Best in Class Education Center franchise unit economics
Best in Class Education Center franchisees run after-school tutoring in mathematics, English and STEM from leased space of 1,000 to 1,500 square feet. Gross sales across 27 qualifying centers average $223,624 with a median of $224,996, ranging from $47,190 to $527,012. Royalty, brand fund, learning-system fee, the local marketing minimum and the technology fee come to $48,980 a year at that average, more than the median center pays in rent.
- Primary source
- BiC Franchise System Corporation, 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
- 27 of 36 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.
At the published average of $223,624 a year, the brand's charges come to $48,980, royalty, brand fund, learning system, technology and the local marketing minimum. The median center in the expense survey pays $40,000 of rent. Franchise fees cost more than the building.
- The brand's charges cost more than the building. $48,980 a year at the $223,624 average *, against a median rent of $40,000 across the 19 centers publishing expenses.
- All 19 centers report marketing spend below their own contractual minimum. $60,930 between them against $244,092 required *, 61 months of the $1,000 minimum across 228 center-months of trading.
- Rent takes 17.6% of combined sales, and 11 of the 19 pay above the investment-table estimate. A median of $40,000 against $2,000 to $3,000 a month, and one center at $80,322 on $72,002 of sales.
- After the four reported expenses and the 16% payable to the franchisor, the median center keeps $77,131. *, and that figure still has to cover owner and management pay, which the reported labor line leaves out.
- The system went from 51 outlets to 37 across three years. Five openings against 16 exits, with California falling from 14 centers to 8 inside a single year.
How much does a Best in Class Education Center franchise make?
The average Best in Class Education Center unit reported $223,624 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $224,996. 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 20% 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 businesses are below.
Sales across 27 centers
Eleven times between the top and the bottom.
| Group | Centers | Highest | Lowest | Median | Average | Reaching the average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | 27 | $527,012 | $47,190 | $224,996 | $223,624 | 13 of 27 (48%) |
| Top third | 9 | $527,012 | $263,386 | $345,793 | $347,542 | 5 of 9 (56%) |
| Middle third | 9 | $256,305 | $168,733 | $213,844 | $223,624 | 5 of 9 (56%) |
| Bottom third | 9 | $163,827 | $47,190 | $115,352 | $126,884 | 5 of 9 (56%) |
As the brand reported it.
The top third averages 2.7 times the bottom third. $347,542 against $126,884. Across all 27 the range is eleven times, from $527,012 down to $47,190. On a format that occupies the same 1,000 to 1,500 square feet at either end.
The all-center median of $224,996 sits above the average of $223,624. Rare in franchise filings, where one large outlet usually pulls the average up. Here the middle of the system and its mean are within $1,372 of each other. So the top center at $527,012 is balanced by a long tail below $150,000.
A center at the all-center average keeps 54.3% after the four surveyed expense lines. Using the survey's combined ratio *, that is about $121,428, from which $48,980 of brand charges and the owner's own pay both have to come.
Nine of the 36 franchised centers sit outside these figures. Four satellite offices, five trading remotely and one open for part of the year, with one center in two of those groups. Remote and satellite formats have different rent, which is the line that separates the survey's top from its bottom.
Top performers
What separates the top Best in Class Education Center performers
Best in Class Education Center splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $347,542 a year. The worst averaged $126,884. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 2.7× gap between bands is not an operating gap. Catchment, daytime population and what sits next door set the ceiling before the first customer arrives.
- Capacity, fixed at build.Locations run 1,000 to 1,500 square feet. What you can sell is set by the build, and the build does not change after opening.
- What you spend to open.Opening costs $84,875 to $146,000, a 1.7× 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.
- Lease economics.Occupancy cost ran 17.6% of sales in this filing. The rent does not fall when sales do, so the same lease is a far heavier line at the bottom of the system than at the top. That is how a weak site compounds into a weak profit line.
Live operating levers
- Wages, the dominant line.Wages take 19.9% of sales. Staff productivity, scheduling against demand hour by hour, and the balance of base pay to commission are where this is won.
- Occupancy, the line that does not flex.Rent and building costs take 17.6% of sales here. Sales per square foot and the hours the space is earning are the only two ways to move it, because the rent itself is fixed at signing.
- Enrolment, the operating driver.This model bills on enrolment. The licence fixes how many places exist, so what is left is how many are filled, what each is priced at, and how long a family stays. 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 20.0% 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.27 of 36 locations are behind these figures. Locations open less than the full year, brand-owned, or not meeting the reporting criteria are excluded, as are locations under the brand’s current size standard, 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. The brand’s own locations are the only margin signal in the document, and they are run by the people who wrote the playbook.
