EarthWise Pet franchise unit economics
EarthWise Pet franchisees run pet nutrition centers, in-store and standalone grooming salons and mobile grooming vans, usually in combination. Across 130 nutrition centers retail sales averaged $650,138, and across 72 in-store salons grooming averaged $280,073. The brand's main projection shows 15.4%. That is 15.4% of gross profit and 9.2% of the sales figure printed beside it.
- Primary source
- NPM 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
- the locations the filing reports on
- 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.
EarthWise Pet's main projection reports 15.4%. Measured against the sales figure printed directly above it, the same $102,213 of profit is 9.2%. The percentage is profit measured against gross profit, not against sales. On a model where shop sales are 59% of the total, the difference is $68,778 a year.
- Every projected margin is measured against gross profit. 15.4% on the co-branded model is 9.2% of its own sales line *; on the mobile van the difference is 21.3% against 20.3%.
- The flagship projection mixes an all-unit retail average with top-third service figures. $650,138 is the mean across all 130 nutrition centers; $426,011 and $34,180 are top-third medians, 1.52 and 1.71 times their own all-unit means *.
- The mobile van projection multiplies a bottom-third ticket by a top-half pet count. $180.48 × 117 pets × 12 months = $253,393.92, the filed figure to the cent *.
- Retail is 59% of the co-branded model's sales and 36% of its gross profit. $650,138 of sales produces $238,434 at a 36.7% product margin, against $425,755 from services *.
- Grooming wages is 53.4% of sales in the salon model and 42.0% in the van. $340,832 on $649,057 and $106,425 on $253,394 *. The one line that decides whether either model works.
How much does a EarthWise Pet franchise make?
The average EarthWise Pet unit reported $650,138 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $592,765. The brand’s disclosure document puts the profit line at 9.2% of revenue. Fees come off the top first, at about 5.2% 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 locations are below.
Top performers
What separates the top EarthWise Pet performers
EarthWise Pet splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $1,093,847 a year. The worst averaged $266,016. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $592,765. The average was $650,138. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 4.1× 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.capacity is 10 vans multiplied by hours multiplied by how full they run. What you can sell is set by the build, and the build does not change after opening.
- 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 $78,300 to $1,036,250, a 13.2× 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 10.1% 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
- Cost of what you sell.Products and materials take 37.1% of sales, against 9.2% kept at the end. Buying terms, price discipline and waste are where this is won, and each of them compounds at volume. 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 10.1% 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.
- Membership and rebooking.A recurring plan turns a high-fixed-cost business from an appointment book into a subscription, which smooths the utilisation that drives the wage line. Rebooking before the customer leaves is what builds it, not marketing spend afterwards.
- Service and retail mix.Attachment rate on retail, and the share of customers on the higher service tiers, lift what each hour earns without adding an hour or a room. It is the only lever that raises the ceiling without spending capital.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites.Fees run about 5.2% 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
- What the figures cover.The figures describe FY ended 30 September 2025, reported by the franchisor and unaudited by us. Ask what changed after the period closed, because a filing is a photograph rather than a film.
Reading the projections
The percentage and the sales line are measuring different things.
The percentage printed under each projection is profit measured against gross profit. On a services-only model that barely matters, because cost of goods is 4.9% of sales. On the co-branded model, where product cost is $411,705, it flatters the headline by 6.2 points.
| Model | Total net sales | Gross profit | profit | Filed % | Of gross profit * | Of sales * |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One mobile van | $253,394 | $240,965 | $51,329 | 21.3% | 21.30% | 20.26% |
| Three mobile vans | $760,182 | $722,894 | $153,987 | 21.3% | 21.30% | 20.26% |
| Grooming salon | $649,057 | $622,106 | $114,374 | 18.4% | 18.38% | 17.62% |
| Grooming salon plus a van | $902,451 | $863,071 | $165,703 | 19.2% | 19.20% | 18.36% |
| In-store salon plus nutrition center | $1,110,330 | $664,189 | $102,213 | 15.4% | 15.39% | 9.21% |
| That plus a van | $1,363,724 | $905,154 | $153,542 | 17.0% | 16.96% | 11.26% |
Sales, gross profit, profit and the filed percentage are as the brand reported it; the last two columns are marked *.
