Highlights
- Every week, 12.0% of gross sales goes to the franchisor before rent, food or labor: royalty 6% of Gross Sales, advertising 5-6% of Gross Sales.p.18
- Opening one unit is estimated at $275,500 to $770,500, including a $35,000 initial fee.p.27
- Tropical Smoothie Cafe discloses unit performance in Item 19.p.63
- The system went from 1,198 outlets at the start of 2023 to 1,651 at the end of 2025, a net gain of 453.p.68
- Item 3 discloses 0 matters.p.16
Tools, from this filing's numbers
What Tropical Smoothie Cafe takes off the top
Royalty 6% of Gross Sales plus advertising 5-6% of Gross Sales, applied to your own sales estimate. The rates are the filing's; the sales are yours.
Preset to the filing's Item 19 figure, $978,298 a year.p.64
Cash you would need to open
The filing's Item 7 range, $275,500 to $770,500, is an estimate for one unit including only its first months. Slide between the low and high cases and add the months of runway you want beyond that.
Monthly operating cash is taken as one-twelfth of your weekly-sales figure above times 52, a placeholder for rent, labor and food until you have your own budget.
Total outlets, 2022 to 2025
Compare Tropical Smoothie Cafe with another brand
Side by side, every figure cited.
Fees (Items 5 and 6)
| Initial franchise fee, standard | $35,000 | p.17 |
| Royalty | 6% of Gross Sales | p.18 |
| Advertising fund | 5-6% of Gross Sales | p.18 |
| Technology fee | held for review |
The filing lists every recurring and conditional fee in Item 6. The report carries all of them.
Estimated initial investment (Item 7)
| Expenditure | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| INITIAL FRANCHISE FEE | $17,500 | $35,000 | p.26 |
| PROFESSIONAL FEES | $4,500 | $30,000 | p.26 |
| RESTAURANT FIXTURES, FURNITURE AND EQUIPMENT (including point of sale/cash register system) | $131,500 | $184,000 | p.26 |
| LEASEHOLD IMPROVEMENTS | $104,000 | $370,000 | p.26 |
| SIGNAGE | $5,000 | $22,000 | p.26 |
| INITIAL INVENTORY | $5,500 | $17,000 | p.26 |
| INITIAL TRAINING EXPENSES | $500 | $15,000 | p.26 |
| INITIAL DEPOSITS | $500 | $35,000 | p.27 |
| GRAND OPENING CONTRIBUTION | $5,000 | $10,000 | p.27 |
| ADDITIONAL FUNDS (WORKING CAPITAL) (3 months) | $1,500 | $52,500 | p.27 |
| Total | $275,500 | $770,500 | p.27 |
Revenue (Item 19)
Tropical Smoothie Cafe reports a financial performance figure of $978,298 across 1431 outlets for calendar year 2025.p.64 What the figure measures, which units were excluded and what it leaves out are in the report.
Units (Item 20)
| Type | Year | Start | End | Net | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| franchised | 2023 | 1,197 | 1,371 | 174 | p.67 |
| company owned | 2023 | 1 | 1 | 0 | p.68 |
| total | 2023 | 1,198 | 1,372 | 174 | p.68 |
| franchised | 2024 | 1,371 | 1,514 | 143 | p.67 |
| company owned | 2024 | 1 | 1 | 0 | p.68 |
| total | 2024 | 1,372 | 1,515 | 143 | p.68 |
| franchised | 2025 | 1,514 | 1,650 | 136 | p.67 |
| company owned | 2025 | 1 | 1 | 0 | p.68 |
| total | 2025 | 1,515 | 1,651 | 136 | p.68 |
Litigation (Item 3)
0 pending cases described.p.16 1 case brought by franchisees or former franchisees.p.16 Counts are of distinct matters as the filing describes them; the report carries each one in plain words.
Scorecard
Rank among the brands on this site that report the figure, on each list's own direction. No blended grade. How the lists work.
| Cost to open | $275,500 | 18 of 51 |
| Royalty plus ad fund | 12.0% | 38 of 43 |
| Three-year unit growth | 37.8% | 5 of 54 |
| Closure rate | held | held |
| Discloses unit revenue | yes | |
| Litigation disclosed | 0 | 12 of 26, 1 = most |
Source
Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions franchise filing 641025, effective 4/17/2026, expires 4/17/2027. Extracted 2026-09-03 by two independent readers; only figures both agreed on, whose quoted words appear on the cited page, are shown. 5 fields held for review. How this works.