Edible Arrangements is best known for their unique fruit arrangements often given as presents or corporate gifts. I received one such fruit arrangement from my real estate agent when we closed on our house that included artfully displayed strawberries, cantaloupe, grapes and pineapple. These arrangements make a nice alternative to sending flowers. Not only do these arrangements look stunning to display, but they can be eaten too. The brand has been around since 1999 with a mission “to WOW you” with their fruit concepts as gifts or grab and go treats.

How much does it cost to open Edible Arrangements? You’re in for a sweet treat because Edible Arrangements is open for franchising! The liquid capital you need to start franchising this business is $80,000 and a net worth of $250,000 is required. You can expect the investment to be around $183,600 to $409,700 and the franchise fee is $30,000.

Are you looking for a business franchise that brings joy and nutrition to customers? Then read on to learn more about Edible Arrangements revenue numbers, profitability metrics, advantages, and challenges of the business. Take our 7-minute franchise quiz to find out if this is the right business for you.

Financial Requirements and Fees

These are the financial requirements you need to open an Edible Arrangements:

Other fees you need to know is that Edible Arrangements require royalty fees of 5% and ad royalty fees of 3.5%. As for discounts, they offer a veteran incentive that’s $10,000 off the first store’s franchise fee.

Edible Arrangements is also open to franchising outside of the United States although not much is known about the international franchise fee. One article says that the investment to own an Edible Arrangements in Canada amounts to CAD $240,310 to CAD $441,900 although this is unofficial.

Average Sales / Revenue per Year

Edible Arrangements sees millions in revenue yearly. In 2019, it saw $600 million in sales. There was also an increase of 18% for the first six months of 2020 which was when the pandemic started. Revenue continues to increase mid-2020 to 2021 from Gen Z consumers by 100%. This is a concept that’s performed well in an environment that’s been a major challenge for many food businesses.

Edible Arrangements Franchise Facts

Tariq Farid started Edible Arrangements in East Haven, Connecticut in 1999. Farid had experience running a flower shop business named Farid’s Flowers in 1985. Combining his flower shop concept with a passion for fruit baskets, he created Edible Arrangements selling fresh fruit bouquets.

It was Chris Dellamarggio that encouraged Farid to franchise in the year 2000 after returning multiple times to his shop. A year later, Edible Arrangement’s open their first franchised location opened in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Today, Edible Arrangements has over 1,000 stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Qatar, and Kuwait. Aside from fresh fruit bouquets, stores offer chocolate covered fresh fruits, cheesecakes, cookies, cupcakes, gourmet popcorn and more sold as packaged gifts to give for events, special occasions or just for the spirit of gift giving.

Edible Arrangements also sells treats for immediate consumption such as fruit smoothies, fruit parfaits, fruit salads, and blended fruit yogurt drinks.

The brand has a strong customer relations program. They have a rewards and loyalty program with over 2 million members. Once customers sign up for the loyalty program, they get freebies like a free birthday gift, surprise offers, and faster checkout process.

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Edible Arrangements is recognized by many for being a top brand in the retail and gift giving industry. They were on Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 list and Top 40 of “Fastest Growing Franchises”. They were also featured on Inc. 5000.

Despite having so many locations, Edible Arrangements is still interested in branching out all over the globe. Their target areas for expansion are:

• Argentina
• Caribbean Region
• Columbia
• Brazil
• Central America
• Mexico
• Africa
• Germany
• GCC Countries
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• Australia
• India
• Indonesia
• Japan
• Korea
• Malaysia
• Philippines
• Taiwan
• Thailand

If you would like to franchise an Edible Arrangement internationally, you have two options. You can be a Master Franchisee which gives you the rights to sub-franchise Edible Arrangements to others in the area, or be a Traditional Multi-Unit Franchisee where one location is run by one owner. Some Master Franchise agreements allow you to manage an entire country or region. You can start by fill out the application form here. As for United States locations, complete the application form here or call 678-992-2350.

Edible Arrangements is still headed by founder Tariq Farid. The company is headquartered at Atlanta, Georgia.

How Much Does Edible Arrangements Make in Profit?

There aren’t any official details as to how much Edible Arrangements make in profit but according to Franchise Times, average Edible Arrangement stores that are open for 3 years are doing $153,000 more in sales than 2019 than previous years. The average unit volume or AUV was nearly $570,000 near the end of 2020. This means the average store $570,000 in sales annually.

Of course total sales does not equal profit. There’s significant overhead to operate an Edible Arrangements store when you consider ingredient costs, labor, leasing a retail space, and of course taxes. Based on averages from the gift basket industry, it’s not uncommon for gift basket companies to net 30% profit on sales. If this industry average holds true, you can expect a typical Edible Arrangements store to make $171,000 in profit annually.

As with all food businesses, cost control is essential to managing a profitable business. As a franchise owner, you would need do everything to reduce food waste, negotiate lease agreements, and control labor costs in order to maximize profit.

Advantages of an Edible Arrangements Franchise

Why choose Edible Arrangements? Here are a few advantages I see with this brand.

Edible University

Whether you are a sub-franchisee or master franchisee or even a store manager, you’ll be trained at the prestigous Edible University. This is Edible Arrangements’ 2-week franchise training program that must complete before opening a store. There are lectures and hands-on activities where you’ll learn about fruit safety, how to use their software, and of course provide instruction on how to make the arrangements.

