238 franchisors disclose a veteran discount in FDD Item 5. The real amounts by capital tier, from Cruise Planners to Midas, and where it stops mattering.
Quick answer 238 franchisors disclose a VetFran or veteran discount in Item 5 of their FDD, and 220 of them state a specific figure. Typical terms run 10% to 25% off the initial franchise fee, with outliers at 50% (FASTSIGNS, Jani-King of Buffalo) and full waivers (Midas, Checkers). Below $100K the discount moves the deal. Above $300K it rarely does.
Jani-King of Milwaukee discloses a 10% veteran discount off its initial franchise fee. Jani-King of Buffalo, Green Bay, and Hartford, a separate regional franchisor selling the identical brand, discloses 50%. Same trucks, same operating manual, five times the discount, and the only place either figure appears is Item 5 of two different FDDs.
That gap is the argument for reading disclosures instead of directories. Across our library, 262 franchisors name VetFran somewhere in their FDD and 238 put it in Item 5, the initial-fee item. Of those 238, 220 state an actual figure: a percentage, a dollar amount, or an outright waiver. Competing veteran franchise lists cite the VetFran directory, which confirms only that a brand joined a program. Item 5 is the enforceable version.
What follows is sorted by capital, not by brand recognition, because the useful question is what a discount is worth against the money you actually have.
VetFran is an International Franchise Association program. A brand joins, self-reports an incentive, and appears in a listing. The IFA does not fund it, administer it, or enforce it. The franchisor does, on terms it writes itself, and those terms are disclosed in Item 5 alongside every other initial fee.
Three things there decide what you get. The first is the base the percentage applies to. Lawn Doctor charges a $118,000 total initial franchise fee, but its 10% veteran reduction covers only the $50,000 license portion, so the disclosed benefit is $5,000 rather than $11,800. The second is stacking. Pet Supplies Plus states its 20% veteran discount “may not be combined with any other Initial Franchise Fee discount,” and The UPS Store warns that its Believe Program discount “is not available if you qualify for the VetFran Program.” Assume you get one, not both. The third is ownership: nearly every disclosure requires the veteran to hold at least 51% of the franchisee entity and to produce a DD-214 before signing. If you plan to buy with a civilian partner who takes the majority stake, you have disqualified yourself. Our walkthrough of what Item 5 actually contains covers the rest.
Cruise Planners discloses a $4,000 discount for veterans and first responders against a $10,995 franchise fee, on an Item 7 total of $1,945 to $20,505. No other brand in the data comes close to that ratio. Its Item 19 reports a $148,605 median, but read the segment before you use it: the sample is 2,255 active outlets defined as franchised units with total sales of at least $25,000 in 2025 and at least 12 months in operation, so everything below that floor is excluded.
The American Poolplayers Association discloses 25% off a $10,000 fee, which is $2,500 against a $22,219 to $30,758 investment. Coverall discloses 10% off its $15,570 fee, roughly $1,557 on a build of $17,986 to $64,280. WIN Home Inspection’s 2026 FDD is unusually precise, stating the fee is “reduced by 10% to $18,900” from $21,000. Caring Transitions offers up to 10% of a $58,900 fee on a $75,760 to $123,150 investment, and its Item 19 shows a $222,918 median across 307 franchised units that operated the entire year.
Then the counterexample, in the same tier. RooterMan charges a $4,975 franchise fee and discounts it 10%, which is about $498 against an investment of $45,075 to $82,475. Heaven’s Best discloses a flat $1,000 off a $41,900 fee. Both terms are genuine. Neither belongs in a purchase decision. If you are new to ownership entirely, the fee break matters far less than the operating model, which is the case we make in our guide to franchises for first-time business owners.
ASP America’s Swimming Pool Company discloses 30% off both the franchise fee and the additional pool fee for honorably discharged veterans of American and Canadian forces. On a $40,000 fee that is $12,000, against an investment of $88,695 to $213,171, and Item 19 reports a $594,460 median across 127 franchised territories that ran the full 2025 fiscal year. That combination, a large percentage on a fee that is a meaningful share of a modest build, is the best version of this incentive anywhere in the dataset.
