Bark Busters franchise unit economics
Bark Busters franchisees run a home-based dog-behavior training business inside a territory measured in dogs, typically 100,000 to 125,000 of them. Across 132 businesses open more than a year, sales averaged $144,479 against a median of $127,718. Royalty and the local advertising requirement take 13% of that before a single operating cost.
- Primary source
- Bark Busters North America, LLC, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
- Items read
- Items 5 and 6 for fees; Item 7 for cost to open; Item 19 for sales and any profit figure; Item 20 for the location count
- Population
- 132 of 133 locations
- Our calculations
- Marked on the page with an asterisk. Method
- Last reviewed
- 26 September 2026
Disclosure-based. Not a forecast, not an offer to sell a franchise, and not advice.
The unit of account here is a dog. A territory holds 100,000 to 125,000 of them, the system averages $144,479 of sales, and extra ZIP codes are sold at 50 cents a dog. That makes territory the cheapest thing on the price list and the 13% taken off the top the most expensive.
- Royalty and local advertising take 13% of sales. $18,782 at the $144,479 average *, and $20,412 once the technology fee and conference fee are added, 14.1% before wages, fuel or inventory.
- Territory sells for 50 cents a dog against $1.28 of revenue a dog. At system-average penetration *, an added ZIP code returns its purchase price in 4.7 months.
- The average sits $16,761 above the median and 42% of owners reach it. $144,479 against $127,718, with the top business at $655,448, 5.1 times the median *.
- Twenty-four businesses changed hands in three years on a base of 133. Transfers of 10, 9 and 5, 18% of the system *, while terminations, non-renewals and reacquisitions were zero in every year.
- The whole business opens for $77,900 to $117,000. Which is 54% to 81% of one year at the system average *. The lightest entry cost of any model in this library.
How much does a Bark Busters franchise make?
The average Bark Busters unit reported $144,479 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $127,718. The brand’s disclosure document discloses revenue and not profit, so what an owner keeps depends on the cost structure set out below. Fees come off the top first, at about 13% of sales across royalty, brand fund and the rest of the stack. Revenue is not income. Rent, wages, cost of goods and the franchise fees all come out before an owner is paid. The figures for the highest-selling and lowest-selling territories are below.
Top performers
What separates the top Bark Busters performers
Bark Busters splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $655,448 a year. The worst averaged $1,900. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $127,718. The average was $144,479. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 345.0× gap between bands is not an operating gap. Catchment, daytime population and what sits next door set the ceiling before the first customer arrives.
- Territory, and how much of it is real.This model sells from a territory rather than a building. Two owners with the same brand and different ground are running different businesses, and density decides how much driving sits between jobs.
- What you spend to open.Opening costs $77,900 to $117,000, a 1.5× range inside one brand. The high end usually buys more capacity, so the cheapest build is not always the cheapest route to the top band.
Live operating levers
- Accounts, the operating driver.This model bills on accounts. An account signed this year still bills next year, so keeping accounts matters more than winning them. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites.Fees run about 13.0% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
Context you underwrite around
- The reporting screen.132 of 133 locations are behind these figures. Locations open less than the full year, brand-owned, or not meeting the reporting criteria are excluded, so the numbers describe locations that cleared that screen, not the system as a whole.
- What the disclosure leaves out.Item 19 publishes no profit or cost data for franchised locations. Anything below the sales line has to come from the franchisor or from owners you call.
Average, middle and the gap between locations
Fifty-eight percent of owners sit below the average.
| Measure | 2025 | Against the median * |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | $655,448 | 5.13× |
| Average | $144,479 | 1.13× |
| Median | $127,718 | 1.00× |
| Lowest | $1,900 | 0.01× |
| Businesses reaching the average | 55 of 132, 42% | n/a |
Every figure is as the brand reported it and the multiples restate each one against the filed median, marked *.
The gap between the median owner and the average is $16,761. That is 15 cents a dog across a territory of 112,500 dogs *. After the brand's 13%, it is worth $14,583 *.
Seventy-seven of 132 businesses sit below the average. 58% of them *, which is what a single $655,448 business does to a system where the median is $127,718.
The lowest figure of $1,900 belongs to a business open more than a full year. So the population includes at least one seasoned territory running at roughly 1% of the median, read the average with that in view.
