Engineering For Kids franchise unit economics
Engineering For Kids franchisees deliver STEM classes and camps inside a territory of roughly 100 K–8 schools. Of 22 locations trading at the end of 2025, 14 billed $75,000 or less, including 8 of the 16 open more than two years. The royalty steps down from 7% only within a single month, so the discount stays out of reach for almost every location.
- Primary source
- Engineering for Kids International, LLC, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
- Items read
- Items 5 and 6 for fees; Item 19 for sales and any profit figure; Item 20 for the location count
- Population
- 22 of 22 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.
Fourteen of the 22 locations trading at the end of 2025 billed $75,000 or less, and half the locations open more than two years sat in that same group. The royalty is advertised as a sliding scale from 7% to 5%. But the steps are measured inside a single month. Keeps almost every location at the top rate all year.
- Fourteen of 22 locations billed $75,000 or less. Including 8 of the 16 open more than two years *, so time in the business alone moves this number very little.
- The royalty discount resets every month. 6% starts above $25,000 in a single month and 5% above $50,000, so a location billing $200,000 a year pays a flat 7% *.
- Even the largest location pays 6.52%. At $575,000 range evenly across the year *. The 5% rate needs more than $600,000, which is where the disclosed range stops.
- A $300 monthly minimum governs below $51,429 of annual sales. *, and it starts in month seven, so a slow first year is charged at a minimum.
- A school in your territory is worth $750 a year at the bottom group. And an extra school costs $225 once *, so territory pays for itself in 3.6 months at even the lowest-selling run rate *.
How much does a Engineering For Kids franchise make?
The 2026 FDD for Engineering For Kids does not publish unit revenue in a form that answers this directly. What it does publish is set out below, starting with Behind the figures: 22 franchised locations, 2025; Billing $75,000 or less: 14 of 22; Mature locations at $75,000 or less: 8 of 16; Territory: About 100 K–8 schools.
Top performers
What separates the top Engineering For Kids performers
Engineering For Kids splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $600,000 a year. The worst averaged $75,000. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 8.0× 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 1,200 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 $71,200 to $139,750, 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
- Sessions, the operating driver.This model bills on sessions. The room holds a set number of people at a set time, so the owner works on how full each session runs. 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.
- The first year.This filing shows how a new location builds up, so the ramp can be underwritten from the document rather than assumed. Read two things out of it: the month sales cross the point where costs are covered, and how much cash you fund before that month arrives. Everything before break-even is paid for by you.
Context you underwrite around
- The reporting screen.22 of 22 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, no median, no attainment figure. Anything below the sales line has to come from the franchisor or from owners you call.
Where the 22 sit
Two thirds of the system sits in the bottom group.
| Annual gross sales | Under 2 years old | Over 2 years old | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 to $75,000 | 6 | 8 | 14 |
| $125,001 to $175,000 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| $175,001 to $225,000 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| $275,001 to $350,000 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| $350,001 to $425,000 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| $425,001 to $550,000 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| $550,001 to $600,000 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 6 | 16 | 22 |
Every count and group is as the brand reported it, with the 22 locations equaling the full franchised count at the end of 2025.
Half the mature locations are in the same group as every new one. 8 of 16 open more than two years, alongside all 6 under two *, so the build-up either happens early or stops.
Eight mature locations range across six groups above $125,000. From $125,001 up to $600,000 *, and the distance between the top of the bottom group and the top of the range is roughly eight times.
The highest group closes at $600,000. With zero open-ended group above it, so $600,000 is as much as this picture can show.
Two gaps sit inside the printed groups. The columns skip $75,001 to $125,000 and $225,001 to $275,000. The counted locations still add to the full 22. So every location fell outside those two windows.
Costs, expenses and profit stay outside this picture. These are gross sales before wages, venue fees, materials and Franchise fees, so the bottom group is a revenue figure.
A discount inside a month
The step-downs reset on the first of every month.
| Annual gross sales | A month * | Royalty a year * | Effective rate * |
|---|---|---|---|
| $75,000 | $6,250 | $5,250 | 7.00% |
| $200,000 | $16,667 | $14,000 | 7.00% |
| $400,000 | $33,333 | $27,000 | 6.75% |
| $575,000 | $47,917 | $37,500 | 6.52% |
The 7%, 6% and 5% groups and their monthly thresholds are as the brand reported it and the effective rates apply them to an even twelfth of each annual figure, marked *.
A location needs $25,000 in one month before it sees 6% on anything. That is $300,000 a year range evenly *, a level four or five of the 22 locations reach.
The 5% rate needs more than $600,000 a year on an even range. *, beyond the top of the disclosed range, so in practice it belongs to camp months.
Seasonality is worth real money here. A location concentrating $50,000 into a July camp month pays 6% and 5% on most of it. That is where the same revenue range evenly would pay 7% throughout. The one case where lumpy revenue beats smooth.
The reduced rates require being current on royalty and brand fund payments. So falling behind costs the discount as well as the late fee, the greater of $25 or 1.5% a month.
