Camp Bow Wow franchise unit economics
Camp Bow Wow franchisees run dog day camp, boarding, grooming and training from a building of about 6,000 square feet with up to 80 cabins. Across 207 camps gross sales averaged $1,089,860 with labor at 42.6%, rent and facilities at 15.7%, other operating costs at 18.7% and cost of goods at 8.6%. That leaves 14.4% for the owner before interest, tax and depreciation, and 18.5% of Total Franchise Owner's Benefit. The top 52 camps keep 28.4% of sales and the bottom 52 keep 2.2%.
- Primary source
- Camp Bow Wow Franchising, 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
- Population
- 207 of 224 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 bottom 52 Camp Bow Wow camps pay $172,789 a year for rent and facilities. The top 52 pay $188,454. The buildings cost within 9% of each other and one group bills $700,074 more, which is why the same line reads 22.1% of sales at the bottom and 12.7% at the top, and why the bottom quarter's owner takes home $1,402 a month.
- The bottom quarter's owner takes home $1,402 a month. $16,827 of owner's benefit on $780,768 of sales, and profit is a $4,755 loss before the owner is paid at all.
- Rent costs within 9% of the same money whether a camp bills $780,768 or $1,480,842. $172,789 against $188,454 *, 22.1% of sales at the bottom and 12.7% at the top.
- Fifty-eight cents of every extra sales dollar reaches the owner. $403,232 of additional benefit on $700,074 of additional sales between the bottom and top quarters *.
- Labor is 47.9% of sales at the bottom and 38.8% at the top. 9.1 points, worth $71,050 at the bottom quarter's own revenue *, more than four times what it takes home.
- The royalty is 3.5% in year one and the greater of 7% or $2,500 a month after it. The opening year saves $38,145 at system-average sales, and the monthly minimum matches 7% only at $428,571 a year *.
How much does a Camp Bow Wow franchise make?
The average Camp Bow Wow unit reported $1,089,860 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $1,052,381. The brand’s disclosure document puts the profit line at 18.5% of revenue. Fees come off the top first, at about 11% 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 camps are below.
Top performers
What separates the top Camp Bow Wow performers
Camp Bow Wow splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $1,480,842 a year. The worst averaged $780,768. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $1,052,381. The average was $1,089,860. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 1.9× gap between bands, and 6.6× between the strongest and weakest single location, 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 6,000 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 $954,606 to $1,229,536, 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.
- Lease economics.Occupancy cost ran 15.7% 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 42.6% of sales, against 18.5% kept at the end. Staff productivity, scheduling against demand hour by hour, and the balance of base pay to commission are where this is won. Small movements here move the result more than anything else, because nothing else in the structure is that large.
- Occupancy, the line that does not flex.Rent and building costs take 15.7% 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.
- Pets served, the operating driver.This model bills on pets served. The owner counts how many pets come through in a day and how many come back within the month. 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 11.0% 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.207 of 224 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.
The profit line, three ways
Two hundred and seven camps, and a quarter of them run at a loss before the owner is paid.
| Line | All 207 | Share | Top 52 | Share | Bottom 52 | Share | Points gained * |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross sales | $1,089,860 | 100.0% | $1,480,842 | 100% | $780,768 | 100.0% | n/a |
| Cost of goods | $93,903 | 8.6% | $123,010 | 8.3% | $68,890 | 8.8% | 0.5 |
| Labor | $464,073 | 42.6% | $574,784 | 38.8% | $374,249 | 47.9% | 9.1 |
| Rent and facilities | $171,270 | 15.7% | $188,454 | 12.7% | $172,789 | 22.1% | 9.4 |
| Other operating | $203,949 | 18.7% | $248,754 | 16.8% | $169,595 | 21.7% | 4.9 |
| profit | $156,665 | 14.4% | $345,841 | 23.4% | −$4,755 | −0.6% | 24.0 |
| Owner's compensation | $44,605 | 4.1% | $74,218 | 5.0% | $21,582 | 2.8% | 2.2 |
| Total owner's benefit | $201,269 | 18.5% | $420,059 | 28.4% | $16,827 | 2.2% | 26.2 |
Every dollar figure and every percentage is as the brand reported it. The final column is marked *, measuring how many points of sales each line gives up between the bottom 52 and the top 52.
Rent and labor give up 18.5 of the 26.2 points. 9.4 and 9.1 respectively *, cost of goods and other operating costs together account for 5.4, and the owner's own salary for the rest.
