Kitchen Tune-Up franchise unit economics
Kitchen Tune-Up franchisees sell kitchen remodeling from a vehicle and a small workspace, anything from an one-day cabinet tune-up to a full custom kitchen, into a territory of roughly 41,000 households. A full custom kitchen produces $14,195 of gross profit at 55.4%, while a tune-up produces $3,267 at 68.6%. The higher margin is the smaller number, so mix has to be chased in dollars.
- Primary source
- Kitchen Tune-Up, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
- Items read
- Item 7 for cost to open; Item 19 for sales and any profit figure
- Population
- 135 of 229 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.
Seven service lines, each with its gross profit attached. A tune-up has the best margin in the system at 68.6% and produces $3,267 of gross profit. A full custom kitchen has 55.4% and produces $14,195. The higher percentage is the smaller check.
- A full custom kitchen produces $14,195 of gross profit against $3,267 for a tune-up.4.3 times, on a margin 13.2 points lower *.
- A single territory bills $521,522; a territory inside a multi-territory business bills $422,603.23% more from one piece of ground *.
- Gross profit is 58% of retail, 15 points of labor and 28 points of product.Every overhead, the vehicle, the royalty and the marketing sit below that line.
- The mature minimum fees is $30,000 a year per territory.14.8% of revenue at the 25th percentile's $203,005 and 113.6% at the lowest-selling reporting single territory *.
- The average franchisee closes 50% of what it quotes; the median closes 46%.One job in two, on a service where the average refacing sale is $18,866.
How much does a Kitchen Tune-Up franchise make?
The average Kitchen Tune-Up unit reported $521,522 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $361,644. 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 8% 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.
Sales from lowest to highest
The whole distribution, published.
| Measure | One territory, 2025 | One territory, 2024 | Two or more, 2025 | Two or more, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75th percentile | $733,643 | $665,922 | $1,612,981 | $1,398,852 |
| Average | $521,522 | $479,767 | $1,084,681 | $999,648 |
| Middle 50% average | $385,275 | $379,314 | $927,707 | $790,849 |
| Median | $361,644 | $358,151 | $805,441 | $736,022 |
| 25th percentile | $203,005 | $188,867 | $526,861 | $512,355 |
| Lowest | $26,404 | n/a | $88,401 | n/a |
| Highest | $2,173,879 | n/a | $2,704,703 | n/a |
| Franchisees | 75 | n/a | 60 | n/a |
| Territories | 75 | n/a | 154 | n/a |
As the brand reported it.
A single territory bills $521,522; a territory inside a multi-territory business bills $422,603. 23% more from one piece of ground *. The 60 multi-territory franchisees hold 2.57 territories each and bill $1,084,681 between them, more in total, less from each.
The 25th percentile single territory bills $203,005 and the 75th bills $733,643. 3.6 times across the middle half, with the whole range running from $26,404 to $2,173,879, 82 times. The middle 50% average of $385,275 is the cleanest single figure for a new owner to plan against.
Single-territory averages rose 8.7% in a year while the median rose 1.0%. $479,767 to $521,522 against $358,151 to $361,644. The 25th percentile rose 7.5% and the 75th rose 10.2% *, so the gains landed at both ends and skipped the middle.
Multi-territory businesses grew more evenly: median up 9.4% and middle-50% average up 17.3%. $736,022 to $805,441 and $790,849 to $927,707 *. The multi-territory group moved as a body where the single-territory group moved at its edges.
Only 35% of single-territory franchisees reach their own average. Against 51% reaching the median, as arithmetic requires. The gap between $521,522 and $361,644 is $159,878, and it is created by the handful of businesses running toward $2,173,879.
Top performers
What separates the top Kitchen Tune-Up performers
Kitchen Tune-Up splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $733,643 a year. The worst averaged $203,005. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees. The middle location sold $361,644. The average was $521,522. More than half the system is below the number the brand quotes.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 3.6× gap between bands is not an operating gap. Catchment, daytime population and what sits next door set the ceiling before the first customer arrives.
- Territory, and how much of it is real.This model sells from a territory rather than a building, quoted at 41,000 households. 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 $121,930 to $198,850, a 1.6× 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
- Cost of what you sell.Products and materials take 42.0% of sales. Buying terms, price discipline and waste are where this is won, and each of them compounds at volume.
- Jobs, the operating driver.This model bills on jobs. Every job is won again, so the owner works on how many quotes turn into work and what the average job is worth when it does. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- 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 8.0% 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.135 of 229 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. Anything below the sales line has to come from the franchisor or from owners you call.
