Business models / Med Spa / Own a franchise

A med spa franchise, or your own?

Three franchise brands run a med spa. 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 med spa: $1M to $3M in sales, and the owner keeps 15% to 25% 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 9% of sales here. 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 med spa

Built and run under your own name

Cost to open
$199k to $669k
Annual sales
$1.7Mtypical
Franchise fee
None
Royalty + ad fund
Noneall marketing is yours
$346,000
The owner keeps in a year, after about $156k of marketing
Taking new owners

Dermani Medspa

Med spa

Total investment
$436k to $861k
Avg. annual sales
$831k
Franchise fee
$55k
Royalty + ad fund
5% of sales
$125k
The owner keeps in a year at $831k in sales (what it reports), after $42k to the brand
$221k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

4Ever Young Anti-Aging Solutions

Anti-aging med spa

Total investment
$523k to $807k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$60k
Royalty + ad fund
7% + 2% of sales
$225k
The owner keeps in a year at $1.7M in sales (your sales), after $156k to the brand
$121k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Vio Med Spa

Med spa

Total investment
$794k to $1.2M
Avg. annual sales
$1.1M to $1.3M
Franchise fee
$50k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 2% of sales
$167k
The owner keeps in a year at $1.2M in sales (what it reports), after $95k to the brand
$179k less a year than on your own

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.