Sales is the only measure here. It is invoiced amounts before refunds, chargebacks and sales tax. Before wages, vehicle costs, royalty or advertising. So the 13% load and the owner’s own draw both come out of these numbers.
The figures come from the brand’s own customer system, self-reported and unaudited. Which makes the median more useful than the average when sizing your own territory.
Thirteen percent off the top
Thirteen cents of every dollar leaves before the van moves.
| Charge | Rate | At the average, $144,479 | At the median, $127,718 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royalty | 10% of gross revenues | $14,448 | $12,772 |
| Local advertising | 3% of gross revenues | $4,334 | $3,832 |
| Technology | $380 to $500 a year | $380 | $380 |
| National conference | Up to $1,250 an attendee, mandatory | $1,250 | $1,250 |
| Total | n/a | $20,412 | $18,233 |
| Share of sales | n/a | 14.13% | 14.28% |
The rates and fixed fees are as the brand reported it and the dollar figures apply them to the filed average and median sales, marked *.
The royalty is a flat 10% with zero tiers and zero thresholds. So scale earns the owner exactly the same rate as the $1,900 business. Franchise fees take 13 cents of every dollar, at every level of sales.
The 3% advertising spend stays under the owner’s control. It goes to suppliers the owner picks, and the brand runs zero national fund requiring a contribution. So that $4,334 buys whatever the owner decides it buys.
Conference attendance is mandatory and costs $1,750 to $4,750 all in. $1,250 of fee plus $500 to $3,500 of travel, between 1.2% and 3.3% of average revenue for one week a year.
An audit that finds a 5% understatement is billed at cost plus 10% interest. Payable within seven days of request, so the reporting discipline is worth keeping tight.
If the brand ends the agreement for a breach, the owner owes $50,000. With a further $50,000 for each idea or process the brand loses through a violation, large relative to a business averaging $144,479 of revenue.
The dog is the unit
Fifty cents buys a dog. That dog is worth $1.28 a year.
| Measure | At 100,000 dogs | At 112,500 dogs | At 125,000 dogs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average sales a dog * | $1.44 | $1.28 | $1.16 |
| Median sales a dog * | $1.28 | $1.14 | $1.02 |
| Highest business, a dog * | $6.55 | $5.83 | $5.24 |
| Price of an extra dog | $0.50, one time | ||
The revenue figures and the 100,000 to 125,000 dog range are as the brand reported it and the per-dog figures divide one by the other, marked *.
An extra ZIP code with 5,000 dogs in it costs $2,500. At the average share of dogs reached, it is worth $6,421 of sales. *, a 4.7-month payback, which makes territory the cheapest growth available here.
The original territory costs about 61 cents a dog. $69,000 for roughly 112,500 dogs *, so expansion land is priced below the founding land.
The top business earns $5.83 a dog against a system median of $1.14. *. The same size of territory produces five times the sales at one owner as at another.
Expansion runs through the brand’s sole discretion. Additional ZIP codes are available when the brand agrees and territory boundaries stay fixed regardless of how the dog population changes. So the 50-cent price applies only when permission arrives.
Territory protection is conditional on meeting a minimum annual sales quota. Falling short lets the brand shrink the territory, terminate on 30 days’ notice, or decline renewal. So the quota is the number that keeps the map intact.
Who stays, who sells
Flat at 133, with a quarter of the system resold.
| Year | Start | Opened | Terminated | Ceased, other | End | Transfers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 128 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 131 | 10 |
| 2024 | 131 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 133 | 9 |
| 2025 | 133 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 133 | 5 |
| Three years | n/a | 13 | 0 | 8 | n/a | 24 |
Every figure is as the brand reported it, with terminations, non-renewals and reacquisitions at zero in all three years.
Twenty-four transfers against a base of 133 is 18% of the system in three years. *, a resale market deep enough that buying an existing territory is a live alternative to the $69,000 of founding fees.
Openings halved from 6 to 3 while closures held at 3. So 2025 finished exactly where it started. The system is holding its size.
Terminations, non-renewals and reacquisitions were zero across all three years. Every exit came through the “ceased operations, other reasons” column, owners leaving on their own terms.
A buyer pays 15% of the sale price, capped at $20,000, plus $7,500 of training and $1,000 of legal reimbursement. On a business doing the median $127,718, so the transfer cost is worth pricing into any exit plan early.
