Sanford Rose franchise unit economics
Sanford Rose franchisees run executive search offices, trading as Dimensional Search, that earn placement fees by recruiting for client companies by phone and email.
Sanford Rose franchise at a glance
Sanford Rose’s 2026 FDD, issued 15 April 2026, makes no financial performance representation in Item 19, so it gives no sales or profit figure. A Sanford Rose franchise costs $103,900 to $131,600 to open, of which $88,000 is the franchise fee. Sanford Rose's royalty is 7.5% of cash receipts.
- Sanford Rose had 103 franchised offices at the end of 2025.
These figures come from Sanford Rose's 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, as the brand reported them, and were read by Averan Advisors.
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Talk to Averan → Move your books and accounting to Averan →- The royalty is charged on cash collected. 7.5% of cash receipts, payable when the money is collected, so a placement fee that goes unpaid carries no royalty.
- The territory is about 126 acres. A quarter-mile circle *, and the business is conducted by phone and email anywhere in the world.
- A split placement costs double the royalty without a form. That is 7.5% of the whole fee against 7.5% of your share, $1,125 on a $30,000 fee split in half *.
- The fee is 84.7% of the low total investment. $88,000 of $103,900 *, everything else comes to $15,900 to $43,600 *.
- One hundred and seven offices opened in three years against four exits. Zero to 103 franchised, and 53 more are projected.
How much does a Sanford Rose franchise make?
The 2026 FDD for Sanford Rose does not publish unit revenue in a form that answers this directly. What it does publish is set out below. The Sanford Rose royalty is 7.5% of cash receipts, the franchise fee is $88,000, the territory is about 126 acres and franchised offices at the end of 2025 numbered 103.
Top performers
What separates the top Sanford Rose performers
Sanford Rose publishes no revenue figures, so neither the average nor the spread between locations is disclosed.
Decided before you open
- Territory.A Sanford Rose territory is a quarter-mile circle around the office, and consultants work by phone and email anywhere in the world.
- Opening cost range.Opening costs $103,900 to $131,600, a 1.3× range inside one brand.
- Fees and the minimum.The Sanford Rose royalty is 7.5% of cash receipts, so it rises and falls with collections.
Live operating levers
- Placements.The fee is earned when a candidate is hired and refunded if they leave inside the guarantee period.
Context you underwrite around
- What the filing does not include.Item 19 publishes no profit or cost data for franchised locations, no median, no performance bands, no attainment figure. Ask the franchisor or current owners for cost and profit figures.
- Sales spread in the category.Across 4 Staffing brands in this library, the top group sells 7.3× the bottom at the typical brand, and a median 31% of locations reach their own average *. Ask the franchisor for this brand’s spread.
Cash
What the royalty is charged on
| Item | Treatment |
|---|---|
| Royalty rate | 7.5% of cash receipts, paid when collected |
| Refunds to clients | Deducted |
| Shares paid to other offices in the network | Deducted |
| Contract staffing salaries, wages and benefits | Deducted |
| Taxes of every kind | Kept in the base |
| Split with an outside firm, form filed | 7.5% of your share |
| Split with an outside firm, form unfiled | 7.5% of the entire fee |
Every term is as the brand reported it and the split comparison applies the stated rates to a fee shared with a firm outside the network, marked *.
Charging on collections. A written-off placement fee costs the office its revenue and costs the brand its royalty. That aligns the two sides in a way percentage-of-billings models do nothing to encourage.
Filing the split partner form halves the royalty on that placement. That is $1,125 against $2,250 on a $30,000 fee split evenly *, administration with a price attached.
Contract staffing wages come out of the base. Salaries, wages expenses and benefits are all deductible, so a search office that also places contractors keeps the pass-through out of the royalty.
Insurance proceeds for lost business are inside the base. Capped so the royalty on them stays at or below the prior year’s total, a detail worth knowing before a claim.
Every $100,000 collected costs $7,500. * That is a simple number to run a month against.
A quarter-mile circle
The territory
| Term | Detail |
|---|---|
| Size | A circle of about a quarter-mile radius around the office |
| Area * | About 0.20 square miles, or 126 acres |
| What it protects | Another Dimensional Search office inside the circle |
| What it leaves open | Offices elsewhere doing business inside your circle |
| Where you may sell | Anywhere in the world, through any channel |
Every term is as the brand reported it and the area applies the quarter-mile radius to a circle, marked *.
The territory gives the office a unique identity. And the density and scope of it will often make little difference to the volume of business.
Other offices may work inside your circle without compensating you. Consultants trade by phone and email, so the protection covers the name only.
Relocation needs notice. And your office must sit a required distance from any other franchisee’s, so the circle moves with you.
You may sell anywhere, through any channel. That makes reach a function of desk capacity, the reverse of every location business in this library.
There are no rights to additional franchises. So a second office is a separate conversation.