Edible Arrangements dedicating a “university” for their franchisees makes this a fun way for new store owners to learn how to run the business. It also goes to show how serious the company is about preparing you for success.

Growth

Edible Arrangements have a lot planned for the growth of their brand. The company has a goal of opening 40 stores with each store having an area of 1,200 to 1,800 square feet. They also have plans to sign 160 franchise agreements. They’re also adding more to their products than just fruit selections such as introducing gourmet popcorn and offering platters rather than just bouquets and boxes. More recently, the company began offering dessert and charcuterie boards.

Edible Arrangements releasing new products shows that there is constant growth and innovation happening in the company which you could benefit from as a franchise owner so your customers can have something to come back to every now and then.

More Customers

The appeal of the Edible Arrangements marketing strategy is that you get more customers each time you sell a product. For instance, not only do you get the customer who’s giving the give, but the recipient also becomes aware of your business. With each sale, you get more prospective future customers that engaged with and had a positive experience with the brand.

Strength of Delivery

Most Edible Arrangements are delivered straight to a recipients home or office. As a result of this strategy, the company continued to grow total sales 45% through the pandemic as more consumers decided to eat and work from home. During this time, the company started to innovate and broaden their product offerings too.

Even though the company became known for fruit baskets, the company offers much more than that. This year the company started offering baked goods like muffins and cookies, flowers, and greeting cards. The company also started delivering platters of fruit for personal consumption at home. These product offerings and services were appealing to consumers who didn’t want to leave their home or shop at a grocery store.

Personally, I love seeing a franchise company innovating so quickly to adapt with market changes or consumer preferences. This is a strong sign the company will be able to adapt with the changing times.

Challenges of an Edible Arrangements Franchise

Despite being in business for 20 years, Edible Arrangements have their set of challenges. Here are a few things you need to be prepared for as a franchise owner.

Franchisee Complaints

Edible Arrangements have been receiving complaints by franchisees in Quebec and blaming the company for loss in profits.

Just last year, a couple of franchisees sued the company for $2.7 million for lack of planning in marketing strategies such as not providing marketing materials in French or forgetting about Canadian Thanksgiving so stores weren’t able to promote the special occasion that would have brought about more sales.

Related Reading: What’s the Real Cost (w/ Fees) to Open a Jersey Mike’s Franchise? 

Other issues the franchisees had were that Edible Arrangements weren’t able to provide them proper support with their product shipping, software, and inventory problems. One franchisee even claimed that they suffered from religious discrimination.

This kind of complaints are damaging to the Edible Arrangements brand and could put off future franchisees from wanting to join them. Make sure to review feedback from franchisees before investing in any concept. No franchise opportunity is perfect, but understanding the concerns of current operators is valuable to you.

Rotten Fruit

A business that sells fruits as gifts can be a bit difficult especially where shipping and handling is concerned. There have been claims from customers that the fruits they received from Edible Arrangements were rotten. This review on a store in Denville showed a photo of a banana that does not look fresh. Another employee went on social media claiming the company uses old strawberries. Another one said the apples they received were brown.

As we all know, they’re continued challenges with the global supply chain. These shipping delays hurt companies like Edible Arrangements hard because their product spoils quickly. Fast and efficient shipping is extremely important to the business. No one wants to receive a brown fruit basket.

These delays in shipping cuts into profitability for franchisees. After all, if you get fruit later, you’re going to incur more food waste as a business if you can’t get the fruit into customers hands quickly. This gift / food business is not well positioned in the event of on-going supply chain delays. Other food businesses that sell frozen products like a McDonald’s for example can withstand longer delivery delays.

Awful Customer Service

Edible Arrangements have received flak from customers regarding their awful after sales service. A customer on Yelp claimed that calls weren’t returned regarding their complaint about an order never delivered. Edible Arrangements’ failure to have their items shipped or delivered even made it to a local news affiliate. With this kind of bad customer service experiences, you’d want to think twice about whether or not you still want to franchise with them.

Of course, all food businesses face customer service challenges. But this concept is more complex since the product is often being delivery to a remote location. A fruit bouquet might look fantastic when it leaves the retail shop, but anything can happen en-route to its destination. Unfortunately, dealing with these sorts of customer issues goes with the territory.

Is the Edible Arrangements Franchise Right For You?

Edible Arrangements seems to have a lot of mixed reviews that it’s best to approach this franchise with caution. Some areas seem to be doing well while other locations have a hard time finding support from the company. If you want to franchise Edible Arrangements, it’s best to weigh all your options, read the experience of other franchise owners, and visit them to learn more about the company.

What is an alternative Edible Arrangements franchise?

If it’s a gift store you’re looking for that offers edible gifts, check out 1800Flowers. They’ve been around for more than 40 years selling flowers and gifts for any occasions. You can even buy fruit baskets, cake, and a chocolate gift basket from them.

To franchise 1800Flowers, you can expect the investment to be around $201,500 and $478,250. Expect royalty fees to be around 6% with an initial franchise fee of $30,000.

I hope this guide was able to bring you clarity in franchising Edible Arrangements and may you find the ideal fruit bouquet franchise for you soon. Check out this list of 50 franchise opportunities you can start for under $50,000 here if you’re looking for more options.