Salon suites franchise finance
Averan read the 2026 FDDs of five salon suites brands.
The median brand here reports average revenue of $451,820 an unit. Percentage fees at the median brand come to 7% of sales. The median cost to open runs $950,214 to $1,820,417.
Find a salon suites brand
5 brands in this guide, each from its own 2026 FDD. Open one, or pick two and compare them.
The brands in this group
Each brand has its own business model breakdown, with every figure set out against the brand’s disclosure document it comes from.
- IMAGE Studiosfull-pnl-by-occupancy cost-group-plus-monthly-and-annual-build-up · A full ten-line operating statement for each of four occupancy cost groups, showing that the cost base changes littleso
- MY SALON Suite Full P&L · The difference between what the landlord charges for a suite and what the stylist pays for it
- Phenix Salon Suitesrevenue-and-adjusted-EBITDA-by-size-and-half-plus-occupancy cost · Revenue and adjusted profit by salon size and by half
- Salons by JC Gross Sales by salon size group · Occupancy_by_size
- Sola Salon Studios Building costs only · Building costs published month by month and revenue not published at all
The figures, brand by brand
| Measure | Median | Brands | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average sales per unit | $451,820 | 4 of 5 | Median of each brand’s disclosed average |
| Median sales per unit | Fewer than three disclose | 2 of 5 | Median of each brand’s disclosed median |
| Initial franchise fee | $60,000 | 5 of 5 | |
| Royalty | 5.5% | 4 of 5 | Headline rate |
| Brand or advertising fund | 1.5% | 3 of 5 | |
| Percentage fees, all in | 7% | 5 of 5 | Royalty, funds and local marketing set as a share of sales |
| Cost to open, low | $950,214 | 5 of 5 | |
| Cost to open, high | $1,820,417 | 5 of 5 | |
| Profit margin | 32.8% | 3 of 5 | Each brand’s own profit line; definitions differ |
| Labor, share of revenue | Fewer than three disclose | 0 of 5 | |
| Building costs, share of revenue | Fewer than three disclose | 2 of 5 | |
| Unit growth, 2025 | 6% | 5 of 5 | (End − start) ÷ start |
| Customers lost, 2025 | 0.9% | 4 of 5 | Terminated, non-renewed, reacquired and ceased, ÷ opening units; transfers excluded |
Each figure is the median of the brands that disclose it, and the Brands column counts them.
How we calculated this
Revenue is each brand's own reported figure on its own unit basis, so the median describes the group and no single brand. Growth and customers lost are our calculations from each brand's outlet table. Where fewer than three brands disclose a figure, no benchmark is shown.
The model
The business model the top performers in salon suites are running
What the top performers can do that others cannot
4 of the 5 brands here sell a lease on a suite. Filling a fixed building is the constraint: occupancy runs 61.4% of sales at the middle brand, and the rent does not move when the week is quiet.
What the customer is buying
The customer buys space let to an independent professional. At 1 of them the model is different: the customer buys a recurring account billed monthly, which asks something else of the owner. A location at the middle brand sells $451,820 a year; the top group sells $545,044. The offer is the same at both ends of that range, so the difference is volume rather than product.
Who the customer is, and how often they come back
This is a retention business. The money is made in the second year of a customer, not the first month, so the number that decides the year is how many stay. A median 43% of locations reach their own brand’s average, so most of the system is below the number the brand advertises, and the gap is usually a demand gap rather than an effort gap. The top group sells $545,044 against $341,904 at the bottom. Trade area and site set that range before an owner takes a booking.
How the money works
Opening costs $535,229 to $3,074,038 across the group, and inside one brand the top of the range is typically 1.8 times the bottom. At the middle brand the cost stack runs occupancy 61.4%, franchise fees 7.0% of sales. What is left runs 32.8% at the middle brand, which is $178,666 a year at the top group and $112,076 at the bottom. The percentage barely moves between them; the dollars do.
Also disclosed across this group: $120,184, $31,266, $4,518, $445,097, $509,569, 1.7.
Top performers
These are the things that separate top performers in salon suites
At the typical salon suites brand, the best group of locations sells $545,044 a year. The worst group sells $341,904. That is $203,141 more a year, 1.6 times over, for the same brand on the same agreement. Across these brands, a median of 43% of locations reach their own brand’s average. The average describes the top of a system, not the middle. 4 of the 5 brands here publish bands; the rest disclose no spread at all.
Decided before you open
- What it costs to open.Opening costs run $535,229 to $3,074,038 across the group, and the top of a single brand’s range is typically 1.8 times its bottom. The top group sells $545,044 a year against a build that tops out at $3,074,038, so at the heavy end of the range a location sells $0.18 for every dollar it cost to open. A build that heavy takes years of sales to recover, so the site has to be right the first time.
- What a location sells.Average sales run $451,820 at the middle brand and $545,044 at the top group. Format and site decide most of that before an owner does anything, which is why the same operator produces different results in different trade areas.
