Business models / Hair Salon / Own a franchise

A hair salon franchise, or your own?

13 franchise brands run a hair salon. Here they are beside the independent version of the same business, with each brand’s fees as it publishes them and worked out in dollars. A brand can bring customers an independent has to earn one by one. The question is whether it brings in more than it costs.

Typical for a hair salon: $360k to $700k in sales, and the owner keeps 20% to 28% after paying for its own marketing. Change either to your own numbers.

Work each brand out at

How the two sides are counted

  • Sales. A brand’s name brings customers an independent wins one at a time, so each brand is worked out at the sales it reports where we have them, and at yours where we don’t.
  • Marketing. On your own you pay for all of it, about 3% of sales here (the SBA’s usual range for ongoing marketing). The ad fund does part of that job, so it is counted once, not twice.
  • Survival. New franchised businesses were about 5 to 6 points more likely to make it through their first two years in Census data, and about half of all new businesses close within five years. It is not in the dollars; each brand’s details give the sources.
The independent version

Your own hair salon

Built and run under your own name

Cost to open
$63k to $306k
Annual sales
$500ktypical
Franchise fee
None
Royalty + ad fund
Noneall marketing is yours
$120,000
The owner keeps in a year, after about $15k of marketing
Taking new owners

Fantastic Sams

Hair salons

Total investment
$172k to $462k
Avg. annual sales
$299k to $323k
Franchise fee
$40k
Royalty + ad fund
6% of sales
$56k
The owner keeps in a year at $311k in sales (what it reports), after $26k to the brand
$64k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Cost Cutters

Value family hair salons

Total investment
$176k to $324k
Avg. annual sales
$261k to $280k
Franchise fee
$40k
Royalty + ad fund
5% + 1% of sales
$51k
The owner keeps in a year at $270k in sales (what it reports), after $16k to the brand
$69k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Supercuts

Hair salons

Total investment
$185k to $318k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$40k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 5% of sales
$80k
The owner keeps in a year at $500k in sales (your sales), after $55k to the brand
$40k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Great Clips

Hair salons

Total investment
$188k to $420k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$20k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 5% of sales
$80k
The owner keeps in a year at $500k in sales (your sales), after $55k to the brand
$40k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Sharkey's Cuts for Kids

Kids' hair salons

Total investment
$197k to $336k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$45k
Royalty + ad fund
In the details
The fee is not a simple share of sales, so it is not worked out in dollars. The details show it as the brand words it.
Taking new owners

Snip-its

Kids' hair salons

Total investment
$200k to $361k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$35k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 2% of sales
$90k
The owner keeps in a year at $500k in sales (your sales), after $40k to the brand
$30k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Bishops

Gender-neutral hair shops

Total investment
$313k to $634k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$40k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 2% of sales
$90k
The owner keeps in a year at $500k in sales (your sales), after $40k to the brand
$30k less a year than on your own
Selective

Drybar

Blowouts

Total investment
$391k to $1.1M
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$50k
Royalty + ad fund
7% + 4% of sales
$80k
The owner keeps in a year at $500k in sales (your sales), after $55k to the brand
$40k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

MY SALON Suite

Salon suites

Total investment
$675k to $1.7M
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$50k
Royalty + ad fund
6% of sales
$90k
The owner keeps in a year at $500k in sales (your sales), after $30k to the brand
$30k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Phenix Salon Suites

Salon suites

Total investment
$721k to $1.4M
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$53k
Royalty + ad fund
In the details
The fee is not a simple share of sales, so it is not worked out in dollars. The details show it as the brand words it.
Selective

Sola Salon Studios

Salon suites

Total investment
$950k to $1.7M
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$60k
Royalty + ad fund
5.5% + 1.5% to 2% of sales
$93k
The owner keeps in a year at $500k in sales (your sales), after $35k to $38k to the brand
$28k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Salons by JC

Salon suites

Total investment
$1.3M to $2M
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$60k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 1% of sales
$90k
The owner keeps in a year at $500k in sales (your sales), after $35k to the brand
$30k less a year than on your own
Free account

See all 13 hair salon brands side by side

  • Every brand’s investment and fees, and what the owner keeps against running your own
  • The yearly sales the first 3 report, and a plus to add brands to your comparison and benchmark them in your account
  • Members see the sales every franchisor reports, for every brand

Free, no card. A new account accepts the Terms and the Privacy Policy. smbnest is a self-assessment tool and never takes a cut of your deal or a fee from a franchisor.

Before you sign: what to read in the disclosure document

Every franchisor must give you its Franchise Disclosure Document at least 14 days before you sign or pay. These are the parts that answer the questions above.

  • Items 5 to 7, the fees and the investment. The franchise fee, every other fee (technology, training, transfer, renewal), and the full opening budget, including working capital.
  • Item 19, what owners earn. Whether the brand states owner sales or earnings at all, and for which units. Put its figures in the boxes above in place of the typical ones.
  • Item 20, units opened, closed and sold. How many owners left in each of the last three years, and a list of current and former owners you can call.
  • Item 12, the territory. Whether you get a protected area, and what the brand can open or sell inside it.
  • Item 21, the franchisor’s own finances. Whether the company behind the brand is in good health.

smbnest is a self-assessment tool, not individualized advice. Fees are as each brand publishes them on its franchising page and in its disclosure document, reviewed in the month shown, and change; the figures in dollars are worked out at the sales you enter and are not a forecast. We never take a cut of your deal or a fee from a franchisor. Before you sign, speak with a franchise attorney and a qualified financial adviser, and call owners from the disclosure document.