Blo Blow Dry Bar franchise unit economics
Blo franchisees run a 700 to 1,000 square foot blow dry bar selling styling services, memberships and branded hair care, inside a protected territory of three blocks or an one-mile radius. Across 97 bars open a full year, 2025 sales averaged $405,325 on 521 appointments a month and 105 members. The ticket works out at $64.83 and holds within 6.5% across every quartile.
- Primary source
- Blo Blow Dry Bar Inc., 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
- Items read
- Item 19 for sales and any profit figure
- Population
- 97 of 114 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.
An appointment here is worth $64.83, and that figure holds from the top quartile to the bottom, $64.44 at the top and $62.23 at the bottom. What moves is volume: 869 appointments a month against 263, driven by 189 members against 38.
- The ticket varies by 6.5% across the system and appointments by 3.3 times. $62.23 to $66.30 against 263 to 869 a month *, so this model is sold on chairs filled.
- A member is worth about $3,122 a year. Each extra member across the quartiles comes with 4.01 more appointments a month at $64.83 *, so ten more members is $31,196.
- Members run five times from top quartile to bottom. 189 against 38, the widest range of any figure here, against 3.42 times on sales.
- The $18,000 minimum local advertising charge is 9.2% of a bottom-quarter bar’s sales. And 2.7% of a top-quarter one’s *, because the 1% alternative only takes over above $1.8m, higher than any bar in the system.
- Brand charges run 20.7% of sales at the bottom quartile and 11.7% at the top. $40,708 against $78,752 *, nine points of difference created entirely by fixed minimums.
How much does a Blo Blow Dry Bar franchise make?
The average Blo Blow Dry Bar unit reported $405,325 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $383,618. 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 14.2% 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.
Members drive the chairs
The membership book is what fills the chairs.
| quartile | Members | Appointments a month | Appointments a member * | Sales a member * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top | 189 | 869 | 4.60 | $3,555 |
| Third | 117 | 544 | 4.65 | $3,661 |
| Second | 79 | 419 | 5.30 | $4,219 |
| Bottom | 38 | 263 | 6.92 | $5,168 |
| All 97 | 105 | 521 | 4.96 | $3,860 |
The member and appointment counts are as the brand reported it and the two right-hand columns divide the appointments and annual sales by members, marked *.
Across the quartiles each extra member arrives with 4.01 more appointments a month. 606 more appointments for 151 more members from bottom to top *, worth $3,122 a year each at the system ticket.
The bottom quartile earns more per member and holds far fewer of them. $5,168 against $3,555 on 38 members against 189 *, the signature of a bar running on walk-ins.
Ten more members is worth $31,196 a year. At the system average *, and the gap between quartiles is 72 to 151 members, so the ladder here is climbed in blocks of ten.
Member counts range from 11 to 289 across the system. A difference of 26 times, wider than sales, appointments or anything else reported.
Forty-five percent of bars hold more members than the average. Against 40% beating the average appointment count and 43% the average sales, so members are the most evenly held of the three.
Top performers
What separates the top Blo Blow Dry Bar performers
Blo Blow Dry Bar splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $671,945 a year. The worst averaged $196,397. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $383,618. The average was $405,325. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 3.4× 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 700 to 1,000 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 $327,860 to $424,071, a 1.3× 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
- Members, the operating driver.This model bills on members. The owner watches how many people join, how many cancel, and what a member spends beyond the plan. 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 14.2% 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.97 of 114 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. Anything below the sales line has to come from the franchisor or from owners you call.
The appointment as the unit
Sixty-five dollars a chair, everywhere in the system.
| quartile | Bars | Gross sales | Appointments a month | A year * | Ticket * |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top | 24 | $671,945 | 869 | 10,428 | $64.44 |
| Third | 24 | $428,322 | 544 | 6,528 | $65.61 |
| Second | 24 | $333,340 | 419 | 5,028 | $66.30 |
| Bottom | 25 | $196,397 | 263 | 3,156 | $62.23 |
| All 97 | 97 | $405,325 | 521 | 6,252 | $64.83 |
The sales and appointment counts are as the brand reported it and the annual and ticket columns multiply and divide them, marked *.
The appointment counts are monthly figures. The table’s own arithmetic makes the average 521 a month across 97 bars. At $405,325 of annual sales gives a $64.83 ticket, a figure that matches a blow dry, where an annual reading would imply $778 a visit.
Every quartile charges within $4.07 of every other. $62.23 to $66.30 *, against sales that differ 3.42 times over, so price accounts for barely any of the difference between bars.
The average bar runs about 20 appointments a day. 521 a month across roughly 26 trading days *, against 33 at the top quartile and 10 at the bottom.
One more appointment a day is worth $20,227 a year. 26 a month at $64.83 *, which is 5.0% of what the average bar bills, so this business moves in single-chair increments.
The highest-selling bar billed $1,302,092 and the lowest-selling $73,253. 17.8 times *, and the median bar at $383,618 sits 5.4% below the mean.
