Start a Grumpy's Restaurant Franchise in 2025

Franchise 500 Rank: N/R Not ranked last year

Initial investment: $654K - $1.6M

Units as of 2024: 5 66.7% over 3 years

Grumpy’s Restaurant is a full-service diner franchise serving Southern-style breakfast, brunch, and lunch for more than two decades. While Grumpy’s Restaurant stays loyal to its original menu, its award-winning kitchen and chef are not expected to shy away from exploring bold, new approaches to diner food, with daily and weekly chalkboard specials.

Once only a dream for a U.S. navy cook known as Chef Grumpy, “The Bad Mood Dude,” the first Grumpy’s Restaurant took shape in Orange Park, Florida, in 1999. After that, he attempted to perfect his sweet Southern home-style cooking. His regular customers are people in the neighborhood and his military friends, who are pleased with his working-class prices.

Grumpy’s Restaurant began franchising in 2019 and has opened several restaurants since then. They are actively looking to expand their reach.

Why You May Want To Start a Grumpy’s Restaurant Franchise

Grumpy’s Restaurant wants to be a real family where owners, employees, franchisees, and partners perform responsibilities together, give each other a pat on the back for their accomplishments, and lend a helping hand when someone needs it. If this is a type of environment that brings out the best in you, opening a Grumpy’s Restaurant franchise could be for you.

If you have no restaurant experience, that may not be a problem, as Grumpy’s Restaurant typically includes complete and ongoing training and support for all franchisees.

Opening a Grumpy’s Restaurant franchise may offer a more predictable outcome than investing in a completely new brand that could struggle to thrive in a competitive industry.

What Might Make a Grumpy’s Restaurant Franchise a Good Choice

Grumpy’s Restaurant is a franchise brand that comes with various options to go along with its menu sales. Placemat advertising, merch, catering, private events, deliveries, beer, wine, and alcohol programs are offered in addition with menu sales. Grumpy’s Restaurant closes by midday each day, giving the working team plenty of room to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

To be part of the Grumpy’s Restaurant 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 liquid capital requirements.

How To Open a Grumpy’s Restaurant Franchise

As you decide if opening a Grumpy’s Restaurant franchise is the right move for you, make sure you take time to explore the opportunity. Research the brand and your local area to see if a Grumpy’s Restaurant franchise would do well in your community. While competition is healthy, too much of it may not allow for the most possible growth.

Before making any financial commitment or signing an agreement with Grumpy’s Restaurant, 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 Grumpy’s Restaurant franchising team questions.

Company Overview

About Grumpy's Restaurant

Industry	Food
Related Categories	Breakfast/Brunch Restaurants, Miscellaneous Full-Service Restaurants
Founded	2001
Parent Company	Grumpy Restaurant Company LLC
Leadership	Daniel DeLeon, CEO
Corporate Address	834 Kingsley Ave. Orange Park, FL 32073
Social	Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube

Business Overview

Franchising Since	2019 (6 years)
# of employees at HQ	7
Where seeking	This company is offering new franchises throughout the US.
# of Units	5 (as of 2024)

Information for Franchisees

Here's what you need to know if you're interested in opening a Grumpy's Restaurant 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.	$40,000
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.	$654,000 - $1,597,000
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.	$700,000 - $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.	$125,000 - $150,000
Veteran Incentives Definition: A discount or other incentive offered to military veterans who buy a franchise with this company.	20% off franchise fee
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.	5%
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.	1%
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.	10 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	Grumpy's Restaurant has relationships with third-party sources which offer financing to cover the following: franchise fee, startup costs, equipment, inventory, 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	405 hours
Classroom Training	8 hours
Ongoing Support	Purchasing Co-ops Newsletter Meetings & Conventions Toll-Free Line Grand Opening Online Support Security & Safety Procedures Lease Negotiation Field Operations Site Selection Proprietary Software Franchisee Intranet Platform
Marketing Support	Co-op Advertising Ad Templates Regional Advertising Social Media SEO Website Development Email Marketing Loyalty Program/App

Operations

Additional details about running this franchise.

Is absentee ownership allowed?	Yes
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	50
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