Business. The way it ought to be.

OUR HISTORY

It all began way back in the seventies. Our founders, Pete and Laura Wakeman, were just a couple of college kids who baked amazing scratch-made whole grain bread to help pay their tuition at Cornell University. Newly married in 1975, the adventurous couple hiked the entire north-south length of Montana, falling in love with "Big Sky Country." So much so that they never left, establishing the first Great Harvest bakery in Great Falls, Montana in 1976.

Word spread fast about their uniquely flavorful bread made with pure and simple ingredients and wheat purchased from local farmers. It didn't take long before neighbors asked about starting up their own Great Harvest. In 1978, the Franchise was born and the second Great Harvest bakery opened in Kalispell, Montana.

Great Harvest began to grow from a Montana bakery into the nation's first family of independently-owned and operated whole grain bread bakeries and cafes. Though we’re no longer just a Montana bread company, our corporate headquarters remain in Dillon, Montana and we are true to our Montana roots.

The essence of Montana that charmed the Wakemans still influences the core of our corporate culture. Authenticity, a spirit of camaraderie and individuality remain the foundation of the organization. It turns out those values appeal to people in all 50 states. Today there are almost 200 locations across the United States and in Saipan.

Want to learn more?

Download Franchise Information

OUR RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

We believe our success comes from a strong commitment to uphold the legacy and integrity of the Great Harvest brand. Great Harvest is about customer experience and the promise of phenomenal tasting food made with freshly-milled whole grains and pure and simple ingredients. Insert

We create, share, and teach the tools that franchise owners use to personalize their local bakery cafes and achieve their unique goals within the context of the Great Harvest franchise agreements. To support the success of each local business owner, we teach and actively model the Mission Statement:

Be Loose and Have Fun.

Bake Phenomenal Bread.

Run Fast to Help Customers.

Create Strong & Exciting Bakeries.

And Give Generously to Others.®

: [MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR: The story starts before dawn with stone milled whole grain wheat. Add a little bit of honey. And boom, this just happened. That just happened. It happened this morning, and it will happen again tomorrow wherever there is an appetite for something real and something really good, which is pretty much everywhere. At Great Harvest, we believe in bread. And we believe that bread at its best makes everything around it better. So we decided early on that Great Harvest wouldn't be a chain. It would be a link to an old fashioned way of doing things that today feels very fresh, to bread, the way it ought to be. Every Great Harvest Bakery and Cafe is as unique as the community it serves. There is no cookie cutter recipe. There are, however, lots of cookies and handcrafted signature sandwiches, where what's on the top and bottom is as tasty as what's in between. Homemade soups and salads, and grain bowls, a killer coffee and espresso bar, and that unmistakable irresistible aroma of freshly baked breads. Their wheat berry is milled every morning on site from the grains of Montana's Golden Triangle. This is where the greatest wheat in the world comes from. And this is where it all comes together, every morning just before dawn at an old-fashioned neighborhood bakery and cafe, where good ingredients matter, where local flavor matters, where words like real and fresh still means something, and where the bread means everything. One bite and you'll believe in Great Harvest.

Bread. The way it ought to be.®

bags of wheat stacked on top of each other

GREAT HARVEST TODAY

Great Harvest has evolved from the bread bakeries that we opened in the 70’s and 80’s to the bakery cafes that we open today. But, one thing that has not changed and that is our commitment to freshly baked products, so fresh you can taste it! Today we specialize in authentic artisan breads, fresh ground whole grains, handcrafted goodies, freshly made sandwiches, biscuits, and more. Great Harvest’s bread is truly one of a kind. It’s simple, handmade, wholesome, and tasty. It’s Bread. The way it ought to be! ™

Our bakery cafes are centered around the communities they serve and are strengthened by our commitment to generosity.

: [MUSIC PLAYING]

WORDS DISPLAYED ON THE SCREEN:

Title: Not Just Your Mama's Bakery.
How does a 40-year old bakery franchise, known for baking bread by hand, with wheat milled fresh from the Golden Triangle of Montana become a bakery cafe?
The recipe is simple. You take over 50 varieties of handmade bread and serve up a whole lot of fresh made to order sandwiches, with soup, salad, and fresh baked cookies.
Give it a fresh new look and you add a lot of seats!
Southlake, TX, Johns Creek, GA, Fort Worth, TX, Loganville, GA.
Then, you welcome in a whole lot of new happy customers.
How do you expand your business and add a spoke to your bakery cafe hub? Travel down the road 30 minutes and open an additional cafe. And you are on your way to growth.
greatharvest.com/franchise

MULTI-UNIT FRANCHISING

For the last few years, new stores have been opened as bakery cafes or cafes. Great Harvest bakery cafes may operate as standalone units in a market, or as “Hubs” in conjunction with additional cafes operating as “Spokes.” Hubs are full bakery cafes with seating for 35 - 40 people and have all the handmade bread production on-site.

