Great Harvest Bread Co.
Retail Bakeries
Figures are from the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document filed in WI.
- Total investment
- $591,742 – $871,077+98% / −11% low / high since 2025
- Initial franchise fee
- $40,000+14% since 2025
- Franchised outlets
- 155−3% since 2025
Compared with every brand we can rate, Great Harvest Bread Co. is worse than 78% of them
That is 420 brands across every industry, which is a rougher comparison than like-for-like — a cleaning franchise and a restaurant do not carry the same risk. We use it here because Retail Bakeries has only 2 brands with enough finished loans to compare against. See the peers anyway →
Based on 67 finished loans.
12 of 67 franchisees who borrowed to buy this brand did not repay. See every loan →
There is more in Great Harvest Bread Co.’s filing
What it costs to open is free, above. Access opens what the franchisor disclosed about earning it back — here and on every other brand we have read:
- What Item 19 states its outlets earn, and on how many of them
- Every ongoing fee, not just the royalty — priced in dollars a year
- How many franchisees left, were terminated, or sold up
- Territory, renewal, non-compete and dispute terms
- What in the record is worth asking about, and why
- A five-year projection you can put your own rent, wages and borrowing into
One price opens all of it, on every brand we have read. Once opened it stays open.
The loan record stays free — how many of this brand’s franchisees borrowed from a bank to buy in, and how many never paid it back. That is a public government record and we do not charge for it. What you pay for is only what we read out of the franchisor’s own disclosure document.
Every figure, year over year2025 against 2026, all seven lines
Filed in MN and WI respectively. A franchisor may file different terms in different states, so the registries are named rather than blended. The three headline figures above carry their own movement; this is the rest.
| Figure | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $35,000 | $40,000 | +14% |
| Investment, low end | $298,145 | $591,742 | +98% |
| Investment, high end | $979,639 | $871,077 | −11% |
| Franchised outlets at year end | 159 | 155 | −3% |