Minimum charges and what it costs to open
Fixed minimums, and they land hardest on the smallest.
| Charge | Rate | Top quartile | All 97 | Bottom quartile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royalty | 6% of gross sales | $40,317 | $24,320 | $11,784 |
| Advertising fund | 2% or $250 a month | $13,439 | $8,107 | $3,928 |
| Local advertising | $1,500 a month or 1% | $18,000 | $18,000 | $18,000 |
| Software and fixed charges | $583 a month | $6,996 | $6,996 | $6,996 |
| Total | n/a | $78,752 | $57,423 | $40,708 |
| Share of sales | n/a | 11.7% | 14.2% | 20.7% |
The rates, minimums and monthly charges are as the brand reported it and the annual dollar figures apply them to each quarter's filed sales, marked *.
The 1% local advertising alternative only takes over above $1,800,000 of sales. *, higher than the highest-selling bar at $1,302,092, so every bar in this system pays the $1,500 monthly minimum.
The minimum may drop to $1,000 a month after the first year. At the brand’s discretion, taking the annual requirement from $18,000 to $12,000, worth 3.1 points of sales to a bottom-quarter bar *.
At least $1,000 a month of that must go to one designated digital provider. Falling to $750 after the first year, so two thirds of the local advertising budget is directed.
Fixed software and service charges total $583 a month. $245 for the booking platform, $200 brand maintenance, $88 for point-of-sale support and $50 for technology, plus $600 a month of recruitment software through the first year *.
A bar costs $327,860 to $424,071 to open. 0.81 to 1.05 times a year of average sales *, of which $68,080 to $76,480 goes to the brand, with building work at $134,650 to $184,900 after a landlord allowance of $32,000 to $88,000.
Territory and the system
Three blocks, and a system adding a bar a month.
| Year | Start | End | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 81 | 89 | +8 |
| 2024 | 89 | 100 | +11 |
| 2025 | 100 | 114 | +14 |
The counts are as the brand reported it. The 2024 Totals row prints 154 openings against 14 in its own state detail, which we flag instead of adjust.
The system grew from 81 bars to 114 across three years. Accelerating each year, from +8 to +11 to +14, and the single company-owned bar was sold during 2025, leaving the brand with zero of its own.
The protected territory is three blocks in a city or a mile in the suburbs. Set once the site is chosen and adjustable as demographics change, among the smallest protected areas in this library.
Two statements about exclusivity sit in the same item. One promises to keep every other bar and competing business outside the territory while a franchisee complies. The other says an exclusive territory is excluded, worth settling in writing.
Resorts, airports, casinos and military bases are carved out. The brand may license a bar in any of those inside your territory, and may sell branded products there through its own website and mail order.
Marketing outside the territory needs written approval. As does any sale through internet, catalog or telephone channels, while the mobile service may operate outside it, which is the one channel that travels.
Questions we get asked
Questions an owner asks.
What does a Blo bar bill?
Across 97 bars open a full year, 2025 gross sales averaged $405,325 with a median of $383,618. The highest-selling billed $1,302,092 and the lowest-selling $73,253. By quartile the averages were $671,945, $428,322, $333,340 and $196,397, and 43% of bars cleared the system average.
What is an appointment worth?
$64.83 on our reading, $405,325 of annual sales against 521 appointments a month. By quartile the ticket runs $64.44, $65.61, $66.30 and $62.23, a range of 6.5% against sales that differ 3.42 times over. So volume.
How many appointments is that?
About 20 a day at the average bar, 33 at the top quartile and 10 at the bottom, on roughly 26 trading days a month. One more appointment a day is worth $20,227 a year, or 5.0% of what the average bar bills.
What do members contribute?
The average bar holds 105 members and the top quartile 189 against the bottom quarter's 38. Across the quartiles each extra member comes with 4.01 more appointments a month, worth about $3,122 a year on our reading. Member counts range from 11 to 289.
What does the brand take?
6% of gross sales in royalty, plus the greater of 2% or $250 a month to the advertising fund. $583 a month of fixed software and service charges, a $245 booking platform, $200 brand maintenance, $88 point-of-sale support and $50 technology. Recruitment software adds $600 a month through the first year.
What has to be spent on local advertising?
The greater of $1,500 a month or 1% of gross sales, from the fourth month of operation. On our reading the 1% only overtakes the minimum above $1,800,000 of sales, higher than any bar in this system, so every bar pays $18,000 a year. At least $1,000 a month must go to one designated digital provider, falling to $750 after the first year. The brand may reduce the overall minimum to $1,000 after twelve months.
What does a bar cost to open?
$327,860 to $424,071 for 700 to 1,000 square feet, of which $68,080 to $76,480 goes to the brand. Building work run $134,650 to $184,900 after a negotiated landlord allowance of $32,000 to $88,000, furniture and equipment $45,135 to $48,426. Additional funds $15,000 to $25,000 for three months.
Which two numbers should run monthly?
Members against 105, because each one has about $3,122 a year and ten of them move the business by 7.7%. And appointments a day against 20, because the ticket holds steady across this whole system and the chair is the only thing that moves.
- 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.
Questions worth putting to Blo Blow Dry Bar
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 Blo Blow Dry Bar 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 →How full is your chair?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast. Reporting, built around a $64.83 ticket that holds across the whole system, 105 members at $3,122 each. An $18,000 minimum advertising charge every bar pays alike.
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
Blo Blow Dry Bar reads against the rest of the beauty & personal care group: Amazing Lash Studio · Drybar · European Wax Center · Hammer & Nails · The Lash Lounge · Waxing the City. The beauty & personal care 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.
- 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.
- Revenue was the highest it has been. Why did profit not move?Where the extra revenue went, line by line.