Reading 15.4% as a share of sales overstates the money by $68,778. 15.4% of $1,110,330 is $170,991 against a filed $102,213 *, two thirds of a year's projected profit.
A salon with a food shop attached keeps half the share of sales that a salon alone keeps. 17.62% for the grooming salon model against 9.21% for the co-branded one *, because retail brings $650,138 of sales and $411,705 of product cost with it.
Where the money goes in each projection.
| Line | One van | Grooming salon | In-store salon plus nutrition center |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total net sales | $253,394 | $649,057 | $1,110,330 |
| Product and service cost | 4.9% | 4.2% | 40.2% |
| Wages | 42.0% | 53.4% | 30.7% |
| Rent | 13.0% | 11.9% | 10.1% |
| Royalty | 7.0% | 5.0% | 4.4% |
| Marketing contribution | 2.0% | 2.0% | 0.8% |
| Everything else | 10.8% | 5.9% | 4.6% |
| profit on sales | 20.3% | 17.6% | 9.2% |
Every percentage here is marked *, dividing each filed dollar line by that model's filed total net sales.
Wages is 53.4% of sales in the salon projection. $340,832 of grooming wages plus $6,031 of other wages on $649,057 *, four and a half times the rent and ten times the royalty.
Retail is 59% of the co-branded model's sales and 36% of its gross profit. $650,138 of shop sales leaves $238,434 after the cost of the goods, a 36.7% margin *, while $460,192 of services produces $425,755.
Where the numbers come from
Each projected revenue line traces to a specific published figure.
| Projected line | Amount | Drawn from | All-unit comparison | Multiple * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail, co-branded model | $650,138 | mean across all 130 nutrition centers | $650,138 | 1.00× |
| Grooming, co-branded model | $426,011 | median of the top third of 72 in-store salons | $280,073 mean | 1.52× |
| Self-wash, co-branded model | $34,180 | median of the top third of 60 self-wash salons | $19,937 mean | 1.71× |
| Grooming, standalone salon model | $614,877 | mean across all four standalone salons | $614,877 | 1.00× |
| Mobile van, all models | $253,394 | $180.48 ticket × 117 pets × 12 months | $180.46 ticket, 97 pets a month | 1.21× |
The amounts and the underlying historical figures are as the brand reported it, with the carried-forward figures marked.
A top-third salon grooms $426,011 and an average one $280,073. The projection uses the first *, so its grooming line sits 52% above what the 72 reporting salons averaged.
The van projection takes its price from the bottom third and its volume from the top half. Applying the all-unit averages to the same arithmetic gives $210,055 against $253,394 *, a 21% difference before a single cost is deducted.
Running the co-branded model on all-unit averages changes the shape entirely. Using the average for all locations instead of the top third removes $160,181 of sales *. The projection only shows $102,213 of profit in total.
What units actually sell
What a nutrition center and a salon actually sold.
Behind the projections sit four historical tables covering the fiscal year to 30 September 2025. The two with meaningful populations are 130 co-branded nutrition centers and 72 in-store grooming salons, and both show a four-fold gap between the top and bottom thirds.
| Measure | Units | All, mean | All, median | Top third, mean | Bottom third, mean | Multiple * |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nutrition center retail sales | 130 | $650,138 | $592,765 | $1,093,847 | $266,016 | 4.11× |
| In-store salon grooming sales | 72 | $280,073 | $262,739 | $449,846 | $131,708 | 3.42× |
| In-store salon self-wash sales | 60 | $19,937 | $15,305 | $37,301 | $6,020 | 6.20× |
| Standalone grooming salon sales | 4 | $614,877 | $687,754 | $867,993 | $216,005 | 4.02× |
Sales figures and unit counts are as the brand reported it; the multiple column is marked *.
The mobile van, in visits.
The van table is measured the way a route business should be: average ticket, clients serviced, pets serviced. Ten vans traded the full quarter, and the ticket changes littlewhile the volume does.
| Measure | All, mean | All, median | Top third, mean | Bottom third, mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average ticket | $180.46 | $181.90 | $186.15 | $171.92 |
| Pets serviced a month | 97 | 100 | 122 | 71 |
| Clients serviced a month | 74 | 73 | 98 | 50 |
| Pets a client * | 1.31 | 1.37 | 1.24 | 1.42 |
| Annualized sales * | $210,055 | $218,280 | $272,524 | $146,476 |
Tickets and monthly counts are as the brand reported it. The pets-a-client and annualized sales rows are marked *, dividing pets by clients and multiplying each column's own ticket by its own monthly pet count by twelve.
