The strongest official benchmark is $94,115 of 2024 “Franchisee Adjusted EBITDA” for a standard The Human Bean drive-through. The $75,000–$113,000 range is an independent sensitivity band around that Item 19 figure. It is a pre-tax operating-earnings proxy, not guaranteed take-home pay. An owner who replaces the paid store manager may have total estimated owner-operator benefit of about $138,000–$176,000, but roughly $63,040 of that amount represents the market value of the owner’s labor rather than passive business profit.
The $75,000–$113,000 manager-run range and the $138,000–$176,000 owner-operator benefit range are independent analytical scenarios, not an Item 19 financial performance representation by Casey Hawkins, Inc. They combine identified FDD facts with an explicit 80%–120% sensitivity spread and a separately sourced U.S. manager-wage benchmark. Actual results can differ materially by location, drive-through design, sales, product mix, labor, occupancy, financing, owner involvement, local advertising, and execution.
Data basis. Legal franchisor: Casey Hawkins, Inc., an Oregon corporation. Document: The Human Bean 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, issued March 5, 2025 and amended February 18, 2026. Item 19 reports 2024 sales for 140 franchised standard drive-through outlets and expense data for 11 affiliate-owned standard drive-through outlets. The franchisor then estimates franchised-unit Adjusted EBITDA by subtracting an estimated cost-of-goods differential from affiliate average EBITDA. Manager labor value uses the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2024 median for food service managers in food services and drinking places. Evidence checked July 19, 2026. The official U.S. franchise site is available at The Human Bean franchise website.
What does Item 19 actually say an owner may earn?
Item 19’s central earnings measure is $94,115 in “Franchisee Adjusted EBITDA” for 2024. This is an official disclosure, but it is not actual average net income reported by franchisees. It is the franchisor’s estimate based on average EBITDA from 11 affiliate-owned drive-throughs, reduced by an estimated $18,877 cost disadvantage for franchised outlets.
The exact FDD term matters. EBITDA is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. The disclosure also excludes owner income and owner expenses, bookkeeping, payroll and accounting costs, and affiliate district-manager expense. The number therefore sits above personal taxes, debt costs, financing principal, replacement capital expenditures, and several owner-level administrative costs.
The disclosure provides a same-brand earnings metric and a reproducible calculation, but the franchised-unit EBITDA is estimated from affiliate expenses rather than collected from the 140 franchised outlets. The cost cohort is only 11 affiliate stores, all in Oregon, and the FDD supplies no franchised-unit EBITDA median or quartiles.
Item 19 starts with affiliate average EBITDA and subtracts the franchisor’s estimated franchisee cost differential.
Interpretation: the $94,115 measure is official Item 19 evidence, but its expense base comes from affiliate stores and its franchisee adjustment addresses specified product and shipping cost differences—not every possible difference between affiliate and franchised operations.
Source: The Human Bean 2025 FDD, Item 19, pp. 44–47. Values rounded to the nearest dollar for display.
The Item 19 average franchisee sales figure of $847,648 and median of $799,586 measure gross sales, not owner income. The Federal Trade Commission cautions that gross sales can look strong while overhead and other expenses produce much lower profit. See the FTC guide to evaluating franchise earnings claims.
How wide is a reasonable annual earnings range?
A defensible planning band is about $75,000 to $113,000 for a manager-run standard drive-through, centered on the official $94,115 Adjusted EBITDA estimate. This is estimated, not an Item 19 distribution. Because the FDD gives no franchisee EBITDA median, quartiles, or range, the conservative and upside cases use an explicit 80% and 120% sensitivity around the disclosed central figure.
What assumptions create the three scenarios?
The scenario inputs apply to one mature standard drive-through for a full year and are deliberately simple so they can be reproduced.
- Conservative: 80% of $94,115 = $75,292, shown as $75,000.
- Base: the official Item 19 Franchisee Adjusted EBITDA estimate of $94,115, shown as $94,000.
- Upside: 120% of $94,115 = $112,938, shown as $113,000.
- Manager-run treatment: normal store-manager payroll remains inside operating expenses, consistent with the Item 19 affiliate payroll data.
- Excluded from take-home: personal income tax, financing principal, interest, replacement capital expenditures, and omitted owner-level administrative expenses.
| Scenario | Manager-run earnings proxy | Owner-operator benefit | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | $75,000 | $138,000 | Lower sensitivity around the official Adjusted EBITDA benchmark. |
| Base | $94,000 | $157,000 | Official central measure plus manager labor value for the active-owner case. |
| Upside | $113,000 | $176,000 | Upper sensitivity; not a reported Item 19 quartile or probability. |
The owner-operator values add a $63,040 national food-service-manager wage benchmark to the manager-run residual.
Interpretation: active ownership can increase total economic benefit because the owner performs management work that otherwise requires payroll. The added amount is labor compensation, not passive profit, and the actual avoided payroll cost depends on local wages, bonuses, payroll taxes, benefits, and whether backup management remains necessary.
Sources: The Human Bean 2025 FDD, Item 19, pp. 44–47 and Item 15, p. 36; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Food Service Managers, May 2024 wage data. Scenario figures rounded to the nearest $1,000.
The FDD’s actual affiliate-owned store results were much wider than the planning band: 2024 EBITDA ranged from $23,787 to $223,888 among 11 affiliate stores. Those are not franchised-unit results, and the FDD does not disclose the corresponding franchisee EBITDA distribution. The planning band is therefore useful for sensitivity analysis, not as a boundary on possible outcomes.
