Start a Lean Kitchen Company Franchise in 2025

Franchise 500 Rank: N/R Not ranked last year

Initial investment: $151K - $472K

Units as of 2025: 28 9% over 3 years

Lean Kitchen Company is a miscellaneous food and beverage business that is headquartered in St. Joseph, Missouri. It was founded in 2016 and has been offering franchising services since 2018. Lean Kitchen Company has opened over 20 locations throughout the United States.

Not many people prefer being in the kitchen for hours on end to prepare meals. That's where Lean Kitchen Company comes in, saving its customers both time and money by preparing fresh and high-quality balanced meals. Meals from Lean Kitchen Company may help the body meet its desired nutrients while supporting customers to achieve their overall health goals.

The company advocates eating with purpose by prepping a balanced diet of lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, and fibrous vegetables. Lean Kitchen Company offers several services: breakfast and brunch catering, buffet catering, vegan options, diner catering, gluten-free options, holiday catering, and more.

Why You May Want to Start a Lean Kitchen Company Franchise

As a potential franchisee of Lean Kitchen Company, you should be outgoing, self-driven, and have team leadership skills. Experience and a passion for nutrition and fitness is an advantage for the ideal Lean Kitchen Company franchise candidate. Additionally, the brand expects that franchisees adhere to high hygiene standards.

Opening a Lean Kitchen Company franchise may offer a more predictable outcome than investing in a completely new brand that may struggle to thrive in an already crowded and competitive industry.

What Might Make a Lean Kitchen Company Franchise a Good Choice?

With a background in professional sport and sports nutrition, the founders of Lean Kitchen Company desired to provide a quality guaranteed eatery that can help customers achieve a healthy lifestyle while enjoying delicious meals. Lean Kitchen Company makes the highest quality meals, using fresh ingredients with no added preservatives, colors, sugars, or flavors to their dishes. Additionally, absentee ownership is allowed. However, a franchisee is expected to manage daily operations, hire trained professionals, and ensure customer satisfaction.

To be part of the Lean Kitchen Company team, you should make sure you're financially ready for an initial investment made up of a franchise fee and other startup costs. You should also prepare yourself for ongoing fees that will include advertising, royalty, or renewal fees. Franchisees will also need to meet the company's set liquid capital requirements.

Lean Kitchen Company has partnered with third-party financial lenders that may help cover the costs of the franchise fee, startup, equipment, and inventory.

How To Open a Lean Kitchen Company Franchise

Before opening a Lean Kitchen Company franchise, the company provides many hours of on-the-job training and more than a few hours of classroom training. They supervise the planning and building stages while offering guidance in the development process of a franchisee's first location. A potential franchisee will also be given market support throughout the entire development period.

Before making any financial commitment or signing an agreement, you must perform your due diligence and establish if this is the right opportunity for you. As part of your due diligence, you may want to speak to existing franchisees and ask the Lean Kitchen Company franchising team questions.

Company Overview

About Lean Kitchen Company

Industry	Food
Related Categories	Miscellaneous Food/Beverage Businesses, Meal Prep/Delivery
Founded	2016
Parent Company	Lean Kitchen Enterprises
Leadership	Austin Evans, CEO
Corporate Address	1331 S. Belt Hwy. St. Joseph, MO 64507
Social	Facebook, Instagram, YouTube

Business Overview

Franchising Since	2018 (7 years)
# of employees at HQ	8
Where seeking	This company is offering new franchises throughout the US.
# of Units	28 (as of 2025)

Information for Franchisees

Here's what you need to know if you're interested in opening a Lean Kitchen Company franchise.

Financial Requirements & Ongoing Fees

Here's what you can expect to spend to start the business and what ongoing fees the franchisor charges throughout the life of the business.

Initial Franchise Fee Definition: The initial fee paid to a franchisor to join their system What you need to know: Found in Item 5 of the FDD, this may be a flat fee, or may vary based on territory size, experience, or other factors.The franchise fee is an up-front (one-time) cost that a new franchisee pays to the franchisor. This fee is usually due at the signing of the franchise agreement and covers the right to use the franchisor's trademarks, name, and related business systems.	$40,000
Initial Investment Definition: The total amount necessary to begin operation of the franchise What you need to know: The initial investment includes the franchise fee, along with other startup expenses such as real estate, equipment, supplies, business licenses, and working capital. This is outlined in a chart in Item 7 of the FDD, showing a range of possible costs from low to high.	$151,450 - $472,250
Net Worth Requirement Definition: The minimum net worth you must have in order to qualify to become a franchisee of this company What you need to know: Net worth is the value of a person's assets minus liabilities. Assets include cash, stocks, retirement accounts, and real estate. Liabilities include items like mortgages, car payments, and credit card debt.	$250,000
Cash Requirement Definition: The minimum liquid capital you must have available in order to qualify to become a franchisee of this company.	$75,000
Royalty Fee Definition: A ongoing fee paid to the franchisor on a regular basis. What you need to know: Most franchisors require franchisees to pay an ongoing royalty fee, which is detailed in Item 6 of the FDD. This fee is typically a percentage of weekly or monthly gross sales, but may also be a flat weekly, monthly, or annual fee.	6%
Ad Royalty Fee Definition: An going fee paid to the franchisor on a regular basis to support advertising or marketing efforts. What you need to know: This may also be called advertising fee, marketing fee, brand fund fee, and more, but the basic purpose is the same-- to support promotion of the brand systemwide. As with the royalty fee, it is detailed in Item 6 of the FDD, and can be a percentage of weekly or monthly gross sales or a weekly, monthly, or annual fee.	3%
Term of Agreement Definition: The length of time your franchise agreement will last. What you need to know: Franchise terms are typically anywhere from 5 to 20 years in length, but are sometimes instead dependent on factors such as the term of your lease. Once your term is up, you may have the option to renew your agreement, typically for a smaller fee than the original franchise fee.	10 years
Is franchise term renewable?	Yes

Financing Options

Some franchisors offer in-house financing, while others have relationships with third-party financing sources to which they refer qualified franchisees.

Third Party Financing	Lean Kitchen Company has relationships with third-party sources which offer financing to cover the following: franchise fee, startup costs, equipment, inventory

Training & Support Offered

Franchisors offer initial training programs and a variety of ongoing support options to help franchisees run their businesses.

On-The-Job Training	44 hours
Classroom Training	8 hours
Ongoing Support	Purchasing Co-ops Newsletter Meetings & Conventions Grand Opening Security & Safety Procedures Lease Negotiation Field Operations Site Selection
Marketing Support	Co-op Advertising Ad Templates Regional Advertising Social Media SEO Website Development Email Marketing Loyalty Program/App

Operations

Additional details about running this franchise.

Is absentee ownership allowed?	No
Can this franchise be run from home/mobile unit? Definition: The business can be run from your home and/or a vehicle, and it is not necessary to have a retail facility, office space, or warehouse.	No
Can this franchise be run part time? Definition: This business can be run by the owner on a part-time basis (less than 40 hours per week) and/or as a side business; it is not necessary for the business to be open/run full-time.	Yes
# of employees required to run	6
Are exclusive territories available? Definition: An exclusive territory is a fixed area in which you are given the right to operate and in which no other units of the same franchise may be opened. What you need to know: Territory size may be based on factors such as radius, population size, zip codes, and more. Details can be found in Item 12 of the FDD.	Yes