Elements Massage franchise unit economics
Elements Massage franchisees run a therapeutic massage and skincare studio on a monthly membership model. Across 234 studios open the full year the average was $981,430 of total sales on 7,953 client visits and 560 ending memberships, with a median of $897,288. Same-studio revenue rose 4.5% on the year.
- Primary source
- Elements Therapeutic Massage, 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
- 234 of 239 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 ten highest-selling Elements studios convert 21.1% of new clients into members. The ten lowest-selling convert 4.8%. Everything else about them is the same: a member is worth about $1,753 a year in both groups and visits roughly fourteen times. The top ten bill $2,372,416 and the bottom ten $353,189. That 6.7-times gap is what one conversation at the front desk compounds into over a few years.
- Membership conversion runs 21.1% at the top ten studios and 4.8% at the bottom ten. The single number that separates a $2.4m studio from a $353,000 one.
- A member is worth about $1,753 a year wherever they join. $1,742 in the top third, $1,752 in the bottom third. Pricing is already the same everywhere.
- Members visit about fourteen times a year in every tier. 13.9 at the top ten, 15.4 at the bottom ten. The lowest-selling studios have the most loyal members and the fewest of them.
- The bottom ten studios shrank 1.1% last year while the system grew 4.5%. Same-studio revenue, so the gap is widening.
- $31,200 of fixed fees lands before the 10% of receipts. 18.8% of the bottom ten's revenue against 11.3% of the top ten's.
How much does a Elements Massage franchise make?
The average Elements Massage unit reported $981,430 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $897,288. 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 10% 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.
Converting an existing business
One number accounts for the range.
| Group | Studios | Sales | Client visits | Membership conversion | Ending memberships | Revenue per member |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 10 | 10 | $2,372,416 | 18,332 | 21.1% | 1,318 | $1,800 |
| Top third | 77 | $1,437,351 | 11,367 | 16.2% | 825 | $1,742 |
| Bottom third | 77 | $613,375 | 5,150 | 7.3% | 350 | $1,752 |
| Bottom 10 | 10 | $353,189 | 3,339 | 4.8% | 217 | $1,628 |
| All 234 | 234 | $981,430 | 7,953 | 11.6% | 560 | $1,753 |
Revenue, visits, conversion and membership figures as the brand reported it.
Revenue tracks conversion almost exactly. Conversion runs 4.4 times higher at the top ten than the bottom ten, and revenue runs 6.7 times higher. Members run 6.1 times higher. Those three numbers move together because each converted client stays and keeps spending. So a conversion gap this year becomes a membership gap next year and a revenue gap the year after.
Little else about the studios differs. A member is worth $1,800 a year at the top ten and $1,628 at the bottom ten, a 10.6% difference against a 572% difference in revenue. Same prices, same packages, same behavior once someone joins. What the highest-selling studios do better happens in the first ten minutes after a new client finishes their first massage.
Four points of conversion moves you a whole tier. The average studio converts 11.6% and holds 560 members. The top third converts 16.2% and holds 825, 265 more members and $455,921 more revenue on the same door count. That is worth roughly $99,000 a year for every point gained. That is the highest-return thing to work on in this model.
What one visit is worth.
| Group | Sales | Client visits | Revenue per visit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top 10 | $2,372,416 | 18,332 | $129.41 |
| Top third | $1,437,351 | 11,367 | $126.45 |
| Bottom third | $613,375 | 5,150 | $119.10 |
| Bottom 10 | $353,189 | 3,339 | $105.78 |
| All 234 | $981,430 | 7,953 | $123.40 |
Ours, dividing each group's disclosed average revenue by its disclosed average visits.
The average Elements visit is worth $123.40, and the industry average is $123.10. The brand sits exactly at the market rate. Pushing price is the lever with the least room in it.
The $23.63 gap between the top ten and bottom ten is mix. A studio converting 21.1% of clients has more members buying add-ons and skincare alongside their massage; one converting 4.8% is serving more one-off visits. So even the modest per-visit advantage at the top traces back to conversion.
Top performers
What separates the top Elements Massage performers
Elements Massage splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $1,437,351 a year. The worst averaged $613,375. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $897,288. The average was $981,430. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 2.3× 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 234 studio floor 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 $524,989 to $1,057,853, a 2.0× 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.
- The gift card book.Gift cards are sold before the service is delivered. The top performers are not selling more of them by accident, they are running a deliberate seasonal push into the holidays and out of it again. The accounting follows: a gift card is deferred revenue until it is redeemed, so cash and earned revenue arrive in different periods.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites.Fees run about 10.0% 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.234 of 239 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, no attainment figure. Anything below the sales line has to come from the franchisor or from owners you call.
Visits & members
Members behave the same everywhere.
| Group | Client visits | Ending memberships | Visits per member |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top 10 | 18,332 | 1,318 | 13.9 |
| Top third | 11,367 | 825 | 13.8 |
| Bottom third | 5,150 | 350 | 14.7 |
| Bottom 10 | 3,339 | 217 | 15.4 |
| All 234 | 7,953 | 560 | 14.2 |
Ours, dividing disclosed visits by disclosed ending memberships.
The lowest-selling studios have the most engaged members. 15.4 visits a year at the bottom ten against 13.9 at the top ten. Whatever is wrong at a $353,189 studio, it is happening before someone becomes a member. The people who join stay and come back; there are just 217 of them instead of 1,318.
That reframes what a low-selling studio should fix. Retention programs, rebooking scripts and loyalty offers all work on the part of the funnel that already works. The numbers point at the first visit: how a new client is greeted, what they are offered at the desk, and whether anyone asks for the membership.
