Franchise Facts Report → brands → The Growler Guys
The Growler Guys franchise — is it worth it?
High risk Significant turnover
The Growler Guys is a food and beverage franchise with a relatively low initial investment range of $211,900 to $448,500.
Everything below is free, read straight off The Growler Guys'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 The Growler Guys 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 — each case, and which ones franchisees brought against the franchisor rather than the reverse.
- The questions to ask before you sign — drawn from what The Growler Guys'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 The Growler Guys's most recent FDD (registered 2025). Source: Wisconsin Dept. of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration · filing 639936 — check it yourself. The Item 19 figures, where each number ranks against peers, and the litigation & churn detail are in the full report.
The Growler Guys franchise profit — what the FDD discloses
Plainly: The Growler Guys 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 The Growler Guys — 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 The Growler Guys'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.
The Growler Guys lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)
The Growler Guys'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.
The Growler Guys closures & failure rate
Before you sign, The Growler Guys 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 The Growler Guys'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. The Growler Guys's latest tables show significant franchisee turnover. The actual closure and termination counts, and how The Growler Guys'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.
Not useful? Reply to your delivery email within 14 days for a refund — no forms, no argument.
Who owns The Growler Guys?
The Growler Guys's franchise is offered by Black Beer, 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.
Food & beverage franchises at a similar investment level
Anyone weighing The Growler Guys 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.
The Growler Guys franchise — frequently asked
Who owns The Growler Guys — who is the franchisor?
The Growler Guys's most recently filed FDD (2025) names Black Beer, LLC as the franchisor — the entity you would actually sign the franchise agreement with, as stated on the disclosure document itself. A registry filing names the franchisor, not necessarily its ultimate parent company.
How much does a The Growler Guys franchise cost?
The Growler Guys's most recently filed FDD (Item 7) puts the total estimated initial investment at $211,900 – $448,500, with an initial franchise fee of $30,000 and a 1% 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 The Growler Guys franchise make?
The Growler Guys makes no Item 19 financial performance representation, so there is no franchisor-disclosed revenue or profit figure for The Growler Guys 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 The Growler Guys disclose financial performance (Item 19)?
No — The Growler Guys'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 The Growler Guys?
No — The Growler Guys's most recently filed FDD (2025) discloses no litigation in Item 3. Franchisors must disclose material litigation involving themselves, their predecessors, parents, affiliates and management, so an empty Item 3 is a genuine signal rather than an omission.
Is The Growler Guys a good franchise to buy?
Nobody can answer that from The Growler Guys'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 The Growler Guys franchise is a $211,900 – $448,500 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 The Growler Guys 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.