Franchise Facts Report → brands → The Dolly Llama
The Dolly Llama franchise — is it worth it?
Medium risk No franchised units open yet
The Dolly Llama is a food and beverage franchise with an initial investment ranging from $141,360 to $502,942.
Everything below is free, read straight off The Dolly Llama's registered filing, with where the numbers land against food & beverage peers. Weighing The Dolly Llama against other options? Get a free shortlist of franchises that fit your budget.
Figures above are as disclosed in The Dolly Llama's most recent FDD (registered 2024). Source: California Dept. of Financial Protection and Innovation — Franchise Registration · filing app-28615 — check it yourself. See every other California-registered franchise.
Considering The Dolly Llama? See what else fits your budget
Tell us your budget and the industries you're open to. We'll match you with 5–10 franchises whose own FDDs fit — ranked by earnings disclosure, growth and closure rate — and email you the list. The Dolly Llama will be on it if it fits.
The Dolly Llama franchise profit — what the FDD discloses
Plainly: The Dolly Llama does not disclose franchise profit or revenue. Its most recent FDD makes no Item 19 financial performance representation, so there is no franchisor-backed earnings figure for The Dolly Llama — any number quoted elsewhere is an estimate, not a disclosure. The absence is itself worth weighing (42% of food & beverage franchisors in our corpus do disclose); the fees, litigation and outlet churn The Dolly Llama's FDD does contain are on this page. For brands that put earnings on paper, see Food & beverage franchises with disclosed Item 19 earnings.
The Dolly Llama lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)
We do not publish a litigation answer for The Dolly Llama. Item 3 could not be read reliably from this particular filing, and a claim that a company has no legal history is not one to make on a failed parse — so we say we do not know instead. Item 3 of the FDD itself is the place to check; the methodology page explains what we do and do not machine-read.
The Dolly Llama closures & failure rate
Before you sign, The Dolly Llama 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 The Dolly Llama'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. The Dolly Llama reports no franchised units open yet — there is no operating track record to churn.
Who owns The Dolly Llama?
The Dolly Llama's franchise is offered by DL Franchise Group, LLC — the franchisor named on the cover of its most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2024), and the entity a franchisee actually signs with. That name comes straight off the filing at CA DFPI; it identifies the franchisor, not necessarily the ultimate parent company behind it.
Food & beverage franchises at a similar investment level
Anyone weighing The Dolly Llama 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.
The Dolly Llama franchise — frequently asked
Who owns The Dolly Llama — who is the franchisor?
The Dolly Llama's most recently filed FDD (2024) names DL Franchise Group, LLC 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 The Dolly Llama franchise cost?
The Dolly Llama's most recently filed FDD (Item 7) puts the total estimated initial investment at $141,360 – $502,942, with an initial franchise fee of $30,000 and a 6% 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 upper quartile (median $379,725).
How much profit does a The Dolly Llama franchise make?
The Dolly Llama makes no Item 19 financial performance representation, so there is no franchisor-disclosed revenue or profit figure for The Dolly Llama at all — and profit would never be disclosed even where earnings are, because it depends on your rent, labor and how you operate. Any profit figure quoted elsewhere is an estimate, not a disclosure.
Does The Dolly Llama disclose financial performance (Item 19)?
No — The Dolly Llama's most recent FDD makes no Item 19 financial performance representation. Its absence is worth weighing: 42% of food & beverage franchisors in our corpus do disclose.
Are there lawsuits against The Dolly Llama?
We do not publish a litigation answer for The Dolly Llama: Item 3 could not be read reliably from this filing, and we would rather say so than assert a clean record we have not verified. Item 3 of the FDD itself is the place to check.
Is The Dolly Llama a good franchise to buy?
Nobody can answer that from The Dolly Llama'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 The Dolly Llama 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.