year
- 2023 average and median annual gross sales for the 7 hub and 7 spoke Great Harvest bakery cafes (new concept) that were open during all of the 2023 calendar year
- 2022 average gross sales, variable costs, fixed costs, total operating expenses, and net operating income before owner’s pay, depreciation, amortization, interest, and taxes for the 23 single-site Great Harvest bakery cafes and 5 sets (10 total) of hub-and-spoke Great Harvest bakery cafes (new concept) that submitted the necessary reports to Great Harvest
Section VI – Key ratios, comparables, computations, and analyses for the Great Harvest franchise opportunity (exclusive content for Platinum subscribers)
Section I – Great Harvest Franchise Costs
- Great Harvest franchise costs (single-site or hub location), based on Item 7 of the company’s 2024 FDD:
- Initial Franchise Fee: $35,000
- Expenses While Training: $2,049 to $10,300
- One Month’s Rent: $1,875 to $9,390
- Real Estate and Improvements: $965 to $474,762
- Equipment: $84,785 to $315,000
- Signs: $620 to $30,000
- Prepaid Expenses and Deposits: $600 to $32,000
- Opening Inventory (Ingredients and Supplies): $10,000 to $26,586
- Grand Opening Advertising Costs: $12,000
- Organizational Costs/Miscellaneous: $368 to $19,116
- Additional Funds for 3 Months: $20,000
- Total Estimated Great Harvest Franchise Costs: $168,262 to $984,154
Section II – Great Harvest’s Initial Franchise Fee, Royalty Fee, and Marketing Fee
- Great Harvest’s initial franchise fee, royalty fee, and marketing fee, based on Items 5 and 6 of the company’s 2024 FDD:
- Initial Franchise Fee: $35,000; $15,000 for your second or subsequent bakery cafe, unless that subsequent bakery cafe is located at a non-traditional location (for example, an airport, a hospital or medical center, or another type of captive-venue location), in which case the initial franchise fee is $7,500
- Continuing Fee: 5% of monthly Gross Sales
- Marketing Fee: 2.5% of monthly Gross Sales
Section III – Number of Franchised and Company-Owned Great Harvest Outlets
Franchised
2021
- Outlets at the Start of the Year: 171
- Outlets at the End of the Year: 168
- Net Change: -3
2022
- Outlets at the Start of the Year: 168
- Outlets at the End of the Year: 161
- Net Change: -7
2023
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- Outlets at the End of the Year: 155
- Net Change: -6
Company-Owned
2021
- Outlets at the Start of the Year: 1
- Outlets at the End of the Year: 1
- Net Change: 0
2022
- Outlets at the Start of the Year: 1
- Outlets at the End of the Year: 1
- Net Change: 0
2023
- Outlets at the Start of the Year: 1
- Outlets at the End of the Year: 1
- Net Change: 0
Section IV – News Updates on the Great Harvest Franchise
Section V – Financial Performance Representations (Average Revenues and/or Profits) for the Great Harvest Franchise (Item 19, 2024 FDD)
- There historically have been 6 principal types of Great Harvest Stores:
- (1) a traditional Great Harvest bread company baking bread and other products for retail sale;
- (2) a traditional Great Harvest bread company that has added sandwiches to its menu with limited seating but without 2 customer restrooms;
- (3) a single-site, bread-baking Great Harvest “bakery cafe” with some seating and a menu that includes sandwiches;
- (4) a multi-unit operation where 2 or more locations described in (3) above owned by the same franchisee work together, with one location baking bread and then supplying it to the other locations;
- (5) a “new concept” Great Harvest bakery cafe distinguished by permanent seating for 35 or more people; 2 customer restrooms; and a menu that includes breakfast sandwiches, cold and hot sandwiches, baked goods, salads, and coffee;
- (6) a “new concept hub-and-spoke” with the primary “hub” location baking bread and other products to supply the “spoke” locations with the baked goods that supplement the cafe products made in the spoke(s), and at least one of the Great Harvest bakery cafes meets the “new concept” definition outlined in (5).
