About Ginger Ale's Franchise
Ginger Ale's is a drive thru beverage and snack franchise offering a variety of specialty drinks and food items with a focus on in house mixed flavors and proprietary recipes.
Franchising since 2021 under JMH Ventures, LLC, the brand caters to the booming drive thru beverage market with a fun, accessible concept that keeps customers coming back for their favorite custom drinks.
The initial franchise fee is $25,000.
Ginger Ale's Franchise Cost & Fees
Minimum Investment
$153K
Average Investment
$460K
Maximum Investment
$768K
| Fee Type | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $25,000 | One-time payment upon signing |
| Royalty Fee | 5% of Gross Revenues of gross sales | Ongoing; paid monthly |
| Marketing/Ad Fund | Up to 3% of Gross Revenues, currently 1% of Gross Revenues | National brand fund |
| Total Investment Range | $152,748 – $767,900 | Includes build-out, inventory, working capital |
The investment range of $153K–$768K reflects variability in build-out costs, store size, lease terms, and market. The combined royalty (5% of Gross Revenues) and marketing fee (Up to 3% of Gross Revenues, currently 1% of Gross Revenues) are ongoing costs paid as a percentage of gross sales.
Investment Breakdown (Item 7)
| Item | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee(1) | $20,000 | $25,000 |
| Travel and Training Expenses(2) | $1,603 | $4,540 |
| Real Property, whether purchased or leased(3) | $3,150 | $15,000 |
| Design & Architectural Professional Services(4) | $0 | $30,000 |
| Construction, Remodeling and/or Leasehold Improvements whether purchased or leased(4) | $40,000 | $376,000 |
| Equipment, Fixtures, and Other Fixed Assets(4) | $40,600 | $136,000 |
| Signage, Menu Boards, Intercom Systems(4) | $11,548 | $95,000 |
| Inventory and start-up supplies to begin operating(5) | $8,000 | $27,000 |
| Security Deposits, utility deposits, business licenses and pre-paid expenses | $2,400 | $5,900 |
| Grand Opening Advertising(6) | $2,000 | $2,000 |
| Real Estate Broker Services (7) | $0 | $10,000 |
| Insurance(8) | $700 | $1,500 |
| Point-Of-Sale(10) | $5,500 | $5,500 |
| Additional Funds(9) – 3 months | $42,000 | $79,000 |
Additional Fees (Item 6)
| Fee Type | Amount |
|---|---|
| Transfer Fee | Between $1,500 and 75% of the then current Initial Franchise Fee, depending on the type of transfer. |
| Renewal Fee | $2,500 |
| Technology Fee | Up to $50/week, currently $25 /week |
| Audit Fee | Actual expense, typically up to $250 |
| Additional Training or Assistance | Currently, $350 per day and trainer, plus travel and lodging |
| Annual Conference Fee | A reasonable fee intended to offset our expenses can be charged. Currently not charged. |
| Mystery Shopper Fee | A reasonable fee intended to offset our expenses can be charged. Currently not charged. |
| Alternative Supplier or Product Review Fee | The greater of $500 and our actual cost |
| Advertising Cooperative Fee | Currently none, up to 2% of Gross Revenues |
| Insufficient Funds Fee | $100 per occurrence |
| Construction Completion Extension Fee | $5,000/ 90-day extension |
| Re-inspection Fee | Actual expenses |
| Relocation Fee | 50% of the then current Initial Franchise Fee |
| Audits | Costs of audit, including travel, lodging, and fees or wages for our personnel or third parties required to conduct the audit |
| Insurance | Actual expense |
| Indemnification | You must reimburse us for our actual expenses. |
| Legal actions against you | You must reimburse us for our actual expenses. |
| Unauthorized Product Sales Fee | $250/day |
| Late Charge on Overdue Amounts | The lesser of 1.5% per month or the maximum rate allowed by law |
| Temporary Management Assistance Fee | 10% of Gross Revenues, plus travel and lodging |
| Tax Gross-Up Fee | As incurred |
| Area Development Transfer Fee | $5,000, or our total costs and expenses, if higher. |
Training Program (Item 11)
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Total Duration | approximately 16 days |
| Classroom Training | 16-32 hours |
| On-the-Job Training | 8-112 hours |
| Training Location | Our corporate offices in Olney, Illinois, or another designated location for Orientation/Pre-Opening and Management Training. Your Ginger Ale's location for Field Training. |
| Additional Training | We may, at our option, provide you with additional onsite training, if you request it. Currently, the charge for additional training and support is $350 per day, per trainer, plus their cost of travel and accommodation. We will offer periodic mandatory and optional additional and refresher training programs for you, your Owners, and Operating Principal. Mandatory refresher training is limited to 2 days per year. |
Territory Rights (Item 12)
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Territory Type | Protected Area |
| Exclusive Territory | No |
| Territory Size | typically defined by zip codes with a population of at least 15,000. If the population density is low in your area, we may instead grant you a Protected Area defined as a 1.5 mile radius from your approved location. |
