# Dog Haus vs Capriotti's

Dog Haus and Capriotti's sit next to each other because the question is usually the same: if you are choosing between two concepts this week, which filing facts actually differ?

| Field | Dog Haus | Capriotti's |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What it is | Craft hot dogs and sausages | Submarine sandwiches |
| Category | Hot dogs & sausages | Sandwiches |
| US offering | Yes | Yes |
| Headquarters | Pasadena, CA | Las Vegas, NV |
| Founded | 2010 | 1976 |
| Franchising since | 2013 | 1991 |
| Units | 58 (2024) | 145 (2024) |
| Franchised / company | 58 / 0 | 135 / 10 |
| Typical size | — | — |
| Total investment | $357,437–$625,800 | $417,100–$748,500 |
| Initial franchise fee | $40,000 | $40,000 |
| Royalty | 6%, or 4% for a ghost kitchen | 6–7% |
| Brand fund | 2% | 2%, rising to as much as 4% |
| Local advertising | Not required | 1.5% |
| Total ongoing fee | 8% | 9.5% |
| Initial term | 10 years | 10 years |
| Territory | Half-mile to five-mile radius, set from demographics, population, income and age | No protected area |
| Item 19 FPR | Yes | Yes |
| Training hours | 142 | 325 |
| Item 21, most recent result | $2,344,415 (FY2023) | ($4,368,938) (FY2022) |
| Auditor's opinion | Unmodified | Unmodified |
| Source | May 2024 comparative study of published FDDs | May 2024 comparative study of published FDDs |

These two systems began franchising twenty-two years apart, and both rows were read out of the same May 2024 comparative study of published FDDs. Capriotti's has been franchising since 1991 from a 1976 founding and shows 145 units in the 2024 count, 135 franchised and 10 company. Dog Haus has been franchising since 2013 from a 2010 founding and shows 58 units in the same count, all franchised and none company-operated. Someone looking at counter-service formats built around one signature product, in comparable in-line boxes and a comparable capital band, will see both packets. The maturity gap is the first thing the columns are actually telling them.

## What the ownership split says about each franchisor

Ten company stores inside 145 units is a small operating presence maintained across three decades of franchising. Zero company stores inside 58 is a different proposition: the Dog Haus franchisor runs no stores of its own, so there is no company unit to visit, no in-house P&L behind the model, and no franchisor-run store against which a franchisee's operating numbers can be sanity-checked. Those are different diligence problems.

With Capriotti's the useful question is what those ten company stores are for — training, testing, legacy locations — and whether the franchisor competes with franchisees anywhere. With Dog Haus the useful question is who at the franchisor has run a store recently, and how field support is staffed when nobody in the organisation carries an operating P&L. Both are answered on the Item 20 lists, not in the table, and both lists are long enough for that to work. 135 franchised outlets and 58 franchised outlets support a real calling programme, which distinguishes this pair from the six- and seven-unit systems elsewhere on the table.

## Two overlapping Item 7 ranges and no way to see inside either

Dog Haus discloses $357,437–$625,800. Capriotti's discloses $417,100–$748,500. The ranges overlap through most of their length, with Capriotti's sitting higher at both ends. Neither row publishes a square footage, and neither has Item 7 line items here, so the reason Capriotti's project prices higher is not visible here — it could be footprint, equipment, build standard, or the grand opening obligation, which is $30,000 at Capriotti's against $20,000–$25,000 at Dog Haus. Initial franchise fees are $40,000 on both sides.

For a buyer this is a narrow and answerable request: both current filings' Item 7 tables, with footnotes, and the franchisor's own view of which lines a landlord might cover. Two totals separated by roughly the width of a construction bucket cannot be interpreted without the buckets.

## The technology fee is where the fee stacks stop being comparable

Ranked, Capriotti's is 9.5% and Dog Haus is 8%. Then the disclosures diverge in a way percentages hide. Capriotti's is 6% royalty, disclosed as 6–7%, plus a 2% brand fund with a right to rise to as much as 4%, plus 1.5% local advertising, plus a technology fee of 0.65% of gross sales that sits outside the ranked stack entirely. Dog Haus is 6% royalty, or 4% for a ghost kitchen, plus a 2% marketing, creative and technology fee that may rise to 3.5%, with no required local spend and a separate technology development fee of $5,000 a year.

Both brands therefore charge for technology, and they charge for it in opposite shapes. Capriotti's takes a percentage, which grows with the store. Dog Haus takes a fixed annual amount, which is a heavier share of a quieter store's sales and a lighter one of a busy store's, and which appears in no percentage comparison anywhere. Neither is a better deal in the abstract. What you can do is make sure both fees are in your own operating model with their own assumptions, and ask each franchisor what the fee buys, what happens when the platform changes, and whether either rate has moved since the study year.

Read at their disclosed ceilings, the gap widens: 7% royalty plus a 4% brand fund plus 1.5% local plus 0.65% technology on the Capriotti's side, against 6% plus 3.5% plus the fixed annual fee on the Dog Haus side. A model built on today's rates is built on the floor of one column.

## Territory and exit run in opposite directions

Capriotti's discloses no protected area. Dog Haus discloses a half-mile to five-mile radius set from demographics, population, income and age. For a buyer whose plan depends on owning a trade area rather than holding a good corner, that is the most consequential line in this comparison, and it should be read against the franchisor's actual development plans for the market.

Term and renewal then reverse the pattern. Dog Haus discloses successive ten-year terms with a $5,000 renewal fee; Capriotti's discloses a ten-year term with one ten-year option and a $10,000 renewal fee. Transfers cost a flat $17,500 at Dog Haus, against the greater of $10,000 or 5% of the sale price capped at $20,000 at Capriotti's — so a small sale is cheaper to execute at Capriotti's and a large one is capped close to the Dog Haus figure. Training is the last large gap: 55 classroom and 270 on-the-job hours at Capriotti's against 40 and 102 at Dog Haus, which is a difference in the size of the programme a new owner and their first manager have to attend.

Both rows make a financial performance representation and neither carries a described population here, which means both require the same next step and neither supports a number yet. The [hot dogs and sausage essay](/hot-dogs-and-sausage/) covers one of these categories; the comparison itself decides nothing about which counter belongs on your site.


This is a filing comparison, not a recommendation. Neither column is a winner. Read the full cards: [Dog Haus](/franchises/dog-haus/) and [Capriotti's](/franchises/capriottis/).

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