VetMyFranchise · Original Research
Benchmarks computed from 2,414 Franchise Disclosure Documents analyzed by VetMyFranchise — median investment, fees, royalties, Item 19 disclosure and unit revenue, agreement terms, and litigation across 17 industries. Every figure is drawn from the franchisors' own FDD filings and refreshes as new documents are analyzed.
Source: 2022-2026 FDD filings · 2,414 brands analyzed
$370K
Median initial investment
Across 2,414 FDDs analyzed by VetMyFranchise (2026), the median initial franchise investment is $370K (Item 7 midpoint).
$40K
Median franchise fee
The median one-time franchise fee across analyzed brands is $40K (FDD Item 5).
6%
Median royalty rate
The median ongoing royalty across analyzed franchises is 6% of revenue (FDD Item 6).
69%
Disclose Item 19 earnings
69% of the 2,414 franchises analyzed make an Item 19 financial performance representation.
$762K
Median disclosed unit revenue
Among brands that disclose Item 19, the median reported unit revenue is $762K.
2%
Median ad-fund rate
The median advertising-fund contribution is 2% of revenue, on top of the royalty (FDD Item 6).
10 yrs
Median agreement term
The median initial franchise agreement term is 10 years (FDD Item 17, n=2,091).
484K
Franchised units covered
The analyzed brands operate 484,032 franchised units in total (FDD Item 20).
Email me the full franchise dataset as a spreadsheet
Every analyzed brand with Item 7 ranges, fees, and royalties, as a CSV that opens in Excel or Google Sheets. We'll email it now, plus occasional buyer research. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Distribution of the 2,319 analyzed franchises by total Item 7 investment (midpoint of the low and high estimates). 12% open for under $100K; 18% require $1M or more.
69% of analyzed brands disclose an Item 19 financial performance representation (1,676 of 2,414). Among those that report a median unit figure, the benchmarks below summarize 794 brands. Revenue is gross sales, not profit.
Median 25th percentile
$378K
Lower-performing units (n=250)
Median unit revenue
$762K
Across 794 disclosing brands
Median 75th percentile
$1.16M
Higher-performing units (n=250)
Median disclosed unit revenue by industry (Item 19)
Industries with at least 8 Item 19–disclosing brands. Bars show the median of each brand's own median unit revenue.
Distribution of ongoing royalty rates across 2,197 brands (FDD Item 6). The median is 6% of revenue.
≤5%
5–6%
6–7%
7–8%
8%+
Median initial investment, median royalty, Item 19 disclosure rate, and median disclosed unit revenue for each industry with at least eight analyzed brands. Sorted by number of franchises.
| Industry | Brands | Median investment | Median royalty | Disclose Item 19 | Median unit revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food & Beverage | 856 | $581K | 5% | 61% | $1.08M |
| Home Services | 268 | $176K | 6% | 78% | $587K |
| Fitness & Wellness | 163 | $523K | 7% | 74% | $492K |
| Cleaning & Maintenance | 151 | $194K | 7% | 75% | $491K |
| Child Services & Education | 151 | $255K | 7% | 78% | $533K |
| Retail | 128 | $282K | 5.25% | 70% | $744K |
| Senior Care | 123 | $190K | 6% | 80% | $796K |
| Business Services | 99 | $127K | 7.75% | 76% | $340K |
| Health & Beauty | 98 | $454K | 6% | 84% | $555K |
| Hospitality & Travel | 82 | $7.78M | 5% | 61% | $453K |
| Real Estate | 81 | $135K | 5% | 54% | $322K |
| Automotive | 72 | $431K | 6% | 69% | $932K |
| Pet Services | 58 | $333K | 7% | 78% | $630K |
| Financial Services | 32 | $83K | 10% | 69% | $172K |
| Staffing & HR | 21 | $123K | 10% | 76% | — |
| Other | 20 | $442K | 6% | 75% | — |
| Technology | 11 | $133K | 6.5% | 73% | — |
These are industry-wide medians. For one brand's exact Item 7, Item 19, fees, litigation, and a buyer verdict, our full 12-section FDD analysis is $49 per report, or three for $99.
The median initial investment across 2,414 franchises analyzed by VetMyFranchise is $370K (the midpoint of FDD Item 7). Costs range from under $50,000 for home-based brands to over $1 million for full-service restaurants and large-format concepts.
69% of the franchises analyzed make an Item 19 financial performance representation. The remaining 31% disclose no earnings figures, so prospective buyers must validate performance by calling existing franchisees listed in Item 20.
The median ongoing royalty is 6% of gross revenue (FDD Item 6), with a further 2% median advertising-fund contribution. Most brands cluster between 5% and 8%.
Among franchises that disclose Item 19, the median reported unit revenue is $762K. Revenue varies widely by industry and is not profit — it is gross sales before royalties, rent, labor, and other costs.
This page is part of VetMyFranchise. View all pages: llms.txt · llms-full.txt