Franchise Facts Report → brands → Great Harvest Bread Co.
Great Harvest Bread Co. franchise — is it worth it?
Medium risk Shrinking network Item 19 disclosed
GREAT HARVEST BREAD CO.
Everything below is free, read straight off Great Harvest Bread Co.'s registered filing, with where the numbers land against food & beverage peers. Weighing Great Harvest Bread Co. against other options? Get a free shortlist of franchises that fit your budget.
Figures above are as disclosed in Great Harvest Bread Co.'s most recent FDD (registered 2026). Source: Minnesota Dept. of Commerce — CARDS franchise registrations · filing 35979-202604-01 — check it yourself. See every other Minnesota-registered franchise.
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How much does a Great Harvest Bread Co. franchise make?
Great Harvest Bread Co. is one of the franchisors that answers this on the record: its most recent FDD makes an Item 19 financial performance representation — actual unit earnings figures, disclosed by the franchisor itself. The headline figure is $965,873 in average unit revenue — read it alongside what Item 19 says about which units it covers (often only mature or top-performing locations). See every food & beverage brand that discloses earnings in the Food & beverage franchises with disclosed Item 19 earnings ranking.
Great Harvest Bread Co. franchise profit vs. revenue
Revenue is not profit. An Item 19 almost always reports sales — what a location takes in — not what an owner keeps. Out of that number come Great Harvest Bread Co.'s 5% royalty, the ad fund, rent, payroll, supplies and debt service. No FDD tells you a Great Harvest Bread Co. franchise's profit, because profit depends on your site, your rent and how you run it — so treat any "Great Harvest Bread Co. franchise profit" figure quoted elsewhere as someone's estimate, not a disclosure. On $965,873 of revenue, a 5% royalty alone is about $48,294 a year before any other cost.
Great Harvest Bread Co. lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)
Great Harvest Bread Co.'s most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2026) does disclose 3 legal proceedings in Item 3 . Item 3 is the item where a franchisor must put its material legal history on the record. Two things it is not: it covers the franchisor and its predecessors, parents and affiliates, so a disclosed case is not necessarily a suit against Great Harvest Bread Co. itself; and a disclosure is a fact, not a finding of wrongdoing — most entries are contract disputes with former franchisees, which every large system accumulates. 2 of those proceedings were brought by franchisees against the franchisor — the split that actually matters, because franchisees suing their franchisor is the signal a buyer is looking for. Item 3 of the source FDD describes each case.
Great Harvest Bread Co. closures & failure rate
Before you sign, Great Harvest Bread Co. will hand you a list of current owners to call as references — and they choose who's on that list. It won't include the owners who quit, got bought out, or were forced out last year. The FDD does report that number, even though the reference list leaves those people off. Below is what Great Harvest Bread Co.'s most recent filing shows, and whether it's normal for a food & beverage of this kind.
The closest thing an FDD has to a failure rate is Item 20 — outlet openings, closures, terminations and non-renewals, reported by the franchisor. Great Harvest Bread Co.'s latest tables show a shrinking franchised network — more units left than opened. Its franchised-outlet closure rate — closures, terminations and non-renewals against outlets — is 3.2%, against a food & beverage median of 3.3% — at or better than the category. Net franchised outlets moved -2 to 155 in the latest reported year.
Who owns Great Harvest Bread Co.?
Great Harvest Bread Co.'s franchise is offered by GREAT HARVEST FRANCHISING INC — the franchisor named on the cover of its most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2026), and the entity a franchisee actually signs with. That name comes straight off the filing at MN CARDS; it identifies the franchisor, not necessarily the ultimate parent company behind it.
Food & beverage franchises at a similar investment level
Anyone weighing Great Harvest Bread Co. is really weighing it against the other brands their money could go into. These are the closest by total initial investment (FDD Item 7), each with its own FDD-based page.
Great Harvest Bread Co. franchise — frequently asked
Who owns Great Harvest Bread Co. — who is the franchisor?
Great Harvest Bread Co.'s most recently filed FDD (2026) names GREAT HARVEST FRANCHISING INC as the franchisor — the entity you would actually sign the franchise agreement with, as stated on the disclosure document itself. A registry filing names the franchisor, not necessarily its ultimate parent company.
How much does a Great Harvest Bread Co. franchise cost?
Great Harvest Bread Co.'s most recently filed FDD (Item 7) puts the total estimated initial investment at $591,742 – $871,077, with an initial franchise fee of $40,000 and a 5% royalty. That price is the franchisor's own estimate of what it takes to open, not a quote. Against food & beverage peers it sits in the bottom quartile (median $379,725).
How much profit does a Great Harvest Bread Co. franchise make?
Great Harvest Bread Co. discloses unit earnings in Item 19, but that figure is revenue — sales — not profit. Royalties (5% of gross for Great Harvest Bread Co.), the ad fund, rent, payroll and supplies all come out of it, and no FDD discloses what an owner nets. Any Great Harvest Bread Co. franchise profit number quoted elsewhere is an estimate. The headline figure Great Harvest Bread Co. discloses is $965,873 in average unit revenue.
Does Great Harvest Bread Co. disclose financial performance (Item 19)?
Yes — Great Harvest Bread Co. reports unit-level earnings in Item 19. The headline figure is $965,873 in average unit revenue, as the franchisor states it.
Are there lawsuits against Great Harvest Bread Co.?
Great Harvest Bread Co.'s most recently filed FDD (2026) discloses 3 legal proceedings in Item 3. Item 3 covers the franchisor, its predecessors, parents and affiliates — so a disclosed case is not necessarily a suit against Great Harvest Bread Co. itself, and a disclosure is not a finding of wrongdoing. 2 of the disclosed proceedings were brought by franchisees against the franchisor.
Is Great Harvest Bread Co. a good franchise to buy?
Nobody can answer that from Great Harvest Bread Co.'s numbers alone — it comes down to how its investment, earnings, litigation and franchisee churn stack up against food & beverage peers and against your own budget. Our read on this filing is medium risk. Every figure behind that read is on this page for free. If you're comparing options, the free shortlist on this page matches you with 5–10 franchises that fit your budget and industry.
Get a free email when something changes on Great Harvest Bread Co. or food & beverage: a new FDD registration, a new lawsuit, an outlet count that shifts, or Item 19 earnings going from undisclosed to disclosed. Pulled straight from the same state registries this page is built on.