Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars (U.S.) — Industry Primer

NAICS 2022 code 722515. NAICS is the North American Industry Classification System, the U.S. government's official scheme for grouping businesses. Code 722515 covers fixed-location outlets that serve a specialty snack or a nonalcoholic drink for consumption on or near the premises: coffee shops, doughnut and bagel shops, ice cream and frozen-yogurt parlors, juice and smoothie bars, boba (bubble tea) shops, pretzel, cookie and popcorn stands, and similar "grab a drink or a treat" concepts.

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1. Overview

This is the business of selling small, frequent, low-ticket indulgences — a latte on the commute, a smoothie after the gym, a scoop of ice cream on a summer night, a boba tea after school. Individually the transactions are tiny; collectively they add up to one of the largest and most visible corners of American food service, anchored by Starbucks and Dunkin' but populated by tens of thousands of independents.

The category matters because demand is habitual and high-frequency (many customers visit daily or several times a week), the ingredient cost of a cup of coffee is a small fraction of its price, and the format travels well — the same ~1,500-square-foot box with a drive-thru works in an Ohio strip mall or on a Brooklyn corner. That combination makes it a favorite of both public-market growth investors and private franchise and roll-up buyers. It is also brutally competitive, labor-intensive, and — as 2024–25 showed — exposed to a coffee-bean price shock operators cannot fully control.[24][25]

Public and private ways in. Public investors can own the category through a short list of listed operators (Starbucks, Dutch Bros, Krispy Kreme, and newer small caps) and diversified restaurant holding companies. But most of the industry is private: Dunkin', Baskin-Robbins, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Smoothie King, 7 Brew, Caribou Coffee, and virtually the entire boba segment are privately or franchisee-owned, reached through buying a franchise, private-equity funds, private credit, real estate, or direct ownership of a shop. Both routes are covered in Section 10.

The central question in this industry is not simply whether sales are growing. It is whether a concept can generate repeat traffic, hold pricing and product quality, control labor and rent, and earn an attractive return on each new location.

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2. What it is, and how it's structured

Scope. The U.S. Census Bureau defines NAICS 722515 by an establishment's primary activity: preparing and/or serving (1) a specialty snack (ice cream, frozen yogurt, cookies, popcorn, pretzels, doughnuts, bagels) or (2) nonalcoholic beverages (coffee, tea, juices, smoothies, sodas) for on- or near-premise consumption. The defining trait is a narrow, signature product line — a coffee shop, a juice bar, a doughnut shop — rather than a full menu. A shop can qualify even if it also sells related merchandise or some other food, as long as the snack or beverage is the main business.[1]

What it excludes (adjacent codes an investor should not conflate):

• Full-service restaurants — NAICS 722511 (sit-down, waiter service).
• Limited-service restaurants / fast food — NAICS 722513 (burgers, sandwiches, pizza; the meal-focused quick-service world). A hot-food-forward brand like Dunkin' straddles the line but is generally treated as a snack-and-beverage bar.
• Cafeterias, grill buffets, and buffets — NAICS 722514.
• Drinking places (alcohol) — NAICS 722410 (bars, taverns).
• Mobile food services / carts — NAICS 722330 (a stand-alone espresso cart with no fixed location).
• Beverage and food manufacturing — e.g., a coconut-water maker or a bottled cold-brew brand sits in food/beverage manufacturing (NAICS 311–312), not here. The line is on-premise service versus packaged product sold through stores.
• Retail grocery and vending — a supermarket café is retail; vending machines are a separate code.

A single brand can therefore span several codes: a coffee-led concept lands in 722515 while the same parent's sandwich or full-meal format is classified elsewhere.

Ownership mix. The industry is a barbell with three practical layers:

• The brand company / franchisor, which owns the branding, recipes, standards, technology, marketing, and often the approved supplier list.
• The unit-level franchisee, a local small business that funds and operates one or several locations under the brand.
• The independent operator, who carries both brand and operating risk alone.

At one end a few enormous chains (Starbucks, Dunkin') operate or franchise thousands of standardized units; at the other sit tens of thousands of independent cafés, family doughnut shops, and single-location boba stores. The middle is increasingly held by franchisors backed by private equity, who sell franchises and collect royalties. Because each franchisee is legally its own firm, the category looks far more fragmented in federal firm counts than the handful of dominant brands would suggest. Our federal statistics give firm and establishment counts but do not report a split between independent, company-owned, franchised, public, and private — so no ownership percentage is stated here.