FASTSIGNS pays more in absolute dollars: “a reduced initial franchise fee of $24,875 to veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces who meet the requirements of the VetFran Program, a 50% discount.” Comfort Keepers discloses 20% off $55,000, so $11,000 on a $119,560 to $190,700 investment. British Swim School discloses 20% off a $59,500 fee. Budget Blinds prints the arithmetic for you, discounting 15% and stating that a qualifying veteran “will therefore pay a discounted Initial Franchise Fee of $16,958,” down from $19,950. Minuteman Press splits its term by deal type, $10,000 off a new center and $5,000 off an existing one, and reports a $559,528 Item 19 median across 609 US franchised centers.
The trade-skill transfer is real in this tier and it is worth naming. Pool service, sign fabrication, home inspection, and restoration all reward the same things military maintenance work rewards: scheduling, documentation, and finishing a job list. The veteran discount is a coincidence of where those brands cluster on price, not evidence that they suit you. Our franchise matcher filters on industry, capital, and Item 19 disclosure rather than incentive programs, which is the correct order of operations.
Midas waives the entire $35,000 initial franchise fee for veterans and first responders. That is the strongest disclosed term in the tier, and on a $385,450 to $940,050 investment it still comes to between 3.7% and 9.1% of the project.
Marco’s Pizza carries the most specific disclosure in the whole dataset. Veterans pay a $15,000 initial franchise fee instead of $25,000, and the fee is “waived in its entirety for qualified US veterans with a 50% or more military service-connected disability rating.” Club Pilates drops $65,000 to $48,750. Checkers discloses a 100% reduction, taking its $30,000 fee to zero. Little Caesars stacks four items for honorably discharged veterans: $5,000 off the fee, $5,000 on equipment, $5,000 on the first Blue Line food order, and $10,000 of corporate communications support. Scooter’s Coffee does something different again, offering a $20,000 product credit from an affiliate rather than a fee break, redeemable within one year of opening.
| Tier | Brand | Disclosed veteran term | Item 7 investment | Discount vs. Item 7 high end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $100K | Cruise Planners | $4,000 off a $10,995 fee | $1,945 to $20,505 | 20% |
| Under $100K | American Poolplayers Association | 25% off a $10,000 fee | $22,219 to $30,758 | 8.1% |
| Under $100K | WIN Home Inspection | $21,000 fee cut to $18,900 | $41,200 to $49,800 | 4.2% |
| Under $100K | RooterMan | 10% off a $4,975 fee | $45,075 to $82,475 | 0.6% |
| $100K to $300K | FASTSIGNS | $49,750 fee cut to $24,875 | $215,194 to $377,334 | 6.6% |
| $100K to $300K | Comfort Keepers | 20% off a $55,000 fee | $119,560 to $190,700 | 5.8% |
| $100K to $300K | ASP America’s Swimming Pool Co. | 30% off fee and pool fee | $88,695 to $213,171 | 5.6% |
| $100K to $300K | Budget Blinds | $19,950 fee cut to $16,958 | $100,500 to $211,250 | 1.4% |
| $300K+ | Midas | $35,000 fee waived in full | $385,450 to $940,050 | 3.7% |
| $300K+ | Club Pilates | $65,000 fee cut to $48,750 | $403,289 to $1,029,811 | 1.6% |
| $300K+ | Massage Envy | $45,000 fee cut to $36,000 | $695,870 to $1,046,506 | 0.9% |
The veteran-specific SBA fee break is gone, for a defensible reason. The SBA eliminated the upfront guarantee fee on all 7(a) loans of $1 million or less, so what was once the Veterans Advantage benefit now reaches every franchise borrower. We covered that program landscape and the VA loan misconception in our post on VetFran and diversity financing.
