Melting Pot Franchise Costs, Fees & FDD

Year Business Began: 1975

Franchising Since: 1984

Headquarters: Tampa, Florida

Estimated Number of Units: 90

Franchise Description: The franchisor is The Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc. The franchise is for the establishment and operation of a restaurant featuring fondue and offering a wide variety of food and beverages, including required alcoholic beverages, under the “Melting Pot” trade name and business system.
Training Overview: Before the restaurant’s opening, all franchisees must meet the minimum requirements for management personnel and satisfactorily complete the training indicated by the franchisor. No restaurant may open until the minimum requirements as stated in the FDD are met. The franchisor provides initial training for up to four individuals without charging an additional training fee. Training is offered multiple times throughout the year both in the franchisor’s offices in Tampa, Florida as well as franchisor and franchise-owned restaurants. The franchisor may require franchisees and/or any or all of their management personnel to attend periodic refresher training courses, conferences, seminars, meetings or events the franchisor provides from time to time and pay the applicable fees. In addition, the franchisor may require franchisees and one manager the franchisee designates to participate and satisfactorily complete any and all new and/or revised training programs and management criteria that the franchisor implements from time to time.

Territory Granted: The franchise is granted for a specific territory as identified in the Franchise Agreement. The territory must be approved by the franchisor. The territory is exclusive. The franchisor grants franchisees the exclusive right to operate a The Melting Pot restaurant and to use The Melting Pot system at that restaurant within the territory. The territory will be defined based upon the total population, as determined by the franchisor’s then current third-party vendor demographics software, within the entire geographical area within the entire geographical area within a circle with a radius of 10 miles (diameter of 20 miles) and its center located at the designated location (the circle may be smaller depending on the population of the area).

Obligations and Restrictions: If franchisees are a corporation, limited liability company or partnership (a business entity), (a) one of their owners must maintain a controlling ownership interest in the business entity with authority to make operational decisions that are binding on them, (b) the controlling owner must directly supervise the restaurant, and (c) the franchisor may designate which one of the owners must maintain a controlling interest in the business entity based on the franchisor’s assessment on the character, skill, aptitude, business ability and financial capacity of the owners, and (d) the owners may not divide their ownership interest in a manner which may lead to deadlock. The franchisor may require franchisees (or their majority shareholder, majority owner or approved managing partner) to devote a minimum number of hours each week, including a minimum number of hours during the restaurant’s regular business hours, as determined by the franchisor in its sole discretion. Franchisees must offer for sale all products, and perform all services, that the franchisor requires periodically for The Melting Pot restaurants. Franchisees may not offer for sale from the premises, by mail, Internet or otherwise, any products or perform any services that have not been authorized.

Term of Agreement and Renewal: The length of the initial franchise term is 10 years (expires on the earlier of: (1) last day of the month which includes the 10th anniversary of the date of the opening of the restaurant to the public; or (2) the 11th anniversary of the date on which the Franchise Agreement was signed by the franchisor). If franchisees are in good standing, they can obtain a successor franchise on the then current terms for a successive 10-year term.

Financial Assistance: The franchisor does not offer direct or indirect financing. The franchisor does not guarantee a franchisee’s note, lease or obligation. The franchisor participates in the IFA’s VetFran and DiversityFran programs, which provide financial incentives to qualified veterans and minorities to help them acquire franchised businesses.

Estimated Initial Investment

Name of Fee	Low	High
Initial Franchise Fee	$36,000	$45,000
Real Estate Services Fee	$2,500	$2,500
Extensions for Securing Site or Opening Restaurant	$0	$12,000
Real Estate (Rent - First 3 months)	$28,500	$81,250
Security Deposit	$0	$22,916
Leasehold Improvements	$830,000	$1,385,562
Computer and Point of Sales Hardware/Software	$25,000	$32,000
Computer Software Installation and Training; First Year Subscription	$8,900	$15,000
Gift Card Processing, Website Development/Enhancement Fee and Customer Survey Services (3 months)	$677	$747
Restaurant Equipment, Furniture, Fixtures and Signage	$438,826	$732,000
Utility Deposits	$4,000	$6,000
Opening Inventory and Supplies	$60,000	$70,000
Grand Opening Advertising	$15,000	$20,000
Training Expenses	$90,000	$170,000
Permits, Licenses – Alcoholic Beverages, Business and Health	$6,000	$10,000
Insurance (3 months)	$750	$1,500
Legal	$2,000	$3,000
Accounting Firm (3 months)	$2,100	$2,500
Reservation System (3 months)	$1,875	$3,625
Additional Funds (3 months)	$65,000	$125,000
ESTIMATED TOTAL	$1,617,128	$2,740,600

Other Fees

Type of Fee	Amount
Royalty and Service Fee	5% of monthly gross revenues.
Brand Development Contribution	Up to 3% of gross revenues (currently 2.2%).
Local Advertising	Up to 3% of gross revenues (currently 1.3% of gross revenues). (Note: The total of the brand development contribution and local advertising may not exceed 4.5%.)
Standards Re-Training Course	$2,000 per person, plus expenses.
Additional, Refresher or UMELT Melting Pot LEAD	Fees range from $400 to $2,000 per person, plus expenses.
Learning & Communication Fee	Approximately $500 per restaurant per year for the e-learning subscription, plus estimated design and content development fees between $75 and $1,800 per year per restaurant.
Additional Assistance	Currently $300 per day, plus expenses.
Extension Fee	Fees range from $4,000 to $8,000.
Transfer of Franchise	$7,500, plus additional assistance expenses for training, if incurred; however, transfer fee is reduced to $3,750 if transfer is to an existing franchisee.
Successor Franchise Fee	1/2 of the then-current initial franchise fee.
Audit	Fee equal to cost of inspection or audit, including any charges of independent accountants, travel expenses and per diem personnel charges.
Evaluation Fee	Fee equal to the franchisor’s costs and expenses, including travel expenses and per diem personnel charges.
Interest and Late Fees	Lesser of 1.5% per month or highest contract rate of interest allowed by law, plus a late payment fee of 5% of the amount due.
Compliance Fee	$100 to $1,500 per violation of the Franchise Agreement.
Management Fee	Will vary under circumstances.
Costs and Attorneys' Fees	Will vary under circumstances.
Indemnification	Will vary under circumstances.
Testing	Cost of testing.
Relocation Training Fee	$1,800 per trainer (not to exceed a total of $20,000).
Construction & Design Relocation Fee	Up to $10,000 (currently $5,000).
Hosting Services	To be determined; not yet charged.
Website Enhancements/ Integration (WEI) Fee	$150 per month.
Gift Card Systems Fee	Currently $10 per month, plus 10 cents for each transaction, per location.
Customer Comments Software (InMoment)	$12.50 per month.
Technology and User Fee	Up to 1% of gross revenues (not currently charged), not to exceed a maximum contribution of $20,000 per restaurant per calendar year.

The above information has been compiled from the FDD of The Melting Pot. Year of FDD: 2025.
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