The term is five years with one five-year option. Shorter than most of this library, with a $1,000 successor fee and a brand right of first refusal on the territory at expiry or default.
Questions we get asked
Questions an owner asks.
What does a Bark Busters business bill?
In 2025, sales across 132 businesses open more than a year averaged $144,479 with a median of $127,718. The highest was $655,448 and the lowest $1,900. Fifty-five of the 132, or 42%, reached the average.
What does the brand take?
A flat 10% royalty on gross revenues, paid on the 1st and 16th of each month, plus a 3% local advertising spend the owner directs themselves. Add $380 a year of technology and a mandatory conference at up to $1,250 an attendee. On our reading that is 14.1% of revenue at the system average.
How is territory measured?
In dogs. A standard territory is a set of ZIP codes containing roughly 100,000 to 125,000 targeted dogs, sized from dog-owning household data and average dogs per household. Extra ZIP codes cost 50 cents for each targeted dog in them.
Is the territory exclusive?
It is protected. The brand will keep its own locations and other franchises out of it so long as you meet a minimum annual sales quota. Falling short of that quota lets the brand reduce or remove the territory, terminate on 30 days' notice, or decline renewal.
What does it cost to open?
$77,900 to $117,000, of which $69,000 goes to the brand as a $49,500 franchise fee and a $19,500 training and territory fee. It is home-based, so there is zero build-out. Qualifying US veterans receive a 10% discount on both fees. The brand may finance up to $30,000 at prime plus 3% over 36 months at its discretion.
Is buying an existing territory worth considering?
Twenty-four businesses changed hands over 2023 to 2025 against a system of 133, so the resale market is active. A transfer costs the buyer 15% of the sale price capped at $20,000, plus $7,500 of training and $1,000 of legal reimbursement.
Where does the profit data sit?
Sales is the only measure filed. Expenses, shares kept and owner earnings are absent, so build your own model from the revenue figures down. 13% to the brand and advertising, then vehicle, insurance, inventory and your own time.
Which two numbers should run monthly?
Revenue a dog against $1.28. The running sales quota. Because it is what keeps other franchises out of your ZIP codes.
- No profit figure. The filing reports sales and not earnings, so what an owner keeps is not disclosed.
- No cost lines. Wages, rent and cost of goods are not broken out, so margin cannot be rebuilt from the document.
- No ramp. The filing does not show how a new location builds up, so the first-year curve has to be assumed.
Questions worth putting to Bark Busters
The filing answers what it answers. These are the gaps an owner or a buyer should close directly.
- What do locations at the median spend on wages and rent as a share of sales? The filing reports sales only.
- What separates the highest-selling locations from the lowest: trade area, years open, size, or the owner?
- How long does a new location take to reach the average you publish, and what does the build-up look like month by month?
- At what level of sales do the minimum charges stop applying and the percentage take over?
- How many Bark Busters locations closed, were sold, or changed hands last year, and why?
Run your own numbers.
The Franchise Finance Diagnostic runs the same checks on your own numbers. It scores where you stand and compares you with Item 19 of your brand’s FDD. It works out what one location earns and spends, and builds a 13-week cash forecast. Checks whether you are ready to open another one. It is free and it runs in your browser.
Launch the diagnostic →What is a dog worth in your territory?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast. Reporting, built around $1.28 of revenue a dog, a 13% load that comes off every dollar. A sales quota that decides whether your map stays yours.
Request the reviewthe franchise library, all 243 brands · how franchise unit economics work · running the books across several locations · what Averan does for franchise owners
Bark Busters reads against the rest of the dog training group: Sit Means Sit · Zoom Room. The dog training guide compares all of them on the same figures.
Questions owners ask next
The figures above raise these, and each one is answered on its own page.
- At what level of sales does a minimum fee stop costing me more than the percentage?How royalty, ad fund and minimums actually work on a monthly statement.
- How much cash do I fund before a new location covers its own costs?A 13-week forecast for the months before break-even.
- My payroll percentage keeps climbing. Is that a payroll problem?Usually it is a revenue problem wearing a payroll costume.
- What should I be looking at every week?The handful of numbers that move before the P&L does.
- Do I need a bookkeeper, a controller, or a CFO?What each one owns, and the point at which the next one pays for itself.