The service lines
Seven products, seven shares kept.
| Service line | Average sale | Median sale | Highest sale | Lowest sale | Average gross profit | Gross profit in dollars * |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full custom kitchen | $25,622 | $25,165 | $138,514 | $5,010 | 55.4% | $14,195 |
| Refacing | $18,866 | $17,466 | $124,992 | $2,505 | 59.2% | $11,169 |
| Redoor | $13,318 | $13,009 | $81,580 | $2,513 | 61.5% | $8,191 |
| Painting and recoloring | $10,589 | $6,685 | $56,655 | $1,146 | 55.6% | $5,887 |
| Countertop | $8,662 | $14,004 | $65,000 | $50 | 44.0% | $3,811 |
| Tune-Up | $4,762 | $3,140 | $49,927 | $515 | 68.6% | $3,267 |
| Miscellaneous | $3,505 | $1,200 | $94,293 | $3 | 58.7% | $2,057 |
Sale amounts and gross profit percentages are as the brand reported it, reordered here by average sale. The dollar column is marked *, applying each line's average gross profit percentage to its average sale.
A full custom kitchen produces 4.3 times the gross profit of a tune-up. $14,195 against $3,267 *, on a margin 13.2 points lower. The margin and the dollars kept point in opposite directions across this table. A business chasing the highest percentage would be chasing its smallest jobs.
Refacing at $18,866 and 59.2% is the best combination in the table. $11,169 of gross profit, second only to the full custom kitchen on dollars and third on percentage. It is also 39.7% of the system's product mix, the largest single line, so the system already concentrates where the arithmetic points.
Countertops take 44.0%, 24.6 points below the tune-up. The lowest-selling margin in the table on an average sale of $8,662. A business taking countertop work to fill a schedule should know it is the lowest-yielding hour in the catalog on both measures at once.
The average franchisee closes 50% of quotes and the median closes 46%. One in two. At a $18,866 refacing average, each percentage point of closing rate on 100 quotes is worth $18,866 of revenue and $11,169 of gross profit *.
Where the work comes from.
| Measure | Share |
|---|---|
| Refacing | 39.7% |
| Cabinets | 28.6% |
| Redooring | 17.3% |
| Painting | 10.4% |
| Wood restoration | 4.0% |
| Gross profit on retail sales | 58% |
| Product cost | 28% |
| Labor cost | 15% |
As the brand reported it.
Labor is 15% of the retail price and product is 28%. So materials cost nearly twice what the installation does. That is a purchasing business as much as a trade one. It puts supplier terms and product mix ahead of crew efficiency in the order of things that move the margin.
Refacing and cabinets are 68.3% of the mix. With redooring at 17.3% and painting at 10.4%. Wood restoration is 4.0%, a rounding error in revenue terms, and worth knowing before building capacity for it.
58% is a gross profit. Below it sit vehicle payments, hired labor, rent, utilities, insurance, royalties, advertising, taxes and financing. Against a fee load that reaches 8.3% at the single-territory average. A minimum fee of $30,000 a territory, the distance between 58% and a bottom line is considerable.
Fees and what it costs to open
$30,000 before the rate applies.
| Business | Sales | Royalty | National advertising fund | Technology | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-territory average | $1,084,681 | $65,081 | $10,847 | $6,000 | $81,928 | 7.6% |
| 75th percentile, one territory | $733,643 | $44,019 | $7,336 | $6,000 | $57,355 | 7.8% |
| Average, one territory | $521,522 | $31,291 | $6,000 | $6,000 | $43,291 | 8.3% |
| Median, one territory | $361,644 | $21,699 | $6,000 | $6,000 | $33,699 | 9.3% |
| 25th percentile, one territory | $203,005 | $18,000 | $6,000 | $6,000 | $30,000 | 14.8% |
| Lowest reporting, one territory | $26,404 | $18,000 | $6,000 | $6,000 | $30,000 | 113.6% |
Ours, built from the published rates applied to filed revenue.
The mature minimum is $30,000 a year per territory. $18,000 of minimum royalty, $6,000 of minimum advertising fund and $6,000 of technology *. Below $300,000 of annual revenue the royalty minimum governs, which covers everything at or under the 25th percentile of single-territory businesses.
The load runs 7.6% at the multi-territory average and 14.8% at the 25th percentile. Against a 58% gross profit, the 25th-percentile business is handing over more than a quarter of its gross profit before any overhead *. That is the arithmetic a new owner should have into the first two years.
Selling into another franchisee's territory costs 100% of the sales made there. The whole of it, offered as an alternative to terminating the agreement. It is the sharpest boundary provision in this library, and it makes territory discipline a matter of survival.
