Franchise Factbook
Bruster's Real Ice Cream

Bruster's Real Ice Cream

Partial FDD data
Dessert · Bridgewater, Pennsylvania · Founded 1989 · Franchising since 1990
Extraction not scoredUnclaimed profile
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Total to open · Item 7
$318K–$2.2M
Franchise fee · Item 5
$36,901
Included in the total above
Owner turnover
Awaiting Item 20 extraction
Factbook Score
Pending
Brand has 0 year(s) of Item 20 history in our current extraction
No Item 19 earnings dataPre-confidence-scoring extractionWhy these flags?

Beyond the filing

Everything else on this page is quoted from Bruster's Real Ice Cream's franchise disclosure document. This is not — it is measured off the open web, it is not verified by the franchisor, and it never affects the Factbook Score.

Customer rating
4.5 / 5
8,425 Google reviews across 19 locations
Best to worst location
3.8 – 4.8
Where this brand's locations sit on the same scale — the gap is what varies between franchisees
Website health
9 / 10
Basic checks. Issues here: no structured data
Store locator
Yes
Their site has a finder that sends customers to their nearest branch — how walk-in trade reaches a franchisee
iPhone app
4.7 / 5
1,217 App Store ratings · Bruster's
Android app
Yes
Play Store link published on their own site. Google offers no free ratings API, so there is no score to show
Google returns at most twenty locations for a search, so the rating is a sample of Bruster's Real Ice Cream's outlets rather than all of them. Measured Sep 11, 2026.

Seen advertising or featured on: Franchising.com homepage featured. Noted for provenance — paid placement elsewhere has no bearing on anything shown here.

Research this brand properly

Every figure on this page comes from Bruster's Real Ice Cream's own disclosure filings, source linked. Compare it against its category before any discovery call — and read the FDD with an attorney before signing anything.

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Get introduced to Bruster's Real Ice Cream

We pass your details to their franchise development team so they can contact you directly. We are not a broker, we are not paid per introduction, and your details are never sold to a lead network.

Where you'd want to open — territory availability is the first thing they'll check.

We record the time and IP of the request — privacy policy.

Claim Bruster's Real Ice Cream

For people who work for the brand. Once approved you can correct anything we have wrong and respond on this profile. Claiming is free and never affects the Factbook Score, the ranking, or which facts we publish.

A company address at the brand's own domain is approved fastest. A personal address is fine, but we'll ask you to verify another way.

Reviewed by a person. We record the time and IP — privacy policy.
No spam, and we never sell your details — an introduction happens only when you ask for one, to the brand you named. How we make money · Own this brand?
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Franchise Factbook · verified
Opening a Bruster's Real Ice Cream: $318K–$2.2M
From its official FDD · franchisefactbook.com
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Data-integrity flags on this profile
  • infook
These figures predate our extraction-confidence scoring

They were captured before we began scoring extraction confidence, so we can't put a number on them. They remain sourced — the filing is linked below. We publish the score rather than hiding it — see the methodology.

Royalty
Franchised units
3-yr unit growth
CAGR from Item 20

What it really costs

Every cost figure this brand's filing discloses — not just the headline range

Total initial investment · Item 7$318K–$2.2M
$0$3.0M
ExpenseLowHigh
Initial franchise fee$36,901$36,901
Total initial investment$318,000$2,236,500

Item 7 reports a total range, not a full line-item breakdown, in this brand's filing excerpt — the franchise fee is the only cost we can show separately today.

Costs more to open than 39% of food and beverage franchises on this site with a disclosed Item 7 range (372 compared). Computed from total investment, not a figure from the filing itself.

Earnings disclosure

Does the franchisor share performance data? No

This brand's filing does not include an Item 19 financial performance representation. That's common — a large share of franchisors disclose nothing here — but it means you should ask for unit-level economics directly during discovery calls. Compare against food and beverage brands that do disclose one.

Legal history

CLEAR
No bankruptcy disclosures for the franchisor or its officers.
NOT DISCLOSED
Non-compete term/radius wasn't separately quantified in the filing excerpt we have on file.

Tell me when Bruster's Real Ice Cream files something new

Franchisors refile every year, and fees, investment ranges and closure counts move between filings. We'll email you when this brand's figures change — nothing else, and never a sales sequence.

Tell me when these brands file something new

Fees change, disclosure documents get refiled, and outlet counts move every year. We'll email you when any of your 1 saved brand changes — Bruster's Real Ice Cream. This is the only time your shortlist leaves your browser, and no franchisor is told you are watching them.

The Factbook Brief

Fee changes, closure-rate movers, and one honest brand teardown. One email a week. We never sell your address see how we make money.

Common questions

Answered from this brand's own FDD filing. Where the filing is silent, the question is left out rather than answered with a guess.

How much does a Bruster's Real Ice Cream franchise cost?

Bruster's Real Ice Cream's most recent Franchise Disclosure Document puts the total estimated initial investment at $318K–$2.2M. That is Item 7, which covers everything needed to open — the franchise fee, build-out, equipment, opening inventory and initial working capital. The initial franchise fee itself is $36,901, and is included in that range.

Facts on this page are sourced from a third-party archive's copy of Bruster's Real Ice Cream's Franchise Disclosure Document, not filed with us directly — treat figures here as one step further from the original filing.

Item 5 fee ranges $19,401–$36,901 with a 50% discount available for US veterans and existing multi-unit franchisees; standard/full fee ($36,901) recorded here. Item 7 range shown is for a single unit ($318,000–$2,236,500); a 3-unit development agreement shows $954,000–$2,516,500. Preview PDF is from 2022 and is now likely superseded by a newer filing; a second, fuller source (e.g. a googleapis.com mirror) was not located within the two-attempt budget.