- Rent is one number, and it lands twice.Occupancy runs 61.4% of sales at the middle brand, which on median sales of $451,820 is $277,417 of rent a year. That same $277,417 is 50.9% of sales at the top group and 81.1% at the bottom. Nobody negotiated a worse lease. The top performers move this line by putting more sales through the same square footage: longer earning hours, a second daypart, and a site picked for traffic rather than for the rate.
Live operating levers
- 4 of the 5 brands here let space to independent professionals.The owner builds a fixed number of suites and then lets them, so the whole business is how many are occupied and how long each tenant stays. An empty suite costs the same as a full one. They are MY SALON Suite, Phenix Salon Suites, Salons by JC, Sola Salon Studios.
- 2 of the 5 brands here publish how a new location builds up.Where a brand shows its first year month by month, an owner can see when sales finally cover the costs and how much cash has to be put in before that point arrives. Where a brand does not show it, that curve has to be guessed at, and the guess is usually optimistic. They are IMAGE Studios, Salons by JC.
- 2 of the 5 brands here can widen what they sell without widening the building.Selling a product alongside the service, or moving customers onto a higher tier of it, raises what an hour of the same room earns. It is the only way to lift the ceiling without spending money on more space or more hours. They are MY SALON Suite, Sola Salon Studios.
- What is left at the end. Where the gap comes from.Of the 3 brands that publish a profit line, the middle one keeps 32.8% of sales, from 30.1% to 39.7%. The cost lines above move by a few points between the best and worst locations while sales move by multiples, so the top performers are not running a cheaper business. They are running the same cost base over more revenue. Hold that 32.8% margin steady and the top group earns $178,666 against $112,076 at the bottom, a difference of $66,590 a year that comes from volume alone.
- What the brand charges. The line that works backwards.Fees run a median 7.0% of sales across 5 brands, from 5.5% to 10.3%. Where a minimum sits underneath the percentage, the weakest location pays the highest effective rate, so the fee line costs most exactly where it can least be afforded. The top performers clear the minimum early and stop thinking about it. At $545,044 the fees cost $38,153 a year; at $341,904 they cost $23,933. The percentage is the same and the burden is not.
Context you underwrite around
- How many brands show a ramp.2 of 5 filings in this group show how a new location builds up. For the rest the first year has to be assumed, and the assumption is usually wrong in the same direction.
- What is not banded.1 brands publish no bands at all, so their spread is unknown rather than narrow. Read a single average as the upper-middle of a distribution you cannot see.
Operating levers
What each brand’s top performers actually work on
The levers the filing supports, brand by brand. Three to five each, read from that brand’s own 2026 FDD. Filter by type of business, or open a brand for the figures underneath.
5 brands
IMAGE Studios
Salon suites
- Accounts, the operating driver. This model bills on accounts. An account signed this year still bills next year, so keeping accounts matters more than winning them. 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 10.3% 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.
MY SALON Suite
Salon suites
- Occupancy, the line that does not flex. Rent and building costs take 34.8% of sales, against 39.7% kept at the end. Sales per square foot and the hours the space is earning are the only two ways to move it, since the rent itself is fixed at signing. Small movements here move the result more than anything else, because nothing else in the structure is that large.
- Suites rented, the operating driver. This model bills on suites rented. The suites are built once and then let, so the business is how many are occupied and how long each tenant stays. 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 5.5% 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.
Phenix Salon Suites
Salon suites
- Occupancy, the line that does not flex. Rent and building costs take 88.0% of sales, against 30.1% kept at the end. Sales per square foot and the hours the space is earning are the only two ways to move it, since the rent itself is fixed at signing. Small movements here move the result more than anything else, because nothing else in the structure is that large.
- Suites rented, the operating driver. This model bills on suites rented. The suites are built once and then let, so the business is how many are occupied and how long each tenant stays. 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 7.0% 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.
Salons by JC
Salon suites
- Suites rented, the operating driver. This model bills on suites rented. The suites are built once and then let, so the business is how many are occupied and how long each tenant stays. 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 7.9% 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.
Sola Salon Studios
Salon suites
- Suites rented, the operating driver. This model bills on suites rented. The suites are built once and then let, so the business is how many are occupied and how long each tenant stays. 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 7.0% 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.
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.
- At what point do spreadsheets stop coping?What changes at around ten units, and why lenders care.
- I run several locations. Which ones actually make money?Location-level contribution, and what it takes to see it.
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 →Where does your unit sit?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast, and reporting, benchmarked against the brands in this guide.
Request the reviewWhere these figures come from
Every figure here comes from the brands' 2026 FDDs and is unaudited by us. We are unaffiliated with the brands. The medians, growth and customers lost figures are our own calculations. The figures describe past performance at other businesses. They are not a projection of your results. This page is an educational summary and is not an offer to sell a franchise or financial, legal or tax advice. All trademarks belong to their owners. How Averan reads a Franchise Disclosure Document.