Nineteen sets of books
Four expense lines, and everything else to come.
| Center | Gross sales | General and administrative | Labor | Marketing | Rent | Left after the four * | Left before owner pay * |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Center 1 | $527,012 | $21,560 | $78,178 | $2,896 | $42,000 | $382,378 | $296,856 |
| Center 2 | $374,788 | $26,000 | $80,000 | $1,200 | $40,000 | $227,588 | $166,422 |
| Center 3 | $352,969 | $15,549 | $78,055 | $10,000 | $44,400 | $204,965 | $147,290 |
| Center 4 | $347,542 | $5,400 | $90,000 | $0 | $42,960 | $209,182 | $152,375 |
| Center 5 | $290,887 | $11,000 | $50,000 | $3,500 | $29,000 | $197,387 | $149,645 |
| Center 6 | $271,663 | $6,600 | $61,449 | $4,000 | $33,796 | $165,818 | $121,152 |
| Center 7 | $263,386 | $21,500 | $36,500 | $1,500 | $30,000 | $173,886 | $130,544 |
| Center 8 | $256,305 | $21,350 | $62,700 | $4,190 | $51,000 | $117,065 | $74,856 |
| Center 9 | $246,860 | $17,460 | $28,261 | $1,652 | $43,400 | $156,087 | $115,389 |
| Center 10 | $230,130 | $6,000 | $66,978 | $2,400 | $39,600 | $115,152 | $77,131 |
| Center 11 | $223,624 | $14,367 | $38,400 | $3,000 | $29,076 | $138,781 | $101,801 |
| Center 12 | $186,223 | $44,800 | $28,623 | $1,000 | $48,900 | $62,900 | $31,904 |
| Center 13 | $177,496 | $8,000 | $55,000 | $8,000 | $54,000 | $52,496 | $22,897 |
| Center 14 | $163,827 | $20,000 | $14,000 | $500 | $50,000 | $79,327 | $51,915 |
| Center 15 | $148,041 | $9,467 | $16,115 | $1,500 | $35,900 | $85,059 | $60,172 |
| Center 16 | $126,884 | $11,000 | $38,000 | $2,500 | $22,200 | $53,184 | $31,683 |
| Center 17 | $88,800 | $9,000 | $18,775 | $1,200 | $32,568 | $27,257 | $11,849 |
| Center 18 | $72,002 | $28,048 | $23,897 | $8,892 | $80,322 | −$69,157 | −$81,877 |
| Center 19 | $47,190 | $4,000 | $10,000 | $3,000 | $24,000 | $6,190 | −$2,560 |
| All 19 | $4,395,629 | $301,101 | $874,931 | $60,930 | $773,122 | $2,385,545 | $1,659,444 |
| Share of gross sales * | 100.0% | 6.9% | 19.9% | 1.4% | 17.6% | 54.3% | 37.8% |
Gross sales and the four expense columns are as the brand reported it; the last two columns, the total row and the percentage row are marked *.
Rent is the largest cost in this survey after wages, at 17.6% of combined sales. $773,122 against $874,931 of labor *. For a business of 1,000 to 1,500 square feet, that ratio is what makes the difference between the centers at the top of the table and the two at the bottom.
Labor runs 8.5% to 33.2% of sales. Center 14 spent $14,000 on teaching staff against $163,827 of sales and Center 18 spent $23,897 against $72,002 *. Both figures leave out the owner, so the low ones describe a center where the owner teaches.
Center 18 pays $80,322 of rent on $72,002 of sales. 111.6% *. It also reports the second-highest marketing spend in the survey at $8,892. So the lease instead of the effort is what puts it $69,157 behind before any fee.
The median center keeps $77,131 before the owner is paid. *, against $115,152 left after the four surveyed lines. Meeting the $12,000 local marketing minimum would take roughly $9,600 more out of that, because the median center reported $2,400.
What the fees come to
Twenty percent, with a minimum that bites below $300,000.
| Level | Gross sales | Royalty at 12% | Brand fund at 2% | Learning system at 2% | Local marketing | Technology | Total | Share of sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highest center | $527,012 | $63,241 | $10,540 | $10,540 | $21,080 | $1,200 | $106,602 | 20.2% |
| Top third average | $347,542 | $41,705 | $6,951 | $6,951 | $13,902 | $1,200 | $70,708 | 20.3% |
| All-center average | $223,624 | $26,835 | $4,472 | $4,472 | $12,000 | $1,200 | $48,980 | 21.9% |
| Bottom third average | $126,884 | $15,226 | $2,538 | $2,538 | $12,000 | $1,200 | $33,501 | 26.4% |
| Lowest center | $47,190 | $5,663 | $944 | $944 | $12,000 | $1,200 | $20,750 | 44.0% |
Ours, applying the published rates to filed sales.
The load rises as sales fall. 20.2% at the top center and 44.0% at the lowest-selling *. The $1,000 monthly marketing minimum governs below $300,000 of annual sales, and 15 of the 19 centers publishing expenses sit under that line.
Every one of the 19 reported marketing below its own requirement. $60,930 against $244,092 *. Five centers reported $1,200 or less for the year against a $12,000 minimum, and one reported zero on $347,542 of sales.
Meeting the requirement in full would cost the 19 centers $183,162 more. *, or 4.2% of their combined sales. Set against $1,659,444 left before owner pay, it would absorb 11% of what remains across the group.
The learning-system fee has a per-student charge on top of its percentage. $8 a student a subject a month, with three subjects available and a contractual ceiling of $15. A center with 100 students taking two subjects each pays $19,200 a year on that line alone *, before the percentage.