Spokes operate as cafes; they have fresh bread supplied by the Hub daily and should be located within 40 minutes of a Hub. Their menu is the same as their Hub; they bake items on-site like cookies, biscuits, scones, etc., to maintain the aroma of a bakery.

Great Harvest hub and spoke model diagram that depicts two store hubs linking to three cafe spokes

DON’T JUST OWN A STORE, OWN A TERRITORY.

Great Harvest makes it easy to own your territory. Although we have four decades of franchising under our belt and nearly 200 stores across the country, we have only recently begun awarding franchise contracts to multi-unit owners. That’s great news for you because we still have many territories available! You get more value when you invest with Great Harvest, and you can take your pick of desirable territories.

Stake your claim on our significant open territory. We can create custom territory maps for your area of interest; give us a call or make your request here.

You can own three Great Harvest bakery cafes $65,000 in franchise fees. Fees are discounted for additional stores. Get additional investment detail here.

Territory Size	1st Store	2nd Store*	3rd Store*	Total
50,000 people	$35,000	$15,000	$15,000	$65,000

^{*Terms and conditions apply.}

OUR NUMBERS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES

Explore the numbers associated with opening Great Harvest Hubs & Spokes:

	Single Site Bakery Cafe	Bakery Cafe Hub	Cafe Spoke	New Hub & Spoke
Avg. Unit Volume	$907,502*	$1,144,419***	$547,902***	$1,692,321****
Avg. Margin of EBITDA	15.30%**	NA	NA	16.95%****
Sq. Ft. Build Targeted	2400	2500	1700	NA
Target Cost to Build	$529,113*****	$529,133*****	$107,628*****	NA

^{View footnotes for disclaimers}

Walk the Steps to Bakery Cafe Ownership with Great Harvest:

Step 1

Research Great Harvest

Step 2

Submit An Application

Step 3

Get To Know Each Other

Step 4

Training & Support

Footnotes for financial chart above:

* Based upon 2023 sales for 22 single site bakery cafe locations as disclosed in item 19, Chart 1, of our 3/25/2024 FDD. Of these 32, 14, or 44%, exceeded the average unit volume.

** Based upon 32 single site cafe locations that provided their 2022 income statements, as disclosed in item 19, Chart 5, of our 3/25/2024 FDD. Of these 23, 8, or 35%, exceeded the average EBITDA Margin.

*** Bakery Cafe Hub and Cafe Spoke 2023 sales based on 7 locations each as disclosed in item 19, Chart 2 of our 3/25/2024 FDD. Of this total of 7 hubs, 3, or 43%, exceeded the average unit volume of $1,144,419. Of this total of 7 spokes, 3, or 43%, exceeded the average unit volume of $547,902.

****^{In 2022, there were 10 new concept bakery cafes consisting of 5 sets of 1 bread-baking (hub) location with 1 non-bread-baking (spoke) location each. Of these 5 sets, (i) 2, or 40%, exceeded the average sales volume of the 5 sets of $1,728,957, (ii) 2, or 40%, exceeded the average variable costs of the 5 sets of $1,307,491, (iii) 3, or 60%, exceeded the average fixed costs of the 5 sets of $234,027, (iv) 3, or 60%, exceeded the average total operating expenses of the 5 sets of $1,435,856, (v) 2, or 40%, exceeded the average net operating income (profitability in dollars) of $293,101, and (vi) 3, or 60%, exceeded the average net operating income (profitability as a percentage of sales) of 16.95%.}

There is no assurance that you will do as well and you must accept that risk. This offering is made by prospectus only.

*****Based upon Item 7 of our 3/25/2024 FDD

Disclaimer:

This information is not intended as an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy a franchise. It is for informational purposes only.

Currently, the following states regulate the offer and sale of franchises:

California, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

If you are a resident of, or wish to acquire a franchise to be operated in one of these states, we will offer you a franchise only after we have complied with applicable pre-sale registration and disclosure requirements in your jurisdiction. We are accepting applications from all states.

Have questions about owning a franchise? Call 406-683-6842.

Ready to get started?

Apply Online Here