| Description | The Protected Area excludes certain types of locations (“Captive Locations”) even if they are located within the Protected Area. Captive Locations include enclosed shopping centers/malls, airports, train stations, amusement and theme parks, sport stadiums and arenas, colleges, and military bases. You may face competition from other franchisees, from outlets that we own, or from other channels of distribution or competitive brands we control. Generally, we will not open our own Ginger Ale’s locations, or license our affiliates or any other franchisees to operate Franchised Businesses in your Protected Area. But, this protection excludes Franchised Businesses in Captive Locations, and we and other Ginger Ale’s franchisees have the right to market and advertise in your Protected Area and to sell products and services to customers in the Protected Area. Also, we and our affiliates may use other channels of distribution (such as wholesale, sales through grocery stores, other retail stores, meal prep and meal delivery services, Internet, catalog sales, telemarketing, other direct marketing sales, and at temporary locations and events) to distribute Ginger Ale’s products in your Protected Area, and if we develop another brand, restaurants and units of that brand may operate in your Protected Area or distribute products or services in your Protected Area. In addition, our company-owned locations have started selling gallon products to a meal preparation company, and such meal preparation companies may be operating and delivering meals to customers in your Protected Area. If we develop this distribution model further we may grant you the right to participate and sell gallon products. Neither we, nor our affiliates or other franchisees owe you any compensation for such sales in your Protected Area, but you also do not owe us or other franchisees any compensation if you service customers outside of your Protected Area. Likewise, if you do not wish to service national or regional accounts, or are unable to do so, we may service those accounts ourselves, or assign them to an affiliate or another franchisee to services, even if the account is in your Protected Area. |
Renewal, Termination & Transfer (Item 17)
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Initial Term | 10 years |
| Renewal Term | 2 terms of 5 years each |
| Renewal Fee | $2,500 |
| Renewal Conditions | You must: notify us within 12 months (but not more than 24 months) before the agreement expires of your request for a successor agreement; not be in default under the agreement; be current on all payments to us, our affiliates, and your suppliers; renovate the Location to our then-current standards; have the right to remain in possession of the Location or have found substitute premises; pay us a successor agreement fee; you and your guarantors must sign a general release. |
| Transfer Fee | Between $1,500 and 75% of the then current Initial Franchise Fee, depending on the type of transfer. |
| Transfer Conditions | You may not transfer your Agreement, your franchise, or any ownership interest in the franchise, the Location or a substantial portion of the Location’s assets, without our consent, except under 4 circumstances. (1) If you sign as an individual, you can transfer your Agreement to a corporation, partnership or limited liability company if you maintain your same ownership interest in the new entity. (2) If you are a corporation, partnership or limited liability company, you may transfer an aggregate of up to 25% of your outstanding voting ownership interests to your employees who are actively engaged in the operations of the Location without our approval if the proposed transfer alone or together with other transfers will not have the effect of transferring a controlling ownership interest in you. (3) If you die or become incapacitated (and you are personally the Franchisee or the owner of more than 50% of the Franchisee), your executor or other personal representatives must transfer all your interests to a third party. With our consent, your personal representative may transfer all your interests to your spouse, parent, sibling, niece, nephew, descendent or spouse’s descendant. (4) If you wish to transfer ownership by public or private offering, you must first obtain our written consent. We may withhold the consent in our sole discretion in the case of a public offering, and for a private offering will not unreasonably withhold it. Any other transfer is a change of ownership requiring a new application and payment of an application fee, and, if approved, an Initial Franchise Fee. If the transfer is of less than 50% of your ownership and does not transfer a controlling interest, no application fee or Initial Franchise Fee will be required. |
| Termination for Cause | We can terminate only if you default. |
| Non-Compete Period | For 2 years after any transfer, expiration, or termination of the Franchise Agreement |
| Non-Compete Details | anywhere in your Protected Territory or the Protected Territory of any other System Location. The definition of what is a Competing Business is the same as for the in-term covenant not to compete. |
Operations & Supply (Items 8 & 15)
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Owner-Operator Required | No |
| Participation Details | Though not required, we strongly encourage you to participate personally in the direct operation of your first Franchised Business. If there are several Owners, you must designate one of your owner as the Operating Principal. That person must own at least 10% of the equity in the franchisee. The Operating Principal must be approved by us as part of the franchise qualification process. The Operating Principal will be our primary contact for any operational issues for your Franchised Business. If the Operating Principal is no longer an Owner you must replace him or her within 30 days and submit their qualifications to us for review and approval. If you have a General Manager, that person must successfully complete our initial training before the Franchised Business opens, or within 30 days of their hire for any General Manager that starts later. The General Manager will be required to sign the Confidentiality Agreement. The General Manager is not required to have any ownership interest in the Franchised Business. If you are a legal entity, your owners (and their spouses) must personally guarantee your obligations under the Franchise Agreement and, if applicable, under the Area Development Agreement, and agree to be bound personally by every contractual provision, whether containing monetary or non-monetary obligations including the covenant not to compete. The guarantee is included in the Franchise Agreement and Area Development Agreement. |