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3. How big it is (federal figures)

All core figures below are from our ground-truth federal statistics for NAICS 722515.

County Business Patterns (CBP) is the Census Bureau's annual count of employer establishments, jobs, and payroll; the Economic Census is its every-five-years business survey; the Small Business Administration (SBA) sets the receipts ceiling below which a firm counts as "small.")

What the numbers say.

• Small format. About 11.6 employees per establishment on average (985,583 ÷ 85,140) — a dozen mostly part-time workers per outlet, not a big plant.
• Low pay. Roughly $21,200 of annual payroll per employee ($20.90B ÷ 985,583), reflecting a workforce that is heavily part-time, entry-level, and tip-supplemented — a structural fact that makes the industry acutely sensitive to minimum-wage law.[2]
• Modest revenue per operator. Receipts and firm count come from the same 2022 Economic Census, so dividing them is clean: about $1.1 million in average receipts per firm ($62.77B ÷ 58,462). But that average is pulled up by a few giants; the typical neighborhood shop turns a few hundred thousand dollars a year.
• More outlets than firms. The 85,140 establishments exceed the 58,462 firms because multi-unit operators and franchisees run many locations under one firm — direct evidence of the chain-and-franchise layer sitting on top of the independent base. (The two figures come from different programs and years, so treat the comparison as directional.)
• The concentration table suppresses the HHI (the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, a standard sum-of-squared-market-shares gauge of concentration), so we state no HHI value.

Undercount and interpretation caveats (important). These figures capture employer businesses well, but:

• The smallest tail is understated. CBP and the Economic Census exclude most non-employer businesses — sole proprietors with no payroll, no employees, or no Employer Identification Number (EIN), such as a one-person espresso kiosk or a self-run boba cart. The Census Bureau's separate Nonemployer Statistics program covers those, but our data file has no 722515 nonemployer total, so we add no estimate — only the honest note that the true count of operating outlets is higher than 85,140.[3][6]
• "Firms" overstates independence. Treating each franchisee as its own firm makes brand concentration look lower than it is; the concentration ratios below correct for that.
• These are healthy private-sector consumer statistics — not distorted by government provision or a few giant plants — so the federal backbone is reliable; it simply misses part of the micro-operator fringe.

Two datasets, don't blend them mechanically. CBP (employment/payroll, 2023) and the Economic Census (receipts/firms/concentration, 2022) are different surveys and years. Do not multiply or divide across them to manufacture a margin, average unit volume, or growth rate.

A broader, later cross-check. For a wider definition and a more recent year than the 2022 Census receipts, the research firm IBISWorld pegs its overlapping "Coffee & Snack Shops" industry at roughly $74 billion in 2025 revenue.[7] Within the category, the juice-and-smoothie-bar niche is about $4.4 billion and U.S. bubble tea about $1.4 billion (2024).[8][9]

Concentration. Despite ~58,000 firms, the top players carry real weight. The four largest firms (CR4) account for 32.8% of receipts, the top 8 for 34.2%, the top 20 for 36.4%, and the top 50 for 39.3% (2022).[4] The jump from CR4 to CR50 is only ~6.5 points — meaning concentration is front-loaded into a few giants (Starbucks above all), with a very long, fragmented tail behind them.

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4. The investable universe

Relative to its size, the category has few pure public plays, and none is a clean U.S.-only NAICS 722515 vehicle — listed operators' reported revenue can include international stores, other restaurant concepts, licensing, packaged goods, or wholesale. This section is where tickers and scale belong.

Publicly traded operators

Note on the QSR ticker: "QSR" is also the generic term "quick-service restaurant." Restaurant Brands International happens to trade under it, but the two meanings are unrelated.

Adjacent (not 722515 operators): Vita Coco (COCO) makes coconut water — a beverage manufacturer, not a bar. It is not a clean way to own this industry.