What it costs to open a territory.
| Item | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial territory fee | $60,000 | $60,000 |
| Initial franchise fee | $19,950 | $19,950 |
| Vehicle | $7,000 | $50,000 |
| Additional funds, before opening and first three months | $15,000 | $25,000 |
| Initial marketing, three months | $12,000 | $18,000 |
| Professional fees | $750 | $3,500 |
| Miscellaneous opening costs | $2,000 | $3,500 |
| Contractor's license and bond | $150 | $3,000 |
| Auto insurance | $1,000 | $3,000 |
| Travel and living while training, per person | $1,750 | $3,000 |
| Office or work space | $500 | $3,000 |
| Miscellaneous tools and office supplies | $1,000 | $3,000 |
| Commercial general liability insurance | $500 | $2,400 |
| Lead safe certification | $300 | $500 |
| Credit card processing technology | $30 | $500 |
| Total | $121,930 | $198,850 |
As the brand reported it, reordered here by size.
$79,950 of the low column goes to the franchisor at signing. The $60,000 territory fee plus the $19,950 franchise fee, 65.6% of a $121,930 build *. The territory costs three times the franchise fee, on ground a multi-territory owner works at 23% less intensity.
The territory costs $1.46 a household. $60,000 for roughly 41,000 households *. Against a single-territory average of $521,522, the fee is about 42 days of billing; against the 25th percentile's $203,005 it is 108 days.
The build is 0.23 to 0.38 times the single-territory average. $121,930 to $198,850 against $521,522, or 0.34 to 0.55 times the median $361,644 *. The vehicle at $7,000 to $50,000 is the widest line and the one an owner controls most directly.
Cash to run the business day to day covers the pre-opening period and three months at $15,000 to $25,000. Against a minimum royalty that starts at $500 a month in year one and steps to $1,500 thereafter. $12,000 to $18,000 of initial marketing in the same three months. The first year's obligations are deliberately light; the step up in year two is the one to model.
Questions we get asked
Questions owners ask.
What should a Kitchen Tune-Up territory be billing?
The 75 single-territory franchisees trading the whole of 2025 averaged $521,522 with a median of $361,644, a 75th percentile of $733,643, a 25th percentile of $203,005 and a middle-50% average of $385,275, ranging from $26,404 to $2,173,879; 35% reached the average. The 60 multi-territory franchisees holding 154 territories between them averaged $1,084,681 with a median of $805,441, from $88,401 to $2,704,703. That is $422,603 per territory against $521,522 for a single territory. A year earlier the single-territory average was $479,767 and the median $358,151.
What margin does the work have?
Gross profit averaged 58% of the retail sales price, with cost of goods sold at 42% comprising 28% product and 15% labor. By service line the average gross profit was 68.6% on a tune-up, 61.5% on redooring, 59.2% on refacing, 58.7% on miscellaneous work, 55.6% on painting and recoloring, 55.4% on a full custom kitchen and 44.0% on countertops. In dollars those work out at $3,267, $8,191, $11,169, $2,057, $5,887, $14,195 and $3,811 per average sale. Every other cost (vehicle, hired labor, rent, utilities, insurance, royalties, advertising, taxes and financing) sits below the 58%.
How big is a job and how many do I win?
Average sale amounts run $25,622 for a full custom kitchen, $18,866 for refacing, $13,318 for redooring, $10,589 for painting and recoloring, $8,662 for countertops, $4,762 for a tune-up and $3,505 for miscellaneous work. The product mix is 39.7% refacing, 28.6% cabinets, 17.3% redooring, 10.4% painting and 4.0% wood restoration. The average closing rate across all franchisees was 50% and the median 46%.
What does the brand take?
Royalty is the greater of 6.0% to 5.0% of the prior month's sales or a minimum of $500 a month per territory in the first year and $1,500 a month per territory thereafter. Zero minimum in the first three months. The national advertising fund takes the greater of 1% or $500 a month for a first agreement and the greater of 1% or $250 for a second, capped at the greater of 2% or $500 a month per territory. Technology costs $500 a month for the first territory and $250 for each further one. Both minimums may rise each April with the consumer price index. Selling into another franchisee's territory costs 100% of the gross sales made there, offered as an alternative to termination. A transfer costs the greater of $5,000 per territory or 6% of the sale price, capped at $50,000.
Who does bookkeeping for a Kitchen Tune-Up franchise?
Three things shape the close. The royalty is the greater of a percentage and a per-territory minimum that steps from $500 a month to $1,500 after the first year. So a business below roughly $300,000 of annual revenue is accruing a minimum. The effective percentage rises as revenue falls. Second, 58% is a product-and-installation margin, so the gap to an actual bottom line is the owner’s to build. Vehicle, hired labor, rent, insurance, fees and marketing all sit below it. The fee load alone reaches 14.8% at the 25th percentile. Third, seven service lines with shares kept from 44.0% to 68.6% and average sales from $3,505 to $25,622 mean job mix moves the year more than anything else. Tracking gross profit in dollars per job. 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.
Questions worth putting to Kitchen Tune-Up
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 Kitchen Tune-Up 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 →Which service line is carrying your year?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast, and reporting, built around gross profit in dollars per job and a minimum fee that decides this model.
Request the review