The median camp keeps almost exactly what the average camp keeps. 18.0% against 18.5% of sales, on a median of $1,052,381 against an average of $1,089,860, unusual in this library. A sign the distribution is close to symmetric.
Camps range from $371,438 to $2,465,224 of sales. 6.6 times, and the bottom quarter tops out at $1,293,176 while the top quarter starts at $957,444, so the two groups overlap by $335,732 of revenue.
Half the camps spend more on wages than the average suggests.
Mean and median disagree most on the two lines an owner controls. Labor is 42.6% of sales on the mean and 37.3% on the median. Owner's compensation is 4.1% on the mean and 0.5% on the median. Because most owners take their pay as a draw.
| Line | Mean | Share | Median | Share | Camps beating the mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross sales | $1,089,860 | 100.0% | $1,052,381 | 100.0% | 93 of 207 (45%) |
| Cost of goods | $93,903 | 8.6% | $88,128 | 8.4% | 91 of 207 (44%) |
| Labor | $464,073 | 42.6% | $392,422 | 37.3% | 99 of 207 (48%) |
| Rent and facilities | $171,270 | 15.7% | $161,670 | 15.4% | 87 of 207 (42%) |
| Other operating | $203,949 | 18.7% | $158,564 | 15.1% | 72 of 207 (35%) |
| profit | $156,665 | 14.4% | $145,680 | 13.8% | 96 of 207 (46%) |
| Owner's compensation | $44,605 | 4.1% | $5,578 | 0.5% | 70 of 207 (34%) |
| Total owner's benefit | $201,269 | 18.5% | $189,771 | 18.0% | 100 of 207 (48%) |
As the brand reported it.
Owner’s compensation has a median of $5,578 against a mean of $44,605. Most owners take their money as a draw through the balance sheet, which sits outside these figures, so owner’s benefit.
Same box, different revenue
Every camp is the same box. The revenue is what differs.
The current prototype is about 6,000 square feet, give or take 15%, housing up to 80 cabins with 50 required to open. Read against that footprint, the difference between the top and bottom quarters is entirely on the sales side. The rent per square foot is within 9% across the whole system. The sales per square foot vary by 90%.
| Measure | All 207 | Top 52 | Bottom 52 | Top against bottom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales a square foot | $181.64 | $246.81 | $130.13 | 1.90× |
| Rent and facilities a square foot | $28.54 | $31.41 | $28.80 | 1.09× |
| Labor a square foot | $77.35 | $95.80 | $62.37 | 1.54× |
| Owner's benefit a square foot | $33.54 | $70.01 | $2.80 | 25.0× |
| Sales per cabin at 80 cabins | $13,623 | $18,511 | $9,760 | 1.90× |
| Sales per cabin at the 50 required to open | $21,797 | $29,617 | $15,615 | 1.90× |
Every figure here is marked *, dividing each filed average by the prototype footprint and cabin count.
Owner's benefit per square foot runs 25 times higher at the top. $70.01 against $2.80 *, on rent that differs by $2.61 a foot.
The bottom quarter pays $28.80 a square foot and earns $130.13. Rent and facilities are 22.1% of what comes in *, which is the single clearest reading of why that group ends the year at $16,827.
What $700,074 of extra sales is actually worth.
Between the bottom quarter and the top, sales rise $700,074 and owner's benefit rises $403,232. That is 57.6 cents of every additional dollar. Because the costs that scale with revenue are labor and cost of goods and the ones that stay put are rent, facilities and most of the operating block.
| Line | Bottom 52 | Top 52 | Extra dollars | Share of the extra sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross sales | $780,768 | $1,480,842 | $700,074 | 100.0% |
| Cost of goods | $68,890 | $123,010 | $54,120 | 7.7% |
| Labor | $374,249 | $574,784 | $200,535 | 28.6% |
| Rent and facilities | $172,789 | $188,454 | $15,664 | 2.2% |
| Other operating | $169,595 | $248,754 | $79,159 | 11.3% |
| Owner's benefit | $16,827 | $420,059 | $403,232 | 57.6% |
The two quarter averages are as the brand reported it. The extra-dollars and share columns are marked *, subtracting one from the other and dividing by the sales difference.
Rent takes 2.2 cents of each additional sales dollar. $15,664 of extra rent against $700,074 of extra sales *, which is the whole argument for filling the camp you already pay for.
Fees and the royalty step
Half price for a year, then a minimum that rises every six months.