How far behind the bottom third actually is.
| Move | Members to add | Revenue it adds | Conversion points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom third to system average | 210 | $368,055 | 4.3 |
| System average to top third | 265 | $455,921 | 4.6 |
| Bottom third to top third | 475 | $823,976 | 8.9 |
Ours, taking the difference between the disclosed group averages for ending memberships, sales and membership conversion.
Four points of conversion is the difference between each tier from the next. From 7.3% to 11.6%, then 11.6% to 16.2%. Put in front-desk terms, a studio seeing 100 new clients a month is converting seven of them in the bottom third and twelve at the system average, five more conversations going the right way.
Building the membership base takes years, and that is the point. 210 net members at the system average is worth $368,055 of annual revenue. It arrives one signature at a time against whatever you lose each month. A studio holding 350 members has the same fixed fee bill as one holding 1,318.
Same-studio growth, and who is falling behind.
| Group | Same-studio revenue change |
|---|---|
| Top 10 | +4.6% |
| Top third | +4.0% |
| Bottom third | +3.9% |
| Bottom 10 | −1.1% |
| All 234 | +4.5% |
As the brand reported it, comparing 2025 to 2024 for studios open at least a year before 1 January 2025.
The bottom ten went backwards while everyone else grew. Three of the four groups moved between 3.9% and 4.6%, tightly clustered, and then the lowest-selling ten lost 1.1%. That is a small group in real trouble, and it matches the six studios that closed during the year.
If your studio is growing under 3.9% you are losing ground. The bottom third managed 3.9% on a much smaller base, so the whole distribution moved together except its tail. Measure yourself against the tier growth rate.
Fees and the network
What the brand and the required marketing take.
| Group | Revenue | 10% of receipts | Fixed fees | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 10 | $2,372,416 | $237,242 | $31,200 | $268,442 | 11.3% |
| Top third | $1,437,351 | $143,735 | $31,200 | $174,935 | 12.2% |
| Bottom third | $613,375 | $61,338 | $31,200 | $92,538 | 15.1% |
| Bottom 10 | $353,189 | $35,319 | $31,200 | $66,519 | 18.8% |
| All 234 | $981,430 | $98,143 | $31,200 | $129,343 | 13.2% |
Ours, applying the disclosed rates to each disclosed group average.
The fixed $31,200 costs the bottom ten seven and a half points more of revenue than the top ten. 8.8% of $353,189 against 1.3% of $2,372,416. The same two invoices land on both, and the studio least able to absorb them has them heaviest. At the lowest-selling studios disclosed, $155,358, the total load reaches 30.1%.
The local spend and the local advertising fee are separate obligations. 2% of receipts as a spend requirement, plus $2,000 a month payable on the fifteenth. On the average studio that is $19,629 plus $24,000. So a shade over $43,600 a year committed to marketing before any decision of yours. Is another argument for putting the conversion effort at the desk, where the only cost is attention.
The network of locations.
| Year | Start | Opened | Terminations | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 245 | 9 | 10 | 244 |
| 2024 | 244 | 4 | 9 | 239 |
| 2025 | 239 | 6 | 6 | 239 |
As the brand reported it.
Nineteen studios opened and twenty-five left over three years. The count went 245, 244, 239, 239, a system holding position. That is a different proposition from the brands opening fifty a year. It changes what you should expect: the franchisor's attention goes to existing studios, and new territory is scarce.
Transfers are the live market. Colorado alone saw 13 over two years. For an owner that cuts both ways: a route into a second studio without a build. A signal about how many owners in a mature market are choosing to move on.
Questions we get asked
What actually separates a strong Elements studio from a weak one?
Membership conversion, and very little else. The top ten studios convert 21.1% of new clients into members and the bottom ten convert 4.8%. Revenue per member is $1,800 against $1,628, and visits per member are 13.9 against 15.4. The weaker studios' members are slightly more loyal. All the difference is in how many people join in the first place.
What is an Elements member worth?
About $1,753 a year, or $146 a month, and the figure changes littlebetween tiers. At an average of 14.2 visits a year that is roughly $123 a visit, which is also what the whole US spa industry averaged in 2025. Set your acquisition spend against $1,753 a year for as long as the member stays.
How many members do I need to reach the system average?
560, against 350 in the bottom third and 825 in the top third. Moving from the bottom third to the average is 210 net members and about $368,055 of annual revenue. Comes from roughly four points of conversion, seven of every hundred new clients becoming twelve. The base builds one signature at a time against whatever leaves each month, so it is a two to three year project.
What does the system cost me every year regardless of sales?
$31,200 (the $2,000 monthly local advertising fee and the $600 monthly technology fee) before the 6% royalty, the 2% brand marketing fund and the 2% local spend requirement. On the average studio the whole load is $129,343, or 13.2% of receipts. On a studio at $353,189 it is 18.8%, and the fixed portion alone is 8.8% of the top line.
Who does bookkeeping for an Elements Massage franchise?
Memberships bill monthly ahead of the massage, and unused sessions accumulate. So part of your balance is service you still owe. That balance grows with the membership base you are working so hard to build. total sales, which your royalty is calculated on, includes gift card sales and redemptions and excludes tips paid to therapists, so both need separating cleanly. Track membership conversion and ending memberships alongside revenue every month, because those two predict next year's top line better than this year's revenue does. 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.
- No cost lines. Wages, rent and cost of goods are not broken out, so margin cannot be rebuilt from the document.
- No attainment figure. The filing does not say how many locations reached the average it publishes.
Questions worth putting to Elements Massage
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 Elements Massage locations closed, were sold, or changed hands last year, and why?
Run your own numbers.
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