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Sweetwater Technologies franchise — is it worth it?

Medium risk Item 19 disclosed

Sweetwater Technologies operates in the 'Other' category, offering a franchise opportunity with a relatively low franchise fee and a high ongoing royalty structure.

Everything below is free, read straight off Sweetwater Technologies's registered filing. Weighing Sweetwater Technologies against other options? Get a free shortlist of franchises that fit your budget.

Figures above are as disclosed in Sweetwater Technologies's most recent FDD (registered 2025). Source: Wisconsin Dept. of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration · filing 639651 — check it yourself. See every other Wisconsin-registered franchise.

How much does a Sweetwater Technologies franchise make?

Sweetwater Technologies is one of the franchisors that answers this on the record: its most recent FDD makes an Item 19 financial performance representation — actual unit earnings figures, disclosed by the franchisor itself. The headline figure is $147,279 in average unit revenue — read it alongside what Item 19 says about which units it covers (often only mature or top-performing locations). See every other brand that discloses earnings in the Other franchises with disclosed Item 19 earnings ranking.

Sweetwater Technologies franchise profit vs. revenue

Revenue is not profit. An Item 19 almost always reports sales — what a location takes in — not what an owner keeps. Out of that number come Sweetwater Technologies's 33% royalty, the ad fund, rent, payroll, supplies and debt service. No FDD tells you a Sweetwater Technologies franchise's profit, because profit depends on your site, your rent and how you run it — so treat any "Sweetwater Technologies franchise profit" figure quoted elsewhere as someone's estimate, not a disclosure. On $147,279 of revenue, a 33% royalty alone is about $48,602 a year before any other cost.

Sweetwater Technologies lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)

Sweetwater Technologies's most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2025) discloses no litigation in Item 3. That is a real signal rather than a gap: the FTC Franchise Rule requires a franchisor to disclose material litigation involving itself, its predecessors, parents, affiliates and management, so an empty Item 3 in a current filing means there was nothing it was required to report. It is worth reading alongside the churn numbers — a system can have a clean Item 3 and still be losing franchisees, which is what Item 20 shows.

Sweetwater Technologies closures & failure rate

Before you sign, Sweetwater Technologies 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 Sweetwater Technologies's most recent filing shows, and whether it's normal for a other 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. Sweetwater Technologies's outlet tables did not machine-read cleanly; Item 20 of the source FDD has them.

Who owns Sweetwater Technologies?

Sweetwater Technologies's franchise is offered by Sweetwater Technologies Franchise, LLC — the franchisor named on the cover of its most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2025), 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.

Other franchises at a similar investment level

Anyone weighing Sweetwater Technologies 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.

Sweetwater Technologies franchise — frequently asked