The royalty is 3.5% of sales for the first twelve months. After that it is 7% of sales, or a monthly minimum if that is higher. The minimum rises from $1,500 to $2,500 over the first two years. Add a 1% advertising fund, a 3% local advertising requirement and $250 a month of technology, plus up to $1,000 a month of required third-party software.
| Charge | Rate | At $1,089,860 of sales * |
|---|---|---|
| Royalty, first year | 3.5% of net revenue | $38,145 |
| Royalty, year two onward | the greater of 7% or the monthly minimum | $76,290 |
| Advertising fund | 1%, may rise to 3% | $10,899 |
| Local advertising | 3% of net revenue | $32,696 |
| Technology | $250 a month, plus up to $1,000 of third-party software | $3,000 to $15,000 |
| Together, from year two | 11% plus technology | $122,885 to $134,885 |
Rates and charges are as the brand reported it; the dollar column is marked *, applying each to the group's average gross sales.
Year one saves $38,145 at system-average sales. Half the royalty for twelve months *. That is about a fifth of what an average camp's owner takes home in a full year, in the first year of trading.
Local advertising costs more than the advertising fund does. 3% against 1% *, so $32,696 of the $43,595 the two advertising lines take together stays under the owner's control.
What it costs to open
$954,606, and the building is 56% of it.
Building work runs $516,735 to $663,917 after the landlord's contribution. The brand took those figures from contractor bids on the current 6,000 square foot design. Cabins and interior fencing add $76,750, equipment and opening inventory $136,799, and a webcam system, the feature the brand is known for, another $23,639 to $29,000.
| Line | Low | High | Share of the low estimate * |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $50,000 | $50,000 | 5.2% |
| Improvements to a leased building | $516,735 | $663,917 | 54.1% |
| Equipment, supplies and opening inventory | $136,799 | $136,799 | 14.3% |
| Dog cabins and interior fencing | $76,750 | $76,750 | 8.0% |
| Webcam system | $23,639 | $29,000 | 2.5% |
| Plans and permits | $31,000 | $65,000 | 3.2% |
| Signage | $4,846 | $8,000 | 0.5% |
| Pre-opening personnel | $5,592 | $34,281 | 0.6% |
| Deposits | $7,335 | $11,460 | 0.8% |
| Professional services | $910 | $11,864 | 0.1% |
| Training travel | $1,000 | $2,965 | 0.1% |
| Launch advertising | $15,000 | $15,000 | 1.6% |
| Financing fees | $0 | $39,500 | 0.0% |
| Project management fee | $5,000 | $5,000 | 0.5% |
| Additional funds, three months | $80,000 | $80,000 | 8.4% |
| Total | $954,606 | $1,229,536 | 100% |
Amounts are as the brand reported it and the share column is marked *; both columns add to their stated totals exactly.
Payback on the low estimate is 4.74 years at the system average. $954,606 against $201,269 of owner's benefit *, falling to 2.27 years in the top quarter.
Openings ran 14, then 13, then 3. Camps in the United States went from 199 to 224 over three years. At the end of 2025, 25 owners had signed and had no camp open yet. The brand expects 17 to open in the coming year.
Questions we get asked
Questions owners ask.
What does a Camp Bow Wow camp bill and keep?
Gross sales averaged $1,089,860 across 207 camps in 2025 with a median of $1,052,381, a high of $2,465,224 and a low of $371,438. Total owner's benefit averaged $201,269, or 18.5% of sales, with a median of $189,771.
How apart are the best and worst camps?
The top 52 on profitability average $1,480,842 of sales and keep 28.4%, or $420,059. The bottom 52 average $780,768 and keep 2.2%, or $16,827, with profit at a $4,755 loss before the owner's own salary.
Where does the money go?
Labor at 42.6% of sales, other operating costs at 18.7%, rent and facilities at 15.7% and cost of goods at 8.6%, which includes the royalty. That leaves 14.4% of profit before any owner's salary.
What does the brand take?
3.5% of net revenue in the first year while in good standing, then the greater of 7% or a monthly minimum rising to $2,500. Add a 1% advertising fund that may rise to 3%, a 3% local advertising requirement and $250 a month of technology plus up to $1,000 of required third-party software.
What does it cost to open?
$954,606 to $1,229,536. Building work is $516,735 to $663,917 after the landlord's contribution. Cabins and fencing are $76,750, equipment and stock $136,799, and three months of spare cash $80,000. The current prototype is about 6,000 square feet with up to 80 cabins and 50 required to open.
Run your own numbers.
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