The ticket moves 8% between the best and worst third; the volume moves 72%. $171.92 to $186.15 against 71 pets to 122 *. The route is filled or it is empty, and the price hardly matters.
Each client brings 1.31 pets. 97 pets from 74 clients a month *. A second dog in the same house is worth $180 and adds no driving.
Fees and what it costs to open
Four royalty rates, one brand. (Items 5 and 6)
The royalty depends on what is sold. Mobile grooming pays 7%, and never less than $100 a week. Salon services pay 5%. Food shop sales pay 4%. Marketing contribution is 2% on services and zero on retail. A co-branded operator therefore pays a combined 4.4% on sales.
| Revenue type | Royalty | Marketing | Together | On the projected line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile grooming | 7%, minimum $100 a week | 2% | 9% | $22,805 on $253,394 |
| Salon and in-store salon services | 5% | 2% | 7% | $45,434 on $649,057 |
| Nutrition center retail | 4% | 0% | 4% | $26,006 on $650,138 |
| Co-branded model, combined | 4.4% | 0.8% | 5.2% | $58,219 on $1,110,330 |
Rates are as the brand reported it and the dollar column comes from the filed projected royalty and marketing lines. The combined percentages and the crossover are marked *.
$78,300 for a van, $512,000 for the co-branded build.
| Model | Low | High | Projected profit | Payback on the low estimate * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile grooming only | $78,300 | $245,450 | $51,329 | 1.53 years |
| Mobile plus grooming salon | $299,000 | $754,250 | $165,703 | 1.80 years |
| Mobile plus in-store salon and nutrition center | $512,000 | $1,036,250 | $153,542 | 3.33 years |
| In-store salon added to an existing pet retailer | $204,000 | $744,250 | n/a | n/a |
Investment ranges and projected profit are as the brand reported it. The payback column is marked *, dividing each low estimate by the projected profit for the matching model. The figure is only as good as the projection it comes from.
The van is the cheapest way in and the fastest projected return. $78,300 against $51,329 *, against $512,000 and $153,542 for the full co-branded build.
The $100 weekly minimum equals 7% of sales at $74,286 a year. $100 a week matched against 7% *, a third of what the ten reporting vans annualize, so it binds only in the opening months.
Questions we get asked
Questions owners ask.
What margin do the projections actually show?
Measured against sales: 20.3% for a mobile van, 17.6% for a grooming salon and 9.2% for the in-store salon with a co-branded nutrition center. The headline 21.3%, 18.4% and 15.4% are profit over gross profit.
What do units actually sell?
Across 130 co-branded nutrition centers trading the full year, retail sales averaged $650,138 with a median of $592,765. Across 72 in-store salons, grooming averaged $280,073 and self-wash $19,937. Ten mobile vans annualize at about $210,055 on a $180.46 ticket and 97 pets a month.
What does the brand take?
7% on mobile grooming, and never less than $100 a week. 5% on salon services. 4% on food shop sales. A 2% marketing charge applies to services and nothing to shop sales. A co-branded operator pays a combined 5.2% of sales.
Where does the money go?
In the projections, wages is 42.0% of sales for a van, 53.4% for a grooming salon and 30.7% for the co-branded model, where product cost takes another 37.1%. Rent runs 10.1% to 13.0% across the three.
What does it cost to open?
$78,300 to $245,450 for mobile grooming only, $299,000 to $754,250 adding a grooming salon, $512,000 to $1,036,250 for the in-store salon with a nutrition center. $204,000 to $744,250 to add an in-store salon to an existing pet retailer. The initial franchise fee is $45,000 plus a territory and service fee of $5,000 to $15,000.
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 →Is your margin measured on sales or on gross profit?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast. Reporting, built around retail and services carried as separate profit lines, groomer wages measured against appointment hours, and product margin tracked by category.
Request the review