Major private and franchisor-owned players

• Dunkin' and Baskin-Robbins — owned by Inspire Brands (backed by Roark Capital), private. Dunkin' alone runs roughly 9,800 U.S. stores, ~$12.5B U.S. system sales, and an average unit volume (AUV) near $1.29 million in 2024.[19][20]
• Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Bagels — under Panera Brands, privately held by JAB Holding (the same coffee-and-bakery platform that controls Krispy Kreme's majority stake). Panera's flagship bakery-café is an adjacent fast-casual concept, but Caribou and Einstein sit squarely in this category.[21]
• Tropical Smoothie Cafe — acquired by Blackstone in June 2024 for a reported ~$2 billion.[22]
• Smoothie King — founder-controlled; took a minority investment from Main Post Partners.[23]
• 7 Brew Coffee — operates through privately held Brew Culture on a franchise model; Blackstone made a growth-equity investment (2024) as the brand scaled from ~190 to 460+ units.[26][27]
• Jamba, Auntie Anne's, Cinnabon, Carvel — under GoTo Foods (formerly Focus Brands / Roark Capital), private.
• Scooter's Coffee, and the boba segment (Kung Fu Tea, Gong Cha, Chatime, Tiger Sugar) — overwhelmingly private and franchised.[9]

Takeaway. To own the growth of this category, public investors have a short list (SBUX, BROS, DNUT, and small caps); the deeper opportunity set — franchisors and challenger brands — sits in private hands and private equity. And the actual owner of any given location is often a local franchisee whose economics can differ materially from the franchisor's.

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5. How the money works

Owners make money in three distinct ways, and it pays to know which one a given company relies on:

1. Store-level operating margin (company-operated shops). Because an ingredient cost is a small fraction of the price, gross margins are high — but the model is labor- and rent-heavy: hourly wages typically run ~25–35% of sales and occupancy takes another chunk. Store profit is a matter of throughput (transactions per hour × average check), so small swings in traffic move profitability hard. The company captures the full sale but also bears all the labor, lease, maintenance, and capital burden.
2. Franchise royalties and fees (franchisors). A franchisor sells the right to operate under its brand and collects an ongoing royalty (commonly ~5–6% of a unit's sales), plus advertising-fund contributions, upfront fees, and sometimes supply-chain or equipment margin. This is a high-margin, capital-light, recurring-revenue model — precisely why private equity (Blackstone, Roark, Main Post, JAB) has been buying franchisors. Growth is funded by franchisees rather than the franchisor's own balance sheet.
3. Licensing and wholesale — e.g., Starbucks licensing kiosks in grocery stores and airports, or Black Rifle selling bagged coffee through retailers. Lower margin than a company café but far more scalable.

The metrics that matter here:

• Same-store sales growth (SSS) — sales at outlets open at least a year, split into transactions (traffic) versus price/mix. The single most-watched health gauge; it strips out the effect of simply building more stores. Starbucks' North America comparable sales fell ~2% in FY2024 — a warning sign — with average ticket up ~4% on price increases but transactions down ~5%, i.e., growth bought with pricing, not customers.[10] Dutch Bros' separate reporting of same-shop sales and transactions shows why that split matters.[12]
• Average unit volume (AUV) — annual revenue per store; higher AUV spreads fixed rent and labor over more sales.
• Four-wall (store-level) operating margin, and labor and occupancy as a percentage of sales.
• New-store investment and cash payback; net unit growth after closures and relocations; and the company-vs.-franchise mix (who funds new stores).
• Franchisee health — royalties, closures, arrears, and unit-level profitability. A franchisor's systemwide sales are not its own income statement: Krispy Kreme's ~75%-company-operated split shows how much of the network's sales flow through corporate versus franchisees.[14]
• Cost of goods (coffee, milk, sugar, flour, fruit) and labor — the two levers that most often decide whether a good top line becomes a good bottom line.

Because the product is cheap to make but bought constantly, the winners maximize frequency and convenience — mobile order-ahead, loyalty apps, and drive-thrus that cut wait times and lift transactions per hour.