| Required Suppliers | We require you to purchase various proprietary products, such as flavor syrups and mixes for beverages, as well as most beverage and food products you will be using, and gift cards, only from our approved suppliers. We and our affiliates may be an approved supplier, and may be the only approved supplier for some products. Currently, you have to buy flavor syrups and mixes only from our affiliate GA Resources, LLC. |
| Supply Restrictions | We estimate that 90% of your initial purchases and 75% of your ongoing purchases of products and services will be purchases either from us, our affiliates, our designees, suppliers approved by us, or under our specifications. |
| Franchisor Revenue from Suppliers | Since we only started franchising in 2021, we did not receive any rebates from approved vendors based on franchisee purchases made in 2020 and neither we, nor our affiliates had any revenue from required purchases or leases of products or services by franchisees. Currently, our franchisees receive rebates from one or more vendors based on purchases made. |
Financing (Item 10)
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Financing Available | No |
| Description | We do not offer direct or indirect financing. We do not guarantee your note, lease or obligation. |
Ginger Ale's Franchise Earnings — Item 19
Average Revenue
$387K
Median Revenue
$393K
Sample Size
5 units
Past financial performance does not guarantee future results. Individual results will vary.
Ginger Ale's Litigation & Risk Flags
Clean Litigation RecordGinger Ale's has no pending litigation actions listed in their FDD. There is also no bankruptcy history disclosed.
Litigation and bankruptcy data is sourced from Items 3 and 4 of the FDD. Always verify current status directly from the most recent FDD.
Ginger Ale's System Growth
Total Units
5
Franchised
3
Company-Owned
2
Ginger Ale's currently operates 3 franchised locations and 2 company-owned units. Unit count data is sourced from Item 20 of the FDD.
Unit History (Item 20)
| Year | Opened | Closed | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2021 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2022 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
Transfers: 0 | Closures: 0
State Registrations
Registered in 2 states: IL, IN
Franchisor Financials (Item 21)
Revenue
$53K
Net Income
$-69,717
Total Assets
$252K
Audited by West & Company LLC for year ending December 31.
Ginger Ale's Franchise — FAQ
The total investment to open a Ginger Ale's franchise ranges from $152,748 to $767,900, per their Franchise Disclosure Document. This includes the initial franchise fee of $25,000. The investment covers build-out, inventory, equipment, signage, working capital, and other startup costs.
Ginger Ale's charges a royalty fee of 5% of Gross Revenues of gross sales, plus a Up to 3% of Gross Revenues, currently 1% of Gross Revenues contribution to the marketing/advertising fund. These fees are paid on an ongoing basis.
You can download the Ginger Ale's Franchise Disclosure Document free on this page. The FDD is a public document filed with state franchise registries. Always also request the current FDD directly from Ginger Ale's to ensure you have the most up-to-date version.
According to the Item 19 financial performance representation in their FDD, Ginger Ale's franchise owners report average revenue of $387K and median revenue of $393K. This is based on a sample of 5 units. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Ginger Ale's has been franchising since 2021. The FDD shows an investment range of $152,748-$767,900, a 5% of Gross Revenues royalty, and includes an Item 19 earnings disclosure. There is no pending litigation. Review the full FDD and contact current franchisees listed in Item 20 before making any investment decision.
The franchise fee is $25,000 and the total investment ranges from $152,748 to $767,900 depending on location size and market. A minimum of $42,000 in liquid capital is required. Contact the franchisor directly for current net worth and liquid capital requirements, territory availability, and application details.
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Data Source & Disclaimer: This website is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer to sell or buy a franchise. This profile is based on publicly available FDD data sourced from state franchise registry filings. All information is for research purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or investment advice. Data may be outdated or contain errors. Always obtain the current FDD directly from Ginger Ale's and consult a qualified franchise attorney before making any investment decision. FranchiseOverview.com is operated by Franchising Compliance, LLC and is not affiliated with Ginger Ale's or any of its subsidiaries. To report an inaccuracy: info@franchiseoverview.com