7 BREW added 281 net new drive-thru stores in 2025 and plans 447 more in 2026. That makes it one of the fastest-growing accounts a franchise vendor can target, and one of the easiest to pitch wrong. Corporate controls most of the store's buying, often through its own affiliates, while the multi-unit owners control a short list of categories that matter a lot during a build-out this size. This is the buying map: who decides, what they spend, and who owns the stores. Every figure reflects 7 BREW as of 2026. Calculated figures are marked as estimates.
7 BREW at a glance
| Metric | As of 2026 |
|---|---|
| Stores | 602 at end of 2025: 578 franchised (96%), 24 corporate-owned |
| Growth | +140 net stores in 2023, +141 in 2024, +281 in 2025 (+94.6% year over year) |
| Average yearly sales | $2,646,063 (FY2025, 297 franchised stores open the full year); median $2,550,624 |
| Royalty | 4.5%, 5.5% or 7% of weekly sales, tiered by weekly volume |
| Brand fund | 2% of weekly sales |
| Tech fee | 0.25% of weekly sales |
| Minimum development commitment | 10 stores |
| Ownership | Private; parent companies Brew Culture, LLC and Blondie Holdings, LLC |
Who decides on technology at 7 BREW: HQ or the franchisee?
The answer is HQ. We rate 7 BREW Locked: corporate mandates the core systems, can add new required categories at any time, and is itself an approved or designated supplier of the POS software, inventory management, scheduling management, tablet management and digital menu-board subscriptions.
| Category | Who decides |
|---|---|
| Point of sale | HQ-mandated |
| Payments / card processing | HQ-approved list (card readers HQ-mandated) |
| Loyalty / CRM | Loyalty HQ-mandated; CRM not specified |
| Online ordering | HQ-mandated |
| Labor scheduling software | HQ-approved list (7 BREW is itself a supplier) |
| Gift cards | HQ-mandated |
| Phone / communications | Franchisee choice (HQ controls the phone numbers) |
| HR / payroll / benefits | Franchisee choice |
| Accounting / bookkeeping | Franchisee's system, but it must follow HQ's formats and chart of accounts |
| Website & social accounts | Franchisee with approval |
Buying-path facts: about 100% of opening and operating purchases come from approved suppliers or follow HQ specs. A franchisee can propose a new supplier but pays HQ's testing costs, and HQ can refuse for any reason, including because it already has an exclusive source. HQ negotiates pricing for the building, all inventory and some technology, and it may sign tech contracts directly and bill each store its share, plus up to a 10% admin fee. There's no franchisee advisory council and no purchasing co-op.
The IT budget
- Opening: $25,000 to $30,000 per store for POS equipment, tablets and card processors.
- Recurring: $10,000 to $15,000 a year for POS maintenance, support and hosted software, plus the 0.25% tech fee (about $6,600 at average sales). That's about $16,600 to $21,600 per store a year (est.).
- Upgrades: there's no cap on the cost or frequency of required tech upgrades. 7 BREW also has independent, unlimited access to each store's system data.
- Across the system: about $10M to $13M a year in recurring required tech across 602 stores (est.).
The marketing budget: national vs. local
| Bucket | Rate | Per store (est.) | Who controls it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand fund | 2% of sales (the maximum, charged in full) | ~$52,900 | Corporate, with sole control |
| Local marketing | No minimum | n/a | Franchisee, using HQ-approved materials |
| Regional co-op | None; HQ has no right to require one | n/a | n/a |
| Grand opening | None required; $25,000 to $50,000 recommended | Spent by the franchisee | Franchisee |
Across 602 stores, the brand fund comes to about $31.9M a year (est.). In 2025 it went about 55% to marketing (30% promotions, sponsorships and consumer campaigns; 15% media placement; 10% creative, research and agency services), 20% to new-store opening support and training, 20% to fund staff and 5% to marketing technology. The fund also pays for online ordering and loyalty subscriptions.
