Start a Marble Slab Creamery Franchise in 2025

2025 Franchise 500 Rank: #268 Ranked #310 last year

Initial investment: $304K - $477K

Units as of 2024: 392 6.8% over 3 years

Founded in 1983 by Sigmund Penn and Tom LePage, Marble Slab Creamery is known for innovating the frozen slab technique, hand-mixed ice cream, and making a fresh batch of ice cream while using dairy from local farms and premium flavorings from around the globe.

Marble Slab Creamery started franchising in 1984, intending to offer new owners franchise opportunities both in the United States and internationally. Today, Marble Slab Creamery has several hundred franchising outlets worldwide.

While ice cream offered in freshly baked waffle cones is their forte, Marble Slab Creamery has a variety of alternatives, including ice cream cakes, nonfat frozen yogurt, gourmet drinks, and more.

Why You May Want to Start a Marble Slab Creamery Franchise

Enthusiastic potential franchisees may meet with Marble Slab Creamery sales executive assigned in your area to discuss the brand’s business strategies, values, practices, and your own personal strengths and weaknesses as a potential franchisee. This step is a part of the franchising process and is vital to being awarded a location.

Marble Slab Creamery wants committed and very organized individuals who are passionate about the brand, and willing to make significant changes in the food industry. You should be involved in your community, have high integrity, and marketing experience to grow your business.

What Might Make a Marble Slab Creamery Franchise a Good Choice?

The difference between Marble Slab Creamery and other franchises may be its reliance on the quality ingredients: no additives or preservatives, and the customer experience starts from the product to the services. Marble Slab Creamery strives to go beyond customers’ expectations while focusing on helping its staff members and franchisees alike. For this reason, Marble Slab Creamery has created opportunities to fit in many different locations and venues. New business franchisees should expect to run the business operations and hire and train new staff.

Franchisees may be interested in opening a co-branded location. A co-branded location may sell both Marble Slab Creamery goods and Great American Cookies products. The two businesses under one roof could diversify your revenue, reduce overhead costs, and provide a wider range of sweet treats for customers.

How To Open a Marble Slab Creamery Franchise

Before making any financial commitment or signing an agreement, you must perform your due diligence and establish if this is the right opportunity for you. As part of your due diligence, you may want to speak to existing franchisees and ask the Marble Slab Creamery franchising team questions.

To be part of the Marble Slab Creamery team, you should make sure you’re financially ready for an initial investment made up of a franchise fee and other startup costs. In addition, you should prepare yourself for ongoing fees that will include advertising, royalty, and potential renewal fees. Franchisees will also need to meet the company’s set net worth and liquid capital requirements.

It may be a good idea to speak with an attorney or financial advisor to ensure that you have the necessary financial resources to own and operate a Marble Slab Creamery franchise.

Company Overview

About Marble Slab Creamery

Industry	Food
Related Categories	Ice Cream, Ices, Frozen Yogurt, Desserts
Founded	1983
Parent Company	FAT Brands Inc.
Leadership	Taylor Wiederhorn, Chief Development Officer
Corporate Address	9720 Wilshire Blvd., #500 Los Angeles, CA 90212
Social	Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok

Business Overview

Franchising Since	1984 (41 years)
# of employees at HQ	335
Where seeking	This company is offering new franchises throughout the US. This company is offering new franchises worldwide.
# of Units	392 (as of 2024)

Information for Franchisees

Here's what you need to know if you're interested in opening a Marble Slab Creamery franchise.

Financial Requirements & Ongoing Fees

Here's what you can expect to spend to start the business and what ongoing fees the franchisor charges throughout the life of the business.

Initial Franchise Fee Definition: The initial fee paid to a franchisor to join their system What you need to know: Found in Item 5 of the FDD, this may be a flat fee, or may vary based on territory size, experience, or other factors.The franchise fee is an up-front (one-time) cost that a new franchisee pays to the franchisor. This fee is usually due at the signing of the franchise agreement and covers the right to use the franchisor's trademarks, name, and related business systems.	$25,000
Initial Investment Definition: The total amount necessary to begin operation of the franchise What you need to know: The initial investment includes the franchise fee, along with other startup expenses such as real estate, equipment, supplies, business licenses, and working capital. This is outlined in a chart in Item 7 of the FDD, showing a range of possible costs from low to high.	$303,500 - $476,650
Net Worth Requirement Definition: The minimum net worth you must have in order to qualify to become a franchisee of this company What you need to know: Net worth is the value of a person's assets minus liabilities. Assets include cash, stocks, retirement accounts, and real estate. Liabilities include items like mortgages, car payments, and credit card debt.	$1,500,000
Cash Requirement Definition: The minimum liquid capital you must have available in order to qualify to become a franchisee of this company.	$500,000
Royalty Fee Definition: A ongoing fee paid to the franchisor on a regular basis. What you need to know: Most franchisors require franchisees to pay an ongoing royalty fee, which is detailed in Item 6 of the FDD. This fee is typically a percentage of weekly or monthly gross sales, but may also be a flat weekly, monthly, or annual fee.	6%
Ad Royalty Fee Definition: An going fee paid to the franchisor on a regular basis to support advertising or marketing efforts. What you need to know: This may also be called advertising fee, marketing fee, brand fund fee, and more, but the basic purpose is the same-- to support promotion of the brand systemwide. As with the royalty fee, it is detailed in Item 6 of the FDD, and can be a percentage of weekly or monthly gross sales or a weekly, monthly, or annual fee.	4%
Term of Agreement Definition: The length of time your franchise agreement will last. What you need to know: Franchise terms are typically anywhere from 5 to 20 years in length, but are sometimes instead dependent on factors such as the term of your lease. Once your term is up, you may have the option to renew your agreement, typically for a smaller fee than the original franchise fee.	15 years
Is franchise term renewable?	Yes

Financing Options

Some franchisors offer in-house financing, while others have relationships with third-party financing sources to which they refer qualified franchisees.

Third Party Financing	Marble Slab Creamery has relationships with third-party sources which offer financing to cover the following: startup costs, equipment, inventory, accounts receivable, payroll

Training & Support Offered

Franchisors offer initial training programs and a variety of ongoing support options to help franchisees run their businesses.

On-The-Job Training	39 hours
Classroom Training	2 hours
Ongoing Support	Purchasing Co-ops Newsletter Meetings & Conventions Grand Opening Online Support Security & Safety Procedures Lease Negotiation Field Operations Site Selection Proprietary Software Franchisee Intranet Platform
Marketing Support	Ad Templates National Media Regional Advertising Social Media Website Development Email Marketing Loyalty Program/App

Operations

Additional details about running this franchise.

Is absentee ownership allowed?	No
Can this franchise be run from home/mobile unit? Definition: The business can be run from your home and/or a vehicle, and it is not necessary to have a retail facility, office space, or warehouse.	No
Can this franchise be run part time? Definition: This business can be run by the owner on a part-time basis (less than 40 hours per week) and/or as a side business; it is not necessary for the business to be open/run full-time.	No
# of employees required to run	8-10
Are exclusive territories available? Definition: An exclusive territory is a fixed area in which you are given the right to operate and in which no other units of the same franchise may be opened. What you need to know: Territory size may be based on factors such as radius, population size, zip codes, and more. Details can be found in Item 12 of the FDD.	Yes