All in, the load runs 14.2% at $75,000 and 10.94% at $575,000. Royalty, a 2% brand fund, a 2% minimum local advertising charge and $200 a month of technology *, so scale is worth about three points.
The school is the unit
A hundred schools, at $225 each to add.
| Location | Annual gross sales | A school a year * | Extra school payback * |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top of the bottom band | $75,000 | $750 | 3.6 months |
| Middle of the range | $200,000 | $2,000 | 1.4 months |
| Highest band | $575,000 | $5,750 | 0.5 months |
The 100-school territory and the $225 price for each extra school are as the brand reported it and the per-school figures divide sales by schools, marked *.
Adding a school costs 30% of what the lowest-selling locations earns from one in a year. $225 against $750 *, the cheapest expansion available in this model by a wide margin.
The territory is measured in schools. About 100 with grades somewhere between kindergarten and eighth, so the addressable market is a countable list, and you can name every one of them.
Exclusivity is absent, and the brand keeps the right to compete. What you get is an assigned area you sell inside, with referrals owed to whoever holds a neighboring one, so the protection is behavioural.
Open areas within 25 miles are fair game until someone claims them. And a program running in one must be handed over if that area is later assigned, so revenue from outside your schools is borrowed.
The gap between the bottom group and the top is $5,000 a school. $750 against $5,750 *.
Opening and the system
A small system, getting smaller.
| Year | Start | Opened | Non-renewed | Ceased, other | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 26 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 23 |
| 2024 | 23 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 23 |
| 2025 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 22 |
| Three years | n/a | 4 | 5 | 3 | n/a |
Every figure is as the brand reported it, with zero terminations, zero reacquisitions and zero company-owned outlets across all three years.
Four locations opened against eight exits. *, and every exit came through non-renewal or an owner closing.
Zero opened in 2025. On a base of 23, in a system with zero company-owned locations, so the whole picture above is franchisee-run.
Opening costs $71,200 to $139,750, of which $30,000 is the fee. With rent of $7,500 to $15,000 covering five months on about 1,200 square feet, and building work of $10,000 to $50,000 for those taking a center.
The required opening marketing spend appears as both $2,500 and $1,000. The investment table and the advertising section say $2,500 while the note beneath the table says $1,000, budget at $2,500.
Veterans and existing owners each get 10% off the fee. $3,000 on a standard territory, and a second location at $27,000 is worth weighing against $225-a-school expansion of the first.
Questions we get asked
Questions an owner asks.
What do these locations bill?
In 2025, 14 of the 22 franchised locations billed $75,000 or less. One sat between $125,001 and $175,000, two between $175,001 and $225,000, one between $275,001 and $350,000, two between $350,001 and $425,000, one between $425,001 and $550,000 and one between $550,001 and $600,000.
Does time in business fix that?
Only partly. All six locations open less than two years sat in the bottom group, but so did 8 of the 16 open longer. Half the mature system is in the same group as every new arrival.
How does the royalty actually work?
7% on the first $25,000 of gross sales in a month, 6% on the next $25,000 and 5% above $50,000, with the groups resetting each month. On our reading a location billing $200,000 a year evenly pays a flat 7%, and even $575,000 comes to 6.52%.
What is the minimum royalty?
$300 a month from the seventh month after signing. On our reading that governs below about $51,429 of annual sales, which covers a good part of the bottom group.
What else does the brand take?
A 2% brand fund contribution and a local advertising requirement of the greater of 2% of gross sales or $100 a month. The total advertising obligation capped at 4%. Plus $200 a month of technology, rising by at most $25 a month in any twelve-month period.
How is the territory defined?
By schools. A standard territory covers roughly 100 schools with grades somewhere between kindergarten and eighth, and extra schools cost $225 each. It is expressly non-exclusive, and you may work unassigned open areas within 25 miles until they are assigned to someone else.
What does it cost to open?
$71,200 to $139,750 excluding real estate purchase, of which $30,000 is the franchise fee. Veterans and existing franchisees in good standing each get 10% off that fee.
Which two numbers should run monthly?
Revenue a school against $750, because that is what the bottom of the system earns and the gap to the top is $5,000 a school. Single-month gross sales against $25,000. Because that is where the royalty rate actually changes.
- No revenue figures. The filing makes no financial performance representation, so there is no disclosed sales number for any location.
- 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 Engineering For Kids
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 Engineering For Kids 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 →What is a school worth to you?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast. Reporting, built around $750 a school at the bottom and $5,750 at the top, a royalty that steps down only inside a single month. Schools you can add for $225.
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
Engineering For Kids reads against the rest of the stem and coding group: Bricks 4 Kidz · Challenge Island · Code Ninjas · Snapology. The stem and coding 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.
- Revenue was the highest it has been. Why did profit not move?Where the extra revenue went, line by line.
- At what point do spreadsheets stop coping?What changes at around ten units, and why lenders care.