Central Bark franchise at a glance — core figures from the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document:
Investment (Item 7)
$569K - $1.4M
Franchise fee
$55K
Royalty
6% of Gross Sales
Franchised units
41
Item 19 earnings
$770K median
Disclosed litigation
0 cases
▼
Shrinking Network — Net -2059 units in the reported period
More locations closed than opened. Investigate root causes before investing.
Franchised Units
Industry avg: 73
60th percentile
Company-Owned
0.0% of system
Total System
Since 2022
Years Operating
Founded 2022
Units Opened
Industry avg: 10 opened
7.3% open rate
Units Closed
Industry avg: 45 closed
5029.3% closure rate — elevated
Net Growth
-5022.0% net growth rate
Network contracting
How Central Bark compares to 51 other Pet Services franchises in the database.
Total Units
Avg: 73 41
Units Opened
Avg: 10 3
Units Closed
Avg: 45 2,062
Lower is better for closures
5029.3%
Elevated closure rate — due diligence required
More than 10% of units closed. This warrants direct conversations with current and former franchisees to understand why.
Healthy
0 – 5%
Moderate
5 – 10%
Elevated
> 10%
Compare Central Bark's growth to Pet Services industry averages — unit counts, opening rates, closure analysis, and network health indicators.
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Growth data is one piece of the puzzle. Review Central Bark's complete profile — financials, fees, territory rights, litigation history, and more — on the overview page.
Item 20 of the Central Bark franchise FDD is the most predictive single section in the document. The table tracks how many units opened, closed, transferred, or were terminated across the system over the past three years. A franchise that grew 15% per year tells a very different story than one that stayed flat or shrank — even if both have identical Item 19 revenue numbers.
Closures vs. transfers: The two columns mean different things. A closure means a franchisee shut down and walked away — usually because the unit wasn't profitable. A transfer means the unit changed hands but stayed open — which can be neutral (retirement, relocation) or negative (the original franchisee couldn't make it work and sold to escape). High transfer rates without growing closures often signal an unhappy franchisee base that's exiting at first opportunity.
Healthy benchmark: Annual closure rates of 5% or less are typical for healthy pet services systems. Closure rates above 10% per year suggest unit-level economics are stressed somewhere — labor costs, royalty load, market saturation, or all three. Look at the trend, not just the absolute number — closures rising year over year is a stronger signal than a single bad year.
Cross-reference Central Bark franchise unit growth with the franchisor's pipeline (units in development) and any geographic concentration. A system that's growing in absolute count but only in one region may be hitting saturation in its core market. Talk to franchisees from Item 20 in different geographies to triangulate whether the growth story holds nationally or is a regional phenomenon.
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Data shown is extracted from the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document filed with state regulators. Fees, investment ranges, and other terms may have changed since this filing. Always request the current FDD directly from the franchisor before making any investment decisions. This information is not financial, legal, or investment advice. Full disclaimer.
$569K - $1.4M
$55K
6% of Gross Sales
41
$770K median
0 cases
This page is part of VetMyFranchise. View all pages: llms.txt · llms-full.txt