Skip to the content
Franchises Opportunity

Franchises $250K – $500K: 988 brands by filed minimum

988 brands file a minimum investment between $250,000 and $500,000, per their franchise disclosure filings. The median filed minimum here is $328,300, and the median initial franchise fee is $40,000. The biggest categories at this level are Food & Beverage (505 brands), Health & Fitness (181), and Professional Services (122). Placement uses each filing's low end — "starting from" money — so read the full range and the fees on every brand page before you shortlist.

Check what you can afford — no contact info needed to see your result

What's actually available at $250K – $500K

Franchises with a filed minimum in the $250K – $500K band

Showing the first 50 of 988 brands, ranked by data completeness

Banded by the filed minimum — the low end of each brand's own estimate. The "Cash to open" column shows the full filed range, which can run past the band. Where a row carries a "3-yr survival" figure, it is our metric recomputed from filed unit history; brands without three reported years show no figure — never a guess.

Browse all 988 in the directory, with filters

Know the trade before the brand

The cost columns can't tell you what the daily work is — the hours, the physical reality, who actually runs the schedule. These trades have brands in the $250K – $500K band, and each guide covers what the work is really like:

What to watch at this price

The band is a starting-from label, not a cap: placement uses each brand's filed minimum, and full ranges often run past the band's top. The real opening number is the whole range plus the initial fee plus working capital while the unit ramps.

Ongoing fees are the quiet cost: 406 of the 988 brands here disclose a royalty rate (median 6% of sales); the rest leave it out of the figures we can source. Where a cell reads "n/d," ask the franchisor for Item 6 of the FDD before you compare brands on the opening number alone.

Which franchises count as $250K – $500K?

Brands whose filed minimum investment is at least $250,000 and under $500,000, per their disclosure filings. Placement uses the filing's low end, so a brand listed here can have a full range that runs past the band — each row shows the whole range.

What does a franchise in the $250K – $500K band typically cost?

Across the 988 brands in this band, the median filed minimum is $328,300 and the median initial franchise fee is $40,000. Medians are computed over disclosed figures only — "not disclosed" is a filing gap, not a zero.

Does the filed minimum cover everything?

No. It is the low end of the franchisor's own estimate of opening costs. Ongoing royalties (median 6% among the 406 brands here that disclose a rate), working capital while the unit ramps, and your local build-out prices sit outside that number.

Not sure this is your band? Run the 60-second affordability check — no contact info needed to see your result — or compare all investment levels.