Agencies: HQ vs. local
- Does 7 BREW use a marketing agency? Yes, stated. Corporate and/or an outside regional or national agency produces all advertising, and about 10% of 2025 fund spending went to creative, research and agency services.
- Can franchisees use local agencies? Yes, HQ approves all materials. Every piece must be approved before use, and HQ can pull approved materials with 30 days' notice. Owners can't run their own websites or social accounts for the store without written approval, and can't sell online except through 7 BREW's system website.
For agencies, national work is a corporate pitch. Local work is an owner sale, with no required budget behind it.
Who owns the stores
No one owns just one store. 7 BREW grants franchises only to developers who commit to at least 10 stores in a defined territory, so all 578 franchised stores belong to multi-unit owners. FranCloud names the owners of at least 151 of them (26%). The largest named owners, after combining related entities:
| Owner | Stores | Home state |
|---|---|---|
| Southern Brew Corp. | 26 | AL |
| 7 Venture, Inc. | 15 | IN |
| 7Crew Enterprises | 15 | TX |
| Motley 7 Brew | 15 | OH |
| Brew Crew 2, LLC | 14 | AR |
Stores cluster in Texas (89 franchised), Florida (40), Missouri (36), Ohio (33) and Alabama (30). With no franchisee council, there's no shortcut through a committee. You go to each owner group directly.
Where HQ makes money, and what it means for your pitch
7 BREW's franchise company reported $112.7M in 2025 revenue and $45.1M in net income. Its parent and affiliates took in another $92.8M from franchisees in 2025 for products and services, and its parent and buying group received supplier payments of up to $0.28 per unit sold. Total fees run up to 9.25% of sales, about $244,800 per store a year at average volume (est.).
When your product would replace something 7 BREW or an affiliate supplies, you're asking corporate to give up revenue. The easier wins are the categories where corporate earns nothing and has chosen to stay out.
When to call 7 BREW, and who to call
Timing signals:
- 447 new stores planned for 2026 (437 franchised, 10 corporate), led by Texas (41), Florida (35), Georgia (30) and Illinois (30). Stores open about 200 to 540 days after signing.
- No store closed in 2025.
- New leadership: the parent's President joined in July 2024, its Chief Development Officer in March 2024 and an International President in March 2025. International franchising is set up, with none sold as of the end of 2025.
- Store transfers between owners rose from 1 in 2023 to 14 in 2024 and 28 in 2025. Each new owner is a chance to re-pitch.
Who to call at HQ: technology to the Chief Technology Officer; marketing and loyalty to the Chief Marketing Officer; payments and finance to the Chief Accounting Officer; supply chain to the VP of Supply Chain; new stores and real estate to the Chief Development Officer; franchise relationships to the Chief Franchising Officer. At the owner level, ask for each group's managing owner, who has authority to decide for all of the group's stores.
How to sell into 7 BREW: the play
- HQ motion: for POS, payments, tech subscriptions, equipment, inventory, loyalty and online ordering, sell to corporate. Expect to compete with 7 BREW's own affiliates, so lead with a system-wide gain.
- Owner motion: for hiring, payroll, benefits, background checks, insurance and local marketing, sell to the multi-unit owners. Owners have sole authority over employment, pay and benefits, HQ names no benefits provider, and every store needs at least 2 fully trained managers.
- Build-out motion: with no council or co-op to work through, the third door is new stores. Owners sign their own leases and hire their own site contractors, at $200,000 to $800,000 of site work per store. Architects and outside modular builders need 7 BREW's approval.
See this buying map for any franchise brand
FranCloud's franchise database builds this view (who decides, what each store spends, and who owns the stores) for every active US franchise brand. Look up any brand in the franchise directory, learn which data matters for sales in the learn hub, or see plans and pricing. To check who decides your category at a target brand, try FranCloud Analyze. It's free, with no signup.