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FRANCHISE RESALES

Buy a Great American Cookies Franchise

Great American Cookies is a mall-based dessert franchise founded in 1977 in Atlanta on a family chocolate chip cookie recipe. Its menu centres on the signature Original Cookie Cake alongside fresh-baked cookies, brownies and Double Doozies, sold mainly from kiosks and inline units in malls, airports and shopping centres. Customers range from walk-in shoppers to families buying cookie cakes for birthdays, celebrations and gifting.

The brand operates more than 370 units across 31 states and five countries, with international locations in Bahrain, Guam and Saudi Arabia. It is owned by FAT Brands, a publicly listed multi-brand franchisor whose portfolio also includes Marble Slab Creamery, Pretzelmaker and Fatburger. Many locations are co-branded with Marble Slab Creamery, letting a single operator run two dessert concepts under one roof.

Units are compact, typically 400 to 1,200 square feet, and the model is built around high-traffic retail settings rather than standalone stores. A recognisable cookie-cake format and rotating seasonal flavours give the brand steady gifting and celebration demand alongside everyday impulse purchases.

Latest Resales

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Why buy a Great American Cookies Franchise?

A Great American Cookies resale offers entry into a brand that has baked under the same name since 1977 and owns one of the most recognisable products in the mall-dessert category: the Original Cookie Cake. That signature format carries built-in demand for birthdays, celebrations and corporate gifting that newer dessert concepts have to build from scratch, and it sits alongside proprietary recipes and an established national supply chain.

To buy a Great American Cookies franchise is also to join the FAT Brands system, a publicly listed multi-brand franchisor that pools procurement across recognised distribution networks and provides shared marketing, PR and creative support. Many units are co-branded with sister brand Marble Slab Creamery, giving operators a second dessert revenue stream without a second lease, and the compact retail footprint keeps day-to-day operations simpler than a full-service restaurant.

Great American Cookies Franchise Costs & Information

Based on 2024 data reported in the 2025 FDD

  • Brand Profile

    • Year Founded

      1977

    • Franchising Since

      1978

    • New Startup Cost

      $340,500 – $462,650

    • Avg. Resale Price

      Contact us for details

  • Franchise Fees

    • Initial franchise Fee

      $25,000

      for new territories

    • Transfer Fee

      $15,000

    • Royalty Fee

      6%

      of total Net Sales

    • Marketing Fee

      2–3%

      of Net Sales

  • Unit Performance

    • Total Units *

      395

    • New Units Opened *

      18

    • Units Transferred *

      91

    • Avg. Unit revenue *

      $506,381

    * Based on 2024 data reported in the 2025 FDD

Great American Cookies – Additional  Information

  1. Training & Support

    Initial training covers 37 hours of on-the-job instruction plus 2.5 hours in the classroom, delivered by FAT Brands at a designated training unit and covering customer service, operations, management and safety standards. Ongoing, operators draw on FAT Brands' shared supply-chain and distribution network for approved products and competitive pricing, plus marketing, PR and creative support and a Local Store Marketing Guide. Resale buyers should confirm what transfer training and system access FAT Brands provides to incoming owners and staff when ownership changes.

  2. Ideal Owner

    Great American Cookies suits a hands-on, operations-led owner comfortable running a compact retail food unit and managing a small hourly team in a busy mall or shopping-centre environment. Day-to-day focus falls on consistent baking and product quality, customer service, scheduling around extended retail hours and managing seasonal and celebration-driven peaks. Prior food-service or retail experience helps but is not required, as FAT Brands provides structured training. Owners who enjoy local marketing and building repeat gifting and celebration custom tend to fit the model best.

  3. Recognition & Awards

    Great American Cookies ranked #216 on Entrepreneur's 2026 Franchise 500 and was named the #1 cookies franchise in Entrepreneur's 2026 Best of the Best ranking, a category lead it has held repeatedly. It also placed #72 among Top Food Franchises and #122 among Top Global Franchises in 2025, and has featured in Franchise Business Review's Top Franchises listings. As part of publicly listed FAT Brands, it carries the backing of a large multi-brand franchisor. For resale buyers, brand recognition should be weighed alongside the specific unit's local reviews, centre reputation and customer following.

  4. Industry / Market

    Great American Cookies sits in the US cookies market, valued at roughly $4.4 billion in 2025 and forecast to grow at a mid-single-digit annual rate through the rest of the decade. Demand is driven by indulgence and treat spending, gifting and celebration occasions, and the convenience of grab-and-go dessert in high-traffic retail. As a mall and shopping-centre concept, unit performance is closely tied to the foot traffic, anchor tenants and demographics of the specific centre, making location quality a central factor for resale buyers to assess.

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