Franchise Facts Report → brands → The Growler Guys
The Growler Guys franchise — is it worth it?
High risk Significant turnover
The Growler Guys is a food and beverage franchise with a relatively low initial investment range of $211,900 to $448,500.
Everything below is free, read straight off The Growler Guys's registered filing, with where the numbers land against food & beverage peers. Weighing The Growler Guys against other options? Get a free shortlist of franchises that fit your budget.
Figures above are as disclosed in The Growler Guys's most recent FDD (registered 2025). Source: Wisconsin Dept. of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration · filing 639936 — check it yourself. See every other Wisconsin-registered franchise.
Considering The Growler Guys? 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 Growler Guys will be on it if it fits.
The Growler Guys franchise profit — what the FDD discloses
Plainly: The Growler Guys 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 Growler Guys — 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 Growler Guys'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 Growler Guys lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)
The Growler Guys's most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2025) discloses no litigation in Item 3. That is a real signal rather than a gap: the FTC Franchise Rule requires a franchisor to disclose material litigation involving itself, its predecessors, parents, affiliates and management, so an empty Item 3 in a current filing means there was nothing it was required to report. It is worth reading alongside the churn numbers — a system can have a clean Item 3 and still be losing franchisees, which is what Item 20 shows.
The Growler Guys closures & failure rate
Before you sign, The Growler Guys 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 Growler Guys'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 Growler Guys's latest tables show significant franchisee turnover. Its franchised-outlet closure rate — closures, terminations and non-renewals against outlets — is 12.5%, against a food & beverage median of 3.3% — worse than the category. Net franchised outlets moved -1 to 7 in the latest reported year.
Who owns The Growler Guys?
The Growler Guys's franchise is offered by Black Beer, LLC — the franchisor named on the cover of its most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2025), and the entity a franchisee actually signs with. That name comes straight off the filing at WI DFI; it identifies the franchisor, not necessarily the ultimate parent company behind it.
Food & beverage franchises at a similar investment level
Anyone weighing The Growler Guys 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 Growler Guys franchise — frequently asked
Who owns The Growler Guys — who is the franchisor?
The Growler Guys's most recently filed FDD (2025) names Black Beer, 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 Growler Guys franchise cost?
The Growler Guys's most recently filed FDD (Item 7) puts the total estimated initial investment at $211,900 – $448,500, with an initial franchise fee of $30,000 and a 1% 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 Growler Guys franchise make?
The Growler Guys makes no Item 19 financial performance representation, so there is no franchisor-disclosed revenue or profit figure for The Growler Guys 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 Growler Guys disclose financial performance (Item 19)?
No — The Growler Guys'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 Growler Guys?
No — The Growler Guys's most recently filed FDD (2025) discloses no litigation in Item 3. Franchisors must disclose material litigation involving themselves, their predecessors, parents, affiliates and management, so an empty Item 3 is a genuine signal rather than an omission.
Is The Growler Guys a good franchise to buy?
Nobody can answer that from The Growler Guys'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 high 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 Growler Guys 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.