Is Aldi a Franchise?

Aldi is not a franchise. A private company owns the store, so you can’t buy the rights to operate under the company name. You also can’t buy Aldi stocks since they’re not listed on any Stock Exchange. We explain more on that in our post about Lidl’s stocks.

Whether Aldi plans to take its stocks private and offer franchising opportunities in the future is unknown to us. Keep reading, and you’ll learn what makes Aldi a private company and understand why it can’t run its franchises.

What is Aldi, and who owns it?

Aldi is a large chain of discount supermarkets that operate under its parent company, ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. is a German-owned company run by billionaire heirs Theo and Karl Albrecht. 

Entrance view of Aldi supermarket

The brothers inherited the Aldi store from their mother in 1913 and revamped the store in 1954 as Aldi, meaning Albrecht Discounts. In 1966, Theo and Karl split ownership of the store and renamed it Aldi Nord (for the northern regions of Europe) and Aldi Sud (for the Southern regions of Europe).

Is Aldi a franchise that you can buy into?

Since a private company owns Aldi, you can’t buy its franchises or stocks. It’s also a family company, so the Albrechts will keep hold of it for a long time. 

It’s hard to imagine anyone else would be able to share the store’s vision. Aldi is one of the cheapest grocery stores worldwide. Its low-cost model has sustained thousands of customers, which is why they love it.

Because of these factors, investors looking for profitable ventures like Aldi would have to look elsewhere. Stores like 7-Eleven are part of Aldi’s top competition. They have similar business models, and with $50,000 to $150,000, you can start up your franchise.

Alternatives to running an Aldi franchise

As aforementioned, you can look into other prospects like 7-Eleven. 7-Eleven’s franchise opportunity offers financial discounts and support to its investors. You will have access to a fully built store, unlike other partnerships where you might be required to build your store on your own. 

You can also make a profit by becoming an Aldi supplier. Aldi has a small product range compared to big names like Walmart. So you can help the store provide a robust variety to customers by becoming a supplier.

If you’d rather work for the store behind the scenes of its operation, you can apply for a management position. The store is privately owned, but that doesn’t mean it won’t hire staff outside the family. You’ll be in charge of making major decisions for the store, such as handling product orders and communications.

Even better, you can run your own grocery store. It may sound scary, but we’ve left some tips for a successful grocery store for you.


In this post, we’ve answered the question, “is Aldi a franchise?”. If you’d like to learn more about Aldi, we recommend checking out our recent posts below: