If you are a budding entrepreneur with a love for making delicious treats then opening a food franchise can be a great investment.
Franchising a business can save you from making mistakes and provide a clear path to a profitable business. Unfortunately, many of the fast-food and restaurant franchises that are well known, like Subway and Crumbl Cookies require hundreds of thousands of dollars.
For those of us with a little less in the bank, forking over hundreds of thousands of dollars may not be an option.
Thankfully, there are a few low-cost options that you can franchise for under $10,000. Check out these restaurant franchises under $10K!
Champs Chicken Franchise
- Minimum investment needed: $9,000
- Number of locations: 400+
- Founded: 2013
- Financing available: 3rd party
Champs Chicken is a fast-food franchise with a menu focused on fried chicken. Their menu includes chicken tenders, chicken sandwiches, and even offers pork and fish options. Franchise owners get access to their app marketing programs and more.
Champs Chicken is owned by PFS brands who owns other franchises such as Blu Taco and Hanger 54 pizza. Most of their franchises are food locations in or attached to convenience stores.
Benvenuto’s Italian Grill
- Minimum investment needed: $2,000
- Number of locations: 239
- Founded: 2011
- Financing available: Yes
Benvenuto’s Italian Grill is a full-service restaurant franchise with only a handful of locations in Wisconsin. While they are small they promise to provide support and training for their owners. Unlike larger franchise chains Benvenuto’s appears to want to work with people that are passionate about the business not people who just want to sit back and collect a paycheck.
They promise to only work with a select few in any size market.
Southern Maid Donuts
- Minimum investment needed: $5,000
- Number of locations: 100+
- Founded: 1937
- Financing available: 3rd party
Southern Maid Donuts is a donut franchise based out of Garland, Texas. They offer franchises to owner-operators who are looking to start a business and get their hands dirty taking care of the day-to-day operations.
Their history dates back to the great depressions when Mr. and Mrs. J.B. Hargrove. created Southern Maid because they saw the need in the market for quality donuts. Their recipes focused on quality ingredients and unchanged techniques have proven to be successful to this day.
What to consider before investing in a franchise
Starting a business is a big commitment on its own, but when you open a franchise you are also adding another party to the mix. Franchisees are expected to follow the franchise’s procedures and contractual obligations to the tee.
This means forfeiting your own ideas about menus, recipes, and possibly decor. Make sure you believe in the franchise you choose to invest in.
Franchise investment amounts
These franchises offer options for owners to start their investments for less than $10K, but that doesn’t mean that’s all it will cost. Your location, equipment needed and other factors will determine the total cost of the franchise.
If you don’t have all of the money required to cover all the costs of opening a franchise like equipment and furniture you can find financing to help cover the costs. Whether you use a private lender, bank, credit union, or even an SBA loan there are lots of options to help you realize your dream of opening a food business.