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6. What drives demand

• Daily habit and disposable income. Coffee and snacks are affordable, repeat purchases. Demand is resilient in good times and tends to soften rather than collapse in downturns — customers trade down to a smaller size or a cheaper option before quitting entirely.
• The morning daypart and commuting patterns. A large share of sales is the morning coffee-and-breakfast run; return-to-office trends and commuting routes move traffic directly. Afternoon beverage and snack occasions add a second peak.
• Convenience and technology. Mobile order-ahead, delivery, and especially drive-thru formats have reshaped the category — the fastest-growing challengers (Dutch Bros, 7 Brew, Black Rock, Scooter's) are drive-thru-first. Digital channels extend a brand beyond its four walls; Krispy Kreme, for instance, pairs shops with fresh daily delivery, digital ordering, and production hubs.[14]
• Affordable indulgence, customization, and novelty. Ice cream, doughnuts, cookies, and specialty drinks are cheap treats; limited-time offerings, seasonal flavors, and customization drive repeat visits, and social-media virality powers the boba boom, whose core customers skew Gen Z.[8][9]
• Health and functional trends. Juice and smoothie bars ride wellness cycles; functional and protein add-ins and low-sugar options support premium pricing. Health preferences cut both ways — indulgent products remain the core, and the winning concepts add healthier options without sacrificing taste, speed, or brand identity.
• Weather and seasonality. Cold brew and iced drinks in summer, frozen desserts in warm months, hot beverages in winter.
• Location quality. Proximity to workplaces, campuses, retail centers, and commuting routes is decisive for a small-ticket, high-frequency format.

Judgment: beverage-led concepts with high purchase frequency and convenient formats generally have more durable demand than concepts that depend on occasional destination visits — an edge that poor locations, heavy discounting, weak service, or market saturation can erase.

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7. Regulation

This is a lightly regulated industry compared with banking or health care, but several rules bite:

• Food safety. Outlets are permitted and inspected under state and local health codes. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) publishes a model Food Code that jurisdictions may adopt or modify — it is a template, not a single nationwide operating license.[28] Permits, inspections, temperature control, allergen management, and sanitation are routine costs.
• Menu calorie labeling. Under the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA), chains with 20 or more locations operating under the same name and offering substantially similar items must post calorie counts on menus (an FDA rule) — a compliance burden that falls on larger brands.[29]
• Wages and labor law — the biggest swing factor. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets minimum-wage, overtime, recordkeeping, and child-labor floors; states and localities can go higher.[30] Most consequential recently, California's FAST Act set a $20/hour minimum wage for fast-food workers at chains with 60+ U.S. locations, effective April 1, 2024 — sweeping in many coffee, doughnut, and boba chains; independent studies estimate meaningful job losses alongside the raises.[31][32] Tip-credit and scheduling rules vary widely by jurisdiction.
• The FTC Franchise Rule. Under the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rule, a franchisor generally must give a prospective franchisee a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) at least 14 calendar days before any binding agreement or payment. Anyone evaluating a franchise reads the FDD, the lease, and unit-level financial history first.[33]
• Local levies and zoning. Some cities impose sugar-sweetened-beverage ("soda") taxes; some restrict or ban new drive-thrus, directly affecting the challenger model. Building, signage, fire, wastewater, and accessibility rules apply to every buildout.
• Trade policy. The U.S. grows almost no coffee, so import tariffs on coffee-exporting countries flow straight into bean costs (see Risks).

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8. Competitive dynamics & consolidation

The structure is "a few giants, then a very long tail." Starbucks and Dunkin' set the terms; below them, hundreds of regional and independent operators compete on locality, price, and novelty. Barriers to entry are low — anyone can open a café — which keeps the tail crowded and margins disciplined. But scaled firms have real advantages in purchasing, technology, loyalty programs, product development, site selection, and franchise support.

Competition is fundamentally local. A national brand still competes against the independent shop next door, convenience stores, quick-service restaurants, grocery cafés, delivery platforms, and even other franchisees of the same chain. Low switching costs make speed, product consistency, location, and value decisive.

Three dynamics define the moment:

1. The drive-thru insurgency. A cohort of drive-thru-first coffee chains — Dutch Bros, 7 Brew, Black Rock, Scooter's — is expanding aggressively and taking share, pressuring Starbucks on speed and value while it works through a turnaround.[11][15][27]
2. Private-equity roll-up of franchisors. Capital-light royalty streams have drawn heavy private-equity (PE) interest, consolidating brands at the franchisor level even as unit ownership stays fragmented: Roark controls both Inspire Brands (Dunkin', Baskin-Robbins) and GoTo Foods (Jamba, Auntie Anne's, Carvel, Cinnabon); Blackstone backs Tropical Smoothie and 7 Brew; Main Post holds a stake in Smoothie King; and JAB has assembled a private coffee-and-bakery platform (Panera Brands, Caribou, Einstein Bros., plus its Krispy Kreme majority). These structures create purchasing and technology efficiencies but add integration, leverage, and governance risk.[19][21][22][23]
3. Segment fragmentation at the frontier. The boba category is fast-growing but split among many chains and independents, with no dominant national brand yet — a classic setup for future consolidation.[9]

