Franchise Facts Report → brands → Cold Stone Creamery
Cold Stone Creamery franchise — is it worth it?
High risk Growing network
Cold Stone Creamery is a food and beverage franchise with an initial investment ranging from $390,675 to $680,775.
Everything below is free, read straight off Cold Stone Creamery's registered filing. The $99 report is the part a single FDD can't give you: the fee and churn detail, and where every number lands against food & beverage peers.
The numbers above tell you what Cold Stone Creamery discloses. The report tells you whether that's good:
- What the missing Item 19 means here — how many food & beverage franchisors do disclose, so you know whether this silence is ordinary or not.
- Where every number ranks — investment, fees, royalty, earnings and churn against food & beverage median and quartile. This is the part no single FDD, and no AI reading one, can produce.
- What's driving the high risk read — the specific figures behind it, not the label.
- The litigation, split properly — beyond the count above: each case, and which ones franchisees brought against the franchisor rather than the reverse.
- The questions to ask before you sign — drawn from what Cold Stone Creamery's own filing leaves open, in the words to use on the call.
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Compare 3 brands — $249 See a sample reportFigures above are as disclosed in Cold Stone Creamery's most recent FDD (registered 2026). Source: Wisconsin Dept. of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration · filing 640458 — check it yourself. The Item 19 figures, where each number ranks against peers, and the litigation & churn detail are in the full report.
Cold Stone Creamery franchise profit — what the FDD discloses
Plainly: Cold Stone Creamery 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 Cold Stone Creamery — any number quoted elsewhere is an estimate, not a disclosure. The absence is itself worth weighing (many food & beverage franchisors do disclose), and the full report reads the risk signals Cold Stone Creamery's FDD does contain — fees, litigation, and outlet churn — against peers. For brands that put earnings on paper, see Food & beverage franchises with disclosed Item 19 earnings.
Cold Stone Creamery lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)
Cold Stone Creamery's most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2026) does disclose 5 legal proceedings in Item 3 . Item 3 is the item where a franchisor must put its material legal history on the record. Two things it is not: it covers the franchisor and its predecessors, parents and affiliates, so a disclosed case is not necessarily a suit against Cold Stone Creamery itself; and a disclosure is a fact, not a finding of wrongdoing — most entries are contract disputes with former franchisees, which every large system accumulates. The full Cold Stone Creamery report lists each case with what it was about and how it ended, separates franchisee disputes from corporate and securities matters, and flags the ones a franchisee started — the split that actually matters, because franchisees suing their franchisor is the signal a buyer is looking for.
Cold Stone Creamery closures & failure rate
Before you sign, Cold Stone Creamery 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 Cold Stone Creamery'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. Cold Stone Creamery's latest tables show a growing franchised network. The actual closure and termination counts, and how Cold Stone Creamery's churn ranks against food & beverage peers, are in the full report.
What the fee, litigation and churn signals imply, every number ranked against food & beverage peers, and the litigation and churn detail — delivered instantly, yours to keep.
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Who owns Cold Stone Creamery?
Cold Stone Creamery's franchise is offered by Kahala Franchising, L.L.C. — the franchisor named on the cover of its most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2026), 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. The same franchisor files separate FDDs for other brands, which is worth knowing — sibling brands share a franchise-support organization but disclose their own numbers:
Food & beverage franchises at a similar investment level
Anyone weighing Cold Stone Creamery 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.
Cold Stone Creamery franchise — frequently asked
Who owns Cold Stone Creamery — who is the franchisor?
Cold Stone Creamery's most recently filed FDD (2026) names Kahala Franchising, L.L.C. as the franchisor — the entity you would actually sign the franchise agreement with, as stated on the disclosure document itself. The same franchisor also files FDDs for Blimpie, Great Steak, Kahala Coffee Traders, Maui Wowi, NrGize Lifestyle Cafe, Pinkberry, Planet Smoothie, Samurai Sam's Teriyaki Grill, Surf City Squeeze, Taco Time. A registry filing names the franchisor, not necessarily its ultimate parent company.
How much does a Cold Stone Creamery franchise cost?
Cold Stone Creamery's most recently filed FDD (Item 7) puts the total estimated initial investment at $390,675 – $680,775, with an initial franchise fee of $27,000 and a 6% royalty. That price is the franchisor's own estimate of what it takes to open, not a quote. The full report breaks down every fee line and benchmarks it against food & beverage peers.
How much profit does a Cold Stone Creamery franchise make?
Cold Stone Creamery makes no Item 19 financial performance representation, so there is no franchisor-disclosed revenue or profit figure for Cold Stone Creamery 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 Cold Stone Creamery disclose financial performance (Item 19)?
No — Cold Stone Creamery's most recent FDD makes no Item 19 financial performance representation. Its absence is worth weighing; the report focuses on the verifiable risk signals instead.
Are there lawsuits against Cold Stone Creamery?
Cold Stone Creamery's most recently filed FDD (2026) discloses 5 legal proceedings in Item 3. Item 3 covers the franchisor, its predecessors, parents and affiliates — so a disclosed case is not necessarily a suit against Cold Stone Creamery itself, and a disclosure is not a finding of wrongdoing. The full report lists each case, separates franchisee disputes from corporate and securities matters, and flags the franchisee-initiated ones.
Is Cold Stone Creamery a good franchise to buy?
Nobody can answer that from Cold Stone Creamery's numbers alone — it comes down to how its investment, earnings, litigation and franchisee churn stack up against food & beverage peers, which is what the full report is for. Our read on this filing is high risk, stated free above. For $99 you get the figures driving that read, the actual Item 19 earnings (absent from this FDD — and how unusual that is for the category), where every figure ranks against peers, and the specific questions to ask the franchisor before you sign.
A Cold Stone Creamery franchise is a $390,675 – $680,775 decision you make once, on a ten-year agreement, usually with a personal guarantee behind it. For $99 you get an independent read of the document that decides it: what the absent Item 19 earnings imply, and how unusual that absence is for the category, every figure ranked against food & beverage peers, the litigation split into franchisee and corporate matters, the churn behind the outlet count — and the questions to put to the franchisor before you sign. If it tells you nothing new, reply within 14 days and we'll refund it.
Not useful? Reply to your delivery email within 14 days for a refund — no forms, no argument.
Compare 3 brands — $249Get a free email when something changes on Cold Stone Creamery 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 registries every report is built on.