Business models / Printing Business / Own a franchise

A printing business franchise, or your own?

Six franchise brands run a printing business. 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 printing business: $432k to $1.8M in sales, and the owner keeps 13% to 30% 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.

Your own printing business and each brand, side by side

The independent version

Your own printing business

Built and run under your own name

Cost to open
$129k to $523k
Annual sales
$880ktypical
Franchise fee
None
Royalty + ad fund
Noneall marketing is yours
$193,600
The owner keeps in a year, after about $26k of marketing
Taking new owners

Minuteman Press

Commercial printing

Total investment
$82k to $221k
Avg. annual sales
$562k to $766k
Franchise fee
$49k
Royalty + ad fund
6% of sales
$106k
The owner keeps in a year at $664k in sales (what it reports), after $40k to the brand
$87k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Allegra Marketing Print Mail

Commercial printing and direct mail

Total investment
$140k to $698k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$45k
Royalty + ad fund
1.5% to 6% + 1% of sales
$141k to $180k
The owner keeps in a year at $880k in sales (your sales), after $22k to $62k to the brand
$13k to $53k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

SpeedPro

Large-format printing

Total investment
$235k to $350k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$25k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 2% of sales
$141k
The owner keeps in a year at $880k in sales (your sales), after $70k to the brand
$53k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Sir Speedy

Commercial printing

Total investment
$252k to $299k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$55k
Royalty + ad fund
6% + 2% of sales
$141k
The owner keeps in a year at $880k in sales (your sales), after $70k to the brand
$53k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

PIP Marketing, Signs, Print

Commercial printing and signs

Total investment
$253k to $281k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$55k
Royalty + ad fund
4% + 2% of sales
$158k
The owner keeps in a year at $880k in sales (your sales), after $53k to the brand
$35k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

AlphaGraphics

Print and marketing

Total investment
$292k to $375k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$50k
Royalty + ad fund
3% to 7% + 2.5% of sales
$132k to $167k
The owner keeps in a year at $880k in sales (your sales), after $48k to $84k to the brand
$26k to $62k less a year than on your own
Free account

See all 6 printing business 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.