- Great Harvest currently offers franchises only for Great Harvest bakery cafes operating as single-site, new concept bread-baking bakery cafes (described in (5) above) or, if the franchisee intends to have a “hub-and-spoke” operation (described in (6) above), Great Harvest bakery cafes that are bread-baking (“hub”) locations and non-bread-baking (“spoke”) locations.
- Depending on local market conditions, however, Great Harvest may offer franchises for “new concept” bakery cafes even if they cannot have 35 permanent seats or all the standard features of the “new concept” bakery cafe.
Part 1 – Average and Median Sales by Category of Bakery Cafe (for the 12 Months Ended December 31, 2023)
- The bakery cafes whose results are displayed in Part 1 represent the new format bakery cafes that were open during all of the 2023 calendar year. There are 46 total bakery cafes represented in this chart.
- Part 1 shows the average and median annual Gross Sales for the 12 months ended December 31, 2023 for the Great Harvest bread companies falling into the following categories:
- (a) single-site, new concept bakery; and
- (b) new concept hub-and-spoke.
Single-Site Bakery Cafe (New Concept)
- Average Annual Gross Sales: $907,502
- Median Annual Gross Sales: $861,185
- Number of Bakery Cafe Locations: 32
Hub-and-Spoke (New Concept)
- Average Annual Gross Sales: $1,692,321
- Median Annual Gross Sales: $1,652,286
- Number of Bakery Cafe Locations: 7 sets (14 total)
Part 2 – New Concept Hub-and-Spoke Bakery Cafe Locations (for the 12 Months Ended December 31, 2023)
- Part 2 shows the average and median annual Gross Sales for the 12 months ended December 31, 2023, only for the Great Harvest bakery cafes considered to be new concept hub and spoke bakery cafe combinations, separated into the following 2 categories of bakery cafes:
- (a) all bread-baking (hub) new concept locations that have 1 related non-bread-baking (spoke) location; and
- (b) all non-bread-baking (spoke) new concept locations by themselves.
All Hubs (New Concept)
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- Median Annual Gross Sales: $1,097,423
- Number of Bakery Cafe Locations: 7
All Spokes (New Concept)
- Average Annual Gross Sales: $547,902
- Median Annual Gross Sales: $471,451
- Number of Bakery Cafe Locations: 7
Part 3 – Average Operating Results (for the 12 Months Ended December 31, 2022)
- Part 3 represents the operating results from reporting new concept bakery cafes, by category, that submitted their income statements for the 2022 calendar year. (Great Harvest had not yet received income statements from all reporting new concept bakery cafes for the 2023 calendar year as of the issue date of the 2024 disclosure document.)
Single-Site Bakery Cafe (New Concept)
- Average Gross Sales: $1,079,818 (100.0%)
- Average Variable Costs: $768,438 (71.16%)
- Average Fixed Costs: $132,168 (12.24%)
- Average Total Operating Expenses (Excludes Bread Company Owners’ Pay, Depreciation, Amortization, Interest, and Taxes): $900,608 (83.40%)
- Average Net Operating Income Before Bread Company Owners’ Pay, Depreciation, Amortization, Interest, and Taxes: $179,209 (15.30%)
- Number of Reporting Bakery Cafe Locations: 23
Hub-and-Spoke (New Concept)
- Average Gross Sales: $1,728,957 (100.0%)
- Average Variable Costs: $1,307,491 (75.62%)
- Average Fixed Costs: $234,027 (13.54%)
- Average Total Operating Expenses (Excludes Bread Company Owners’ Pay, Depreciation, Amortization, Interest, and Taxes): $1,435,856 (83.69%)
- Average Net Operating Income Before Bread Company Owners’ Pay, Depreciation, Amortization, Interest, and Taxes: $293,101 (16.95%)
- Number of Reporting Bakery Cafe Locations: 5 sets (10 total)
- “Variable Costs” consists of ingredients, labor before bread company owners’ pay, supplies, promotion, and royalty to franchisor, ranging from 1.5% to 7% of Gross Sales.
- “Fixed Costs” consists of rent, utilities, and other operating costs.
Section VI – Great Harvest Franchise Ratios, Comparables, Computations, and Analyses (Exclusive Content for Platinum Subscribers) ⬇️
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