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9. Risks

• Commodity (coffee) inflation. Arabica futures hit an all-time record near $4.41/lb in February 2025, roughly doubling year-over-year after a ~70% surge in 2024, driven by Brazilian drought and tight supply. Menu prices rose in response — a median hot coffee reached $3.52 and cold brew $5.47 by August 2025 — testing customers' willingness to keep paying up. Dairy, sugar, flour, fruit, and cocoa are volatile too, and perishable products add waste risk.[24][25]
• Labor cost and unionization. Rising minimum wages (the FAST Act) and organizing pressure raise the industry's largest controllable cost. Starbucks Workers United has organized on the order of 500–700 U.S. stores and staged strikes, with no national contract yet — a multi-year overhang for the biggest operator.[31][34]
• Occupancy. Rent increases, unfavorable lease renewals, construction delays, and weak location traffic can impair otherwise strong brands.
• Discretionary-spending sensitivity. These are everyday purchases for some customers and discretionary for others; a squeezed consumer trades down or skips visits, showing up first as falling transactions (as Starbucks saw in FY2024).[10]
• Saturation and cannibalization. Rapid unit growth risks new stores stealing from existing ones, raising advertising costs and weakening franchisee returns.
• Digital economics. Delivery commissions, payment processing, loyalty discounts, and technology spending can lift sales without lifting profit.
• Food safety and reputation. A contamination, allergen, labor, or service incident can damage a brand across many locations at once.
• Franchisee health. Under-capitalized or poorly run franchisees reduce royalties, delay development, and erode brand standards.
• Shifting tastes and health. Sugar-heavy drinks and desserts face wellness headwinds; the newer GLP-1 weight-loss drugs (glucagon-like peptide-1 medications, which suppress appetite) are a genuine, if still-unquantified, long-term risk to snack and sugary-beverage demand.
• Trade/tariff exposure. Because virtually all coffee is imported, tariffs on producing nations feed straight into costs and pricing.[24]
• Ownership and leverage. PE-backed platforms may carry heavy debt and pursue aggressive consolidation, adding financial and integration risk.
• Single-partner and execution risk. Krispy Kreme's costly unwind of its McDonald's rollout (a ~$28.9 million charge in 2025) shows how a big growth bet can reverse quickly.[16]
• Public-company complexity. Listed operators may carry substantial non-U.S., packaged-goods, wholesale, or unrelated-restaurant exposure that obscures the economics of the 722515 business itself.

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10. How to invest, and the outlook

Public-market routes

• Starbucks (SBUX) — the blue-chip, mega-cap way in; currently a turnaround story (new leadership, a "back to basics" push on speed and the café experience) rather than a growth story. The operating question is whether transactions can recover; reserve judgment on valuation multiples and the dividend for a dedicated equity analysis.[10]
• Dutch Bros (BROS) — the high-growth option: rapid unit expansion and positive same-shop sales, but priced at a premium to revenue, so store-level economics and execution discipline are the watch items.[11][12]
• Krispy Kreme (DNUT) — a small-cap turnaround after the McDonald's stumble.[14][16]
• Black Rock Coffee Bar (BRCB) and Black Rifle (BRCC) — smaller, higher-risk names; Black Rock is a newly public drive-thru operator concentrated in a few states, and Black Rifle is really a packaged-coffee brand with a retail sideline.[15][17]
• Restaurant Brands International (QSR) — indirect exposure via Tim Hortons, heavily diluted by Burger King, Popeyes, and Firehouse Subs.[18]
• There is no pure-play "coffee-shop" ETF (exchange-traded fund); broad consumer-discretionary or restaurant funds give diluted, indirect exposure.

Public investors should track same-store sales and transaction growth, AUV and mature-store margins, net unit growth after closures, the company-vs-franchise mix, labor/occupancy/commodity/delivery costs, franchisee financial health, balance-sheet leverage and capital allocation — and, crucially, how much of the reported revenue actually comes from 722515 operations.