How does owner involvement change the economics?
The Human Bean permits manager-run operation, but owner involvement changes whether management payroll remains an expense or becomes compensation for the owner’s labor. This answer is partly official and partly estimated. Item 15 says the owner is not required to participate personally in direct operation, though the franchisor recommends it; the outlet must remain under the owner’s direct supervision or that of a designated manager.
Item 19 states that affiliate payroll includes an hourly store manager. When an owner does not delegate those functions, the FDD says payroll expense should fall by the manager’s wages and bonus, payroll taxes, and other employee-related expense. The scenario model adds only the BLS median wage of $63,040 for food service managers in food services and drinking places. It does not add payroll taxes, benefits, or bonus, and it does not assume the full management position can always be eliminated.
Which costs are already inside the number—and which are not?
The $94,115 Adjusted EBITDA estimate includes the affiliate operating-cost categories shown in Item 19 and the franchisor’s estimated franchisee product-cost differential, but it does not equal cash after every obligation. This treatment is official for the disclosed metric; the interpretation of owner cash is uncertain because several costs are omitted or vary by buyer.
Items 6 and 8 state that the franchisor does not charge a sales royalty but earns revenue through the supply chain. Item 8 estimates required purchases will represent 36%–49% of total operating cost after opening. That percentage is a share of operating cost, not a share of sales. The official The Human Bean franchise fee FAQ also confirms the no-royalty structure and 1% Brand Fund contribution.
The Item 7 initial investment of $582,090–$1,298,903 is not subtracted from one year of sales in this earnings analysis. Startup investment and annual operating earnings are different measures. Debt service would reduce owner cash separately, and Item 10 states that the franchisor does not offer financing.
How reliable is the owner-earnings estimate?
The estimate is useful as a same-brand operating benchmark, but it is not a precise forecast for a new buyer. The answer is uncertain because the earnings calculation blends 11 affiliate cost statements with 140 franchised sales records, excludes several owner-level costs, and reports no franchisee EBITDA distribution.
The 11 affiliate drive-throughs were open throughout 2024; one affiliate store closed for renovations for more than 40 days and was excluded. The 140 franchised drive-throughs also operated throughout 2024. The FDD excluded 22 franchised locations opened during the year, two locations that closed, one transferred outlet closed for about four months, and one non-drive-through outlet with a nonstandard layout. These exclusions make the sample more comparable, but they also remove ramp-up and closure experience that can matter to a buyer.
Item 20 reports 176 franchised outlets and 12 affiliate-owned outlets at December 31, 2025, with 14 franchised openings and three franchised outlets ceasing operations during 2025. As of February 12, 2026, the system reported 190 outlets. System growth does not prove unit profitability, but it affects how representative an older mature-store cohort may be.
The brand’s current official “Success By the Numbers” page lists calendar-year 2025 AUV of $819,149 and median sales of $787,889, with 77 stores above and 90 below the AUV. That page supplies newer sales context but no matched expense or EBITDA table. This article therefore does not apply the 2024 Item 19 margin to the 2025 sales figure or treat the newer AUV as owner earnings.
The FTC recommends testing whether an earnings claim is typical, reviewing its sample and assumptions, and requesting written substantiation. The franchisor’s Item 19 states that written substantiation is available on reasonable request. The FTC franchise buyer guidance also notes that company-owned or affiliate data may reflect different purchasing, property, or operating economics.
What should a buyer verify before relying on the range?
A buyer should treat $75,000–$113,000 as an underwriting starting point and replace every uncertain input with location-specific evidence. The range is estimated for a mature standard drive-through and should not be transferred to a new store, a nonstandard format, or a multi-unit portfolio without separate analysis.
- Request the current Item 19 and its written substantiation, including the affiliate profit-and-loss definitions and the calculation of the $18,877 franchisee cost differential.
- Ask current franchisees for annual sales, manager payroll, total labor burden, occupancy, card fees, maintenance, local advertising, bookkeeping, insurance, and recurring technology costs.
- Separate mature-store performance from opening-year ramp-up, and ask how the excluded 2024 openings and closures performed.
- Confirm whether the proposed owner will work full time, supervise a manager, or hire additional management, then price that labor using local wage and bonus data.
- Model interest, financing principal, replacement equipment, building maintenance, and required reserves separately from EBITDA.
- Compare the proposed site’s traffic, access, drive-through configuration, rent, wage market, and product-delivery costs with the Oregon affiliate cohort.
- For multi-unit development, model each opening date, manager structure, shared overhead, and ramp-up independently rather than multiplying one unit’s result.
What is the strongest defensible takeaway?
The strongest defensible manager-run range is approximately $75,000–$113,000 per mature standard drive-through before personal taxes and financing effects, centered on the official $94,115 Franchisee Adjusted EBITDA estimate. The range is scenario-based; the central figure is official Item 19 evidence, while the lower and upper values are analytical sensitivity cases.
The most important earnings driver is the combination of sales volume and labor execution. Owner involvement can add substantial total benefit when the owner genuinely replaces a paid manager, but that increment is compensation for work. The largest unresolved uncertainty is that the FDD does not report actual franchisee EBITDA, net income, or owner compensation across the 140-unit sales cohort. Before making a decision, a buyer should verify the current Item 19, obtain written substantiation, and test the model against current and former franchisee interviews using the proposed site’s rent, wages, supply costs, debt structure, and owner-role plan.