Palm Beach Tan franchise unit economics

How much does a Palm Beach Tan franchise make?

The average Palm Beach Tan unit reported $549,415 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $504,916. The brand’s disclosure document puts EBITDA at its company-owned salons at 25.1% of revenue. 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.

Top performers

What separates the top Palm Beach Tan performers

Profit and loss

Company salon results, 2025

As the brand reported it.

A quarter of revenue reaches profit before any franchise fee. That is 25.13% on average and 24.0% at the median, on $524,160 of revenue and $392,452 of operating cost. That is the cost structure the brand runs itself, on salons averaging thirteen years old in markets it has advertised in for at least four.

The top salon clears $591,370 and the lowest loses $140,255. That is 53.9% of revenue against a 72.2% loss. The loss-making end is a $126,408 salon carrying $196,853 of operating cost. So the bottom of the Palm Beach Tan range is a fixed-cost problem. The equipment, the lease and the staffing of a 2,667-square-foot box arrive whether the sessions do or not.

Membership collected by direct debit is 66% of revenue. $346,488 of the $524,160, and a salon takes three to four years to reach that share. The remaining $177,672 is walk-in tanning, sunless and retail. Two-thirds of the top line is a recurring charge on a card, so the cancellation rules matter to Palm Beach Tan revenue.

Median salon profit after franchise fees

Ours.

The disclosed 24% becomes 15.2% at the mature royalty rate. That is $113,624 down to $76,606 on the same revenue, and the step from year one to year three costs $10,065 as the royalty climbs from 4% to 6%. Read the profit table as a company salon's result and subtract $37,018 a year before comparing it with your own.

$6,821 a year goes to the franchisor regardless of volume. It is six separate monthly charges, every one of them flat against revenue. At the lowest-revenue company salon in the table, billing $126,408, that fixed stack is 5.4% of the top line before the royalty starts.

Fees and what it costs to open

The fee schedule

Ours, applying the filed schedule; the three royalty figures are the franchisor's own, printed against median sales.

The royalty steps 4%, 5%, 6% across the first 25 months. At median revenue that is $20,132, then $25,164, then $30,197. So the salon pays $10,065 a year more in year three than in year one on identical sales. Build the year-three number into the plan on day one, because the build-up in the fee schedule runs opposite to the build-up in the business.

5.5% of sales goes to advertising, split 2% to the fund and 3.5% spent by you. That is $27,681 a year at median revenue, with quarterly reporting owed on the local half after the second and fourth quarters. The franchisor’s total assessment is capped at 5.5%, which makes this one of the clearer advertising clauses in the category.

Payment processing costs $0.25 a transaction on top of cost. On a business where 68% of revenue arrives as monthly direct debits, that per-transaction charge scales with the membership base. So a salon built on more members at a lower price pays more processing than one built on fewer at a higher price.

What it costs to open

As the brand reported it, except four grouped lines. Those are marked *. We combined signage with the music system, the security and CCTV system, computer hardware and software and the mobile app. We combined the grand opening with the in-location merchandising kit and the local marketing kit. Professional services with insurance, utility deposits and permits and prepaid rent and security deposit, and initial training with pre-opening training.

Equipment and build-out are $522,519 to $909,572 of the total. Between 69% and 72% of the whole budget, and the equipment half of it is a depreciating asset with a service life and replacement lamps to buy. Against average company revenue of $524,160, the low end of that pair is a full year of sales spent before the doors open.

Three months of additional funds is $60,000 at both ends of the range. A fixed figure against a build that swings by half a million, and these salons take three to four years to reach a 66% membership share of revenue. The lowest-billing salon turned $126,408 across a full year, which is $10,534 a month against operating costs that start at $196,853 a year.

Initial inventory is $17,500 to $18,500 and retail sells at $3.41 a session. At franchised session volume that inventory turns into $95,262 of annual retail sales. So the opening stock is roughly ten weeks of retail revenue sitting on the shelf. It is the fastest-moving line in the table.

Sessions & revenue

Franchised salons against company salons

As the brand reported it.

Franchised salons out-bill company salons by $25,255 while running 3.2 years younger. That is $549,415 against $524,160, on 9.88 years of operation against 13.1. Their membership share is higher too, 68% against 66%, and their revenue ceiling is $1,474,039 against $1,300,632. Whatever the company group's profit line shows, the franchised group is selling more.

The lowest franchised salon bills $179,150 and the lowest company salon bills $126,408. Both are a long way under a break-even that has to have $272,519 of equipment at minimum, a 2,667-square-foot lease and a staffed counter. The low end is the number to plan against, because the lowest disclosed operating cost is $196,853.

Tanning sessions and sales per session, 2025

The session and per-session rows are as the brand reported it; the annual, daily and total-revenue-per-session rows are marked *.

A franchised salon runs 77 tanning sessions a day and takes $6.24 at the counter on each one. That is 27,936 sessions a year producing $174,280 of in-store sales, with $3.41 of that being retail lotions. The rest of the top line ($375,135) arrives by direct debit whether anyone walks in or not, which is the whole reason the membership share matters.

Company salons take 88 cents more per session on 231 fewer sessions a month. That is $7.12 against $6.24, and 2,097 against 2,328. Closing that 88-cent gap at a franchised salon's session volume is worth $24,584 a year of pure counter sales. Retail is already $3.41 of the $6.24. So the gap sits in lotions and upgrades.

The busiest franchised salon runs 6,229 sessions a month and the quietest 799. That is eight times the volume, or 205 sessions a day against 26. At the average $19.67 of total sales a session, that range is $1,281,697 of annual revenue between the two ends of the same brand.

Retail is $3.41 a session, which is $95,262 a year at franchised volume. Lotions and products, sold at the counter to a member who is already in the building and already paying by direct debit. It is the one line here that needs no extra equipment, no extra rent and about thirty seconds of a staff member's time.

The network of locations

Franchised and company outlets, 2023 to 2025

As the brand reported it.

Two franchised salons opened in 2025 and 66 went back to the franchisor. Franchised openings ran 62, then 7, then 2. Terminations held steady at 10, 8 and 8. The reacquisition line was zero in both prior years and 66 in 2025, 17% of the franchised estate changing hands in twelve months, in a single direction.

The franchisor projects 13 company openings against 6 franchised ones, on zero signed agreements. That sets the direction plainly for anyone already in the system. Growth is planned on the company side. The company side now holds 310 salons against the franchised side's 324. A year ago that split was 253 to 397.

The company estate closed 27 salons across three years while the franchised estate closed 3. That is 4, 13 and 10 company closures against terminations of 10, 8 and 8 on the franchised side and one non-renewal each in 2023 and 2025. The brand closes its own salons at a rate its franchisees have stayed well clear of.

What territory you get

There is no exclusive or protected territory. You select a site inside a Designated Area, and the franchisor may solicit and accept business from consumers inside that area with no compensation to you. A development agreement is the only route to protection, and it lasts for the term of that agreement alone.

You may serve customers only from the approved site, and online selling outside the area is barred. The agreement prohibits soliciting or accepting business from consumers outside the Designated Area by any means, naming the internet, catalog sales, telemarketing and other direct marketing. So retail lotions, at $3.41 a session, can only be sold over the counter.

Relocation needs written consent and is permitted on application where you lose the site through circumstances outside your control. Given a build of $250,000 to $400,000 and equipment of $272,519 to $509,572, the lease term and the renewal option are worth as much negotiating attention as the rent.

Questions we get asked

Questions owners ask.