Private-market routes (where most of the industry actually lives)

• Buy a franchise. The most direct private entry: acquire and operate a Dunkin', Tropical Smoothie, 7 Brew, Scooter's, or boba unit. Diligence starts with the brand's FDD — royalties, ad fees, buildout cost, and the disclosed AUVs of existing units — and extends to store-level profit-and-loss, lease terms, labor schedules, sales mix, waste data, local competitive density, required remodels, financing terms, and franchisee references. A strong brand does not guarantee an attractive site.
• Own an independent shop — full control of a single café's economics, but no brand pull and full operating risk.
• Private equity / private credit into franchisors — the professional version of the royalty trade Blackstone, Roark, Main Post, and JAB are running; access is via funds, not public shares.[22][23][27]
• Real estate — the drive-thru boom creates net-lease property investing: owning the land and building under a coffee unit and collecting rent — a lower-risk, income-oriented way to participate. Focus on traffic durability, rent coverage, lease duration, tenant concentration, and the operator's ability to survive a weak sales stretch.

Near-term outlook (forward-looking judgment)

The base case is steady, low-single-digit category growth with intense competition and continued franchising and consolidation:

• Coffee costs are the swing variable — normalization from 2025 record highs would relieve margin pressure and menu-price fatigue; continued elevation squeezes both.[24][25]
• Starbucks' turnaround is the single biggest needle-mover for the public side; its recovery (or not) will shape sentiment across the group.[10]
• Drive-thru challengers (Dutch Bros, 7 Brew, Black Rock, Scooter's) should keep taking share and remain the growth engine.[11][15][27]
• Boba and functional beverages are the fastest-growing niches and the most likely source of the next breakout brand and the next wave of consolidation.[8][9]
• Wildcards: the pace and severity of labor-cost regulation, and the still-uncertain effect of GLP-1 drugs on snack and sugary-drink demand.

Returns will likely bifurcate: scaled brands with strong repeat traffic, disciplined site selection, pricing power, and healthy franchisees can compound, while weak locations, overbuilt markets, and concepts with poor labor or occupancy control face closures, restructuring, or sale. The industry is investable through both public securities and private operating assets — and the best underwriting lens is unit-level cash generation and local competitive density, not headline systemwide sales, raw store-count growth, or a single ticker.