Opening, and the system
Cheap to open, expensive to run.
| Item | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $45,000 | $45,000 |
| Build-out and improvements | $2,500 | $35,000 |
| Additional funds, three months | $8,500 | $18,600 |
| Grand opening marketing fee | $10,000 | $10,000 |
| Signage | $1,000 | $8,000 |
| Lease deposit | $4,000 | $6,000 |
| Professional fees | $2,500 | $5,000 |
| Decorating, furniture and furnishings | $3,000 | $4,000 |
| Travel expenses for onsite training | $1,300 | $3,800 |
| Technology systems | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Initial training expenses | $1,500 | $3,000 |
| Systems implementation fee | $2,000 | $2,000 |
| Insurance premium, three months | $875 | $1,200 |
| Utility deposits | $500 | $1,000 |
| Business license | $200 | $400 |
| Total | $84,875 | $146,000 |
As the brand reported it, reordered here by size; both columns add to their stated totals exactly *.
| Measure | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franchised at start | 47 | 44 | 36 |
| Opened | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Ceased for other reasons | 6 | 9 | 0 |
| Franchised at end | 44 | 36 | 36 |
| Company-owned at end | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Total outlets at end | 46 | 37 | 37 |
| Transfers | 5 | 1 | 1 |
As the brand reported it.
Opening costs $84,875 to $146,000 and franchise fees take $57,000 of it at the low end. The $45,000 initial fee, a $10,000 grand opening marketing fee and a $2,000 systems implementation fee *, 67% of the low column, against build-out at $2,500.
The entry cost is roughly one year of brand charges at the average center. $84,875 against $48,980 a year *. So the recurring load reaches the size of the whole investment inside the second year of trading.
Fifteen centers closed across 2023 and 2024 against four openings. Every one of the 15 is filed as ceasing operations for other reasons. The count then held flat through 2025, with one opening and one termination.
Three agreements are signed and waiting, one each in California, Maryland and Washington. Against 36 franchised centers trading. Washington, the franchisor's home state, is the one that grew, from six centers to eight across the three years.
Questions we get asked
Questions owners ask.
What should a Best in Class Education Center be billing?
Across 27 qualifying centers trading all of 2025, gross sales averaged $223,624 with a median of $224,996, ranging from $47,190 to $527,012. 13 of the 27 reached the average. The top third averaged $347,542, the middle third $223,624 and the bottom third $126,884. Among the 19 centers publishing expenses, the median sat at $230,130.
What is left after costs?
Four expense lines are visible. Across the 19 responding centers they came to 45.7% of combined sales (labor 19.9%, rent 17.6%, general and administrative 6.9% and marketing 1.4%) leaving 54.3%. Take a further 16% of sales for royalty, brand fund and the learning-system percentage plus $1,200 of technology fee. Is marked *. 37.8% remains across the group, or $77,131 at the median center. That figure still has to cover owner and management pay. That the labor line excludes, along with the per-student learning-system charge and any shortfall against the local marketing minimum.
What does the brand take?
A royalty of the greater of $250 a month or 12% of gross sales. A brand fund fee currently 2%, with the agreement permitting 3% on 180 days' notice. A learning-system fee of 2% of gross sales measured after enrichment sales, plus $8 per student per subject a month with a contractual ceiling of $15. A technology fee of $100 a month, with a ceiling of $200. And a local marketing commitment of the greater of $1,000 a month or 4% of monthly gross sales, spent in the franchisee's own market. Together that is about 20% of sales at $347,542 and 26.4% at $126,884, which is marked *, plus the per-student charge.
How much should a center be spending on marketing?
The commitment is the greater of $1,000 a month or 4% of monthly gross sales from the third month onward. The grand opening marketing fee covers the requirement through the end of the second month after opening. Against that, the 19 centers publishing expenses reported $60,930 between them where $244,092 was required. Is marked *, every one of the 19 below its own figure, five of them at $1,200 or less for the year. One at zero on $347,542 of sales. Amounts paid to the franchisor or its affiliate for marketing materials count toward the commitment.
Who does bookkeeping for a Best in Class Education Center franchise?
Three things shape the close here. The local marketing commitment is measured monthly and tested against monthly gross sales. So a center that spends in bursts can satisfy the year and still miss most of the months. Makes a monthly marketing the accrual beside monthly sales the record that matters. Second, the learning-system fee has two parts: a percentage of sales measured after enrichment sales. A per-student-per-subject charge counted from enrollment on the last day of the prior month. So subject enrollments need tracking as a financial figure. Third, rent runs 8.0% to 111.6% of sales across the surveyed centers. That makes rent as a share of sales the single number worth reviewing every month. Averan provides bookkeeping, controller, and fractional CFO support for franchise owners and has Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors on the team.
- No profit figure. The filing reports sales and not earnings, so what an owner keeps is not disclosed.
Questions worth putting to Best in Class Education Center
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 Best in Class Education Center 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.
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A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast. Reporting, built around rent as a share of sales, a monthly marketing the accrual, and subject enrollments tracked as a financial figure.
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