The current question is about the SBA Franchise Directory. The SBA scrapped it in August 2023 under SOP 50 10 7 and shifted franchise agreement review onto individual lenders, then reversed and reinstated a modified directory effective June 1, 2025 under SOP 50 10 8. Ask your lender directly which review process they are running on your brand and whether the franchisor has completed the current directory paperwork, because a brand that sailed through in 2024 is not automatically clean now.
One mechanical point worth carrying into the loan conversation: a fee discount reduces total project cost, which reduces the equity injection the SBA requires you to bring. ASP’s $12,000 discount cuts the project by $12,000, so a 10% injection requirement drops by $1,200 and the financed balance by $10,800. That is modest, and it compounds across a ten-year note. The lender comparison in our SBA franchise financing guide is worth more to your deal than any single fee break.
Massage Envy discloses a $9,000 veteran discount, reducing a $45,000 fee to $36,000. Against a $695,870 Item 7 low end, that is 1.3%. Zaxby’s discloses 20%, stated in the FDD as $7,000, on a build that starts at $1,460,000, or half a percent. Jack in the Box reduces the fee “for the first new Restaurant by 25%, or $12,500,” against an Item 7 low end of $1,909,500, which is 0.7%.
All three are real money and all three are noise at that scale. What decides those deals is the earnings disclosure: Massage Envy reports a $1,136,666 median across 989 current-format businesses open a year or more, and Jack in the Box reports $1,830,083 across 1,754 franchised units in the continental US. A single soft quarter erases the discount several times over.
The sequence that protects you runs the other direction. Pick the brand on Item 19, Item 20 unit movement, and territory rights. Then apply the veteran discount. Then push on everything else in the fee stack, which usually has more give than buyers expect, as we lay out in how to negotiate down a franchise fee. A veteran buyer who negotiates a $10,000 territory concession has beaten every discount on this page except two.
If you want to see where a specific brand’s fee sits against its category before you ask for anything, our franchise fee benchmark report ranks initial fees across the systems in our library. Bring the percentile to the discovery call. The development team already knows it.
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About this analysis The franchise data in this article is drawn from VetMyFranchise's structured analysis of 2,300+ Franchise Disclosure Documents filed with U.S. state regulators. See our data & methodology.
Many do, and 238 franchisors disclose one directly in Item 5 of their FDD. The most common term is 10% to 25% off the initial franchise fee. A smaller group discloses 50% (FASTSIGNS, Express Employment Professionals, several regional Jani-King franchisors) and a handful remove the fee entirely (Midas, Checkers, Marco's Pizza for veterans with a 50% or greater service-connected disability rating). The discount applies to the franchise fee only, never to build-out or working capital.
VetFran is an International Franchise Association program that lists franchisors offering incentives to veterans. The IFA does not fund, administer, or enforce any of those incentives. The franchisor sets and pays for its own term, and the enforceable version of it appears in Item 5 of that brand's FDD. A directory listing tells you a brand participates; Item 5 tells you what the participation is worth.
By percentage of the fee, several brands disclose 50% or a full waiver. Midas and Checkers each disclose a 100% reduction of a $35,000 and $30,000 fee respectively. By share of the total investment, Cruise Planners leads: $4,000 off a $10,995 fee on an Item 7 range of $1,945 to $20,505. Marco's Pizza waives the entire fee for veterans rated at 50% or higher service-connected disability.
Not through a veteran-specific program anymore. The SBA eliminated the upfront guarantee fee on all 7(a) loans of $1 million or less, so what used to be the Veterans Advantage benefit now flows to every borrower. The live SBA question in 2026 is the Franchise Directory: the SBA scrapped it in August 2023, pushed franchise agreement review onto lenders, then reinstated a modified directory on June 1, 2025.
The structural fit is real: documented processes, a defined chain of accountability, and standards that are audited rather than improvised. The mismatch that catches people is cash. A franchise agreement obligates royalty and ad fund payments from month one regardless of revenue, and most systems want 6 to 12 months of working capital on top of Item 7. Treat the veteran discount as a small credit against that number, not as a reason to choose one brand over another.
This page is part of VetMyFranchise. View all pages: llms.txt · llms-full.txt