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Sources

1. U.S. Census Bureau, "2022 NAICS: 722515 Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars." https://www.census.gov/naics/?details=722515&input=722515&year=2022
2. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, NAICS 722515 (establishments, employees, annual and Q1 payroll), 2023. https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/2023/econ/cbp/2023-cbp.html
3. U.S. Census Bureau, "County Business Patterns Methodology" (coverage exclusions). https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/technical-documentation/methodology.html
4. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census — Concentration of Largest Firms, NAICS 722515 (firms, receipts, CR4/CR8/CR20/CR50, suppressed HHI). https://data.census.gov/table/ECNSIZE2022.EC2200SIZECONCEN
5. U.S. Small Business Administration, "Table of Size Standards" (NAICS 722515 = $22.5M average annual receipts), 2023. https://www.sba.gov/document/support-table-size-standards
6. U.S. Census Bureau, "Nonemployer Statistics." https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/nonemployer-statistics.html
7. IBISWorld, "Coffee & Snack Shops in the US — Industry Report," 2025. https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/industry/coffee-snack-shops/1973/
8. IBISWorld, "Juice & Smoothie Bars in the US — Market Size," 2024/2025. https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/industry/juice-smoothie-bars/4325/
9. Grand View Research, "U.S. Bubble Tea Market Size & Share Report" (~$1.4B 2024; leading chains), 2024/2025. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/us-bubble-tea-market-report
10. Starbucks Corporation, Form 10-K for fiscal year ended Sept. 29, 2024 (net revenue $36.2B; U.S. and worldwide store counts; North America comparable sales; transactions vs. ticket), U.S. SEC. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/829224/000082922424000057/sbux-20240929.htm
11. Dutch Bros Inc., 2025 Form 10-K (1,136 shops across 25 states at Dec. 31, 2025; 811 company-operated, 325 franchised), U.S. SEC, 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1866581/000186658126000006/bros-20251231.htm
12. Dutch Bros Inc., "Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Results" (~$1.28B revenue; same-shop sales and transactions), Business Wire, 2025. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250212569291/en/Dutch-Bros-Inc.-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Fiscal-Year-2024-Financial-Results
13. Krispy Kreme, Inc., "Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Financial Results" (revenue ~$1.67B), Business Wire, 2025. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250224225524/en/Krispy-Kreme-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2024-Financial-Results
14. Krispy Kreme, Inc., 2025 Form 10-K (15,194 global points of access; ~75% of systemwide sales company-operated), U.S. SEC, 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1857154/000185715426000015/dnut-20251228.htm
15. Black Rock Coffee Bar, Inc., 2025 Form 10-K (181 locations across seven states at Dec. 31, 2025), U.S. SEC, 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2068577/000162828026014380/brcb-20251231.htm
16. Restaurant Dive, "Black Rock Coffee raises nearly $300M in IPO," 2025. https://www.restaurantdive.com/news/black-rock-coffee-bar-294-million-initial-public-offering/760055/
17. BRC Inc. (Black Rifle Coffee), "Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Results" (revenue ~$391.5M; Outpost retail), 2025. https://ir.blackriflecoffee.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/94/brc-inc-reports-fourth-quarter-and-fiscal-year-2024
18. Restaurant Brands International Inc., 2025 Form 10-K (Tim Hortons, Burger King, Popeyes, Firehouse Subs), U.S. SEC, 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1618756/000161875626000017/qsr-20251231.htm
19. Nation's Restaurant News, "Inspire Brands saw a mixed year in 2024" (Dunkin' ~9,768 U.S. stores; ~$12.5B U.S. system sales; ~$1.29M AUV), 2025. https://www.nrn.com/top-500-restaurants/inspire-brands-saw-a-mixed-year-in-2024
20. Roark Capital, "Current Investments." https://www.roarkcapital.com/portfolio
21. Panera Brands / JAB Holding (Panera Bread, Caribou Coffee, Einstein Bros. Bagels). https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/company/our-history.html
22. QSR Magazine / Franchise Times, "Blackstone completes ~$2B acquisition of Tropical Smoothie Cafe," 2024. https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/report-tropical-smoothie-to-be-sold-for-2-billion/
23. Restaurant Dive, "Smoothie King secures private-equity investment (Main Post Partners)," 2024. https://www.restaurantdive.com/news/smoothie-king-private-equity-minority-investment/752717/
24. Perfect Daily Grind, "Arabica futures are over US$4.30/lb: a new era for coffee" (record ~$4.41/lb Feb 2025; ~70% 2024 surge; drought/tariffs), 2025. https://perfectdailygrind.com/2025/02/coffee-prices-record-highs-roasters/
25. Daily Coffee News, "Report: U.S. Coffee Shop Coffee Prices Are Rising" (Toast POS data: median hot coffee $3.52, cold brew $5.47, Aug 2025), 2025. https://dailycoffeenews.com/2025/09/29/report-u-s-coffee-shop-coffee-prices-are-rising/
26. 7 Brew Coffee / Brew Culture, "About Us." https://7brew.com/about
27. Blackstone, "Blackstone Announces Growth Investment in 7 Brew" (~190 to 460+ units), 2024. https://www.blackstone.com/news/press/blackstone-announces-growth-investment-in-7-brew/
28. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, "Food Code 2022" (model code adopted/modified by state and local jurisdictions). https://www.fda.gov/food/fda-food-code/food-code-2022
29. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, "Menu Labeling Requirements" (chains with 20+ locations). https://www.fda.gov/food/nutrition-food-labeling-and-critical-foods/menu-labeling-requirements
30. U.S. Department of Labor, "Fair Labor Standards Act / Restaurant Employment." https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/compliance-assistance/toolkits/restaurant
31. California Department of Industrial Relations, "Fast Food Minimum Wage FAQ" ($20/hr, chains 60+ locations, effective Apr. 1, 2024), 2024. https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/Fast-Food-Minimum-Wage-FAQ.htm
32. Cato Institute, "Did California's Fast-Food Minimum Wage Reduce Employment?" (estimated job losses), 2024. https://www.cato.org/research-briefs-economic-policy/did-californias-fast-food-minimum-wage-reduce-employment
33. Federal Trade Commission, "A Consumer's Guide to Buying a Franchise" (FDD required ≥14 days before signing/payment). https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/consumers-guide-buying-franchise
34. Restaurant Business / Starbucks Workers United, union organizing and strike status (500–700 stores; no national contract), 2024–2026. https://sbworkersunited.org/