What it costs to open
The opening investment
| Item | Low | High | Share of the low total * |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franchise fee | $88,000 | $88,000 | 84.7% |
| Additional funds, six months | $12,000 | $27,600 | 11.5% |
| Recruiting and marketing tools | $1,800 | $3,600 | 1.7% |
| Insurance and licenses | $1,500 | $2,000 | 1.4% |
| Furnishings and computer | $0 | $5,000 | 0% |
| Office rent, one month, 600 to 1,000 square feet | $600 | $1,700 | 0.6% |
| Equipment installation | $0 | $1,000 | 0% |
| Security deposits | $0 | $2,700 | 0% |
| Total | $103,900 | $131,600 | n/a |
Every figure is as the brand reported it and the share column divides each line by the filed low total, marked *.
Everything outside the fee costs $15,900 to $43,600 *. So this is a license purchase.
Working capital (cash to run the business day to day) covers six months at $2,000 to $4,600 a month. * That is a longer runway than most, on a much smaller monthly figure.
An existing computer, phone and furniture may be used. Sanford Rose’s Item 7 starts those lines at zero and assumes a leased office of 600 to 1,000 square feet.
The fee is paid as $8,800 at signing and $79,200 within 30 days. No financing is offered, directly or indirectly.
Three states require the fee to be deferred until you open. Illinois attributes the requirement to the brand’s financial condition and Hawaii to the financial statements, worth reading before committing.
The network of locations
Franchised offices, 2023 to 2025
| Year | Start | Opened | Terminated | Ceased, other | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 2024 | 7 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 41 |
| 2025 | 41 | 65 | 2 | 1 | 103 |
| Three years | n/a | 107 | 3 | 1 | n/a |
Every figure is as the brand reported it, with zero company-owned offices in any year and the single 2025 closure being a franchisee moving to an affiliated brand.
Sixty-five offices opened in 2025 alone. That compares with three terminations across the whole period, the fastest build-up of any brand in this library.
Zero offices changed hands in three years. So a resale market has yet to form, and the only way in is a new agreement.
Fifty-three more offices are projected. That would take the system past 150, on a model where offices compete with each other for the same placements.
The single closure was a move to an affiliated brand. So members leaving has yet to appear in any meaningful form.
The cost estimates rest on the affiliates’ search experience since 2000. That is the operating history standing behind an $88,000 fee.
Questions we get asked
Questions an owner asks
How much does a Sanford Rose franchise make?
Sanford Rose’s 2026 FDD, issued 15 April 2026, makes no financial performance representation in Item 19, so it gives no sales or profit figure. A Sanford Rose franchise costs $103,900 to $131,600 to open, of which $88,000 is the franchise fee. Sanford Rose's royalty is 7.5% of cash receipts.
What fees does Sanford Rose charge?
Sanford Rose charges a royalty of 7.5% of cash receipts, payable when you collect. Refunds, shares paid to other offices in the network, and contract staffing salaries, wages and benefits all come out of the base; taxes stay in it.
Why does charging on cash matter at Sanford Rose?
Charging on cash matters because a placement fee that stays uncollected carries no royalty. In a business where clients occasionally fail to pay and candidates occasionally fall out, that shifts real risk off the office.
What happens on a split placement at Sanford Rose?
If you split with a firm outside the network and file the split partner form, you pay 7.5% of your share. Without the form you pay 7.5% of the entire fee, on our reading, $2,250 against $1,125 on a $30,000 fee split evenly.
How big is the Sanford Rose territory?
A Sanford Rose territory is a circle of about a quarter-mile radius around your office, roughly 126 acres on our reading. It stops another Dimensional Search office opening inside it, but offices elsewhere may do business there, and you may sell anywhere in the world through any channel.
How much does a Sanford Rose franchise cost to open?
A Sanford Rose franchise costs $103,900 to $131,600 to open, of which $88,000 is the franchise fee, 84.7% of the low total on our reading. The fee is $8,800 at signing and $79,200 within 30 days, with no financing available.
What is the working capital assumption at Sanford Rose?
Sanford Rose puts working capital at $12,000 to $27,600 for six months. That is $2,000 to $4,600 a month on our reading. The Sanford Rose model runs on a desk, a phone and subscriptions.
Anything unusual in the state addenda at Sanford Rose?
Yes. Hawaii, Illinois and at least one other state require the franchise fee to be deferred until the brand has completed its pre-opening obligations and you are open. Illinois attributes that requirement to the brand's financial condition.
Which two numbers should run monthly at Sanford Rose?
Track cash collected against invoices raised, because the royalty follows the cash and so does your own income. Then track placements in progress, because a search desk is a pipeline business and the pipeline is the only forward indicator.
- The filing gives no revenue figures. The filing makes no financial performance representation, so there is no disclosed sales number for any location.
- The filing gives no profit figure. The filing reports sales and not earnings, so what an owner keeps is not disclosed.
- The filing breaks out no cost lines. Wages, rent and cost of goods are not broken out, so margin cannot be rebuilt from the document.
- The filing gives no range. The filing does not show the highest and lowest locations, so the spread inside the system is unknown.
- The filing gives no attainment figure. The filing does not say how many locations reached the average it publishes.
- The filing shows no ramp. The filing does not show how a new location builds up, so the first-year curve has to be assumed.
Questions worth putting to Sanford Rose
These are questions the Sanford Rose filing leaves open. An owner or a buyer can put them to Sanford Rose directly.
- What do locations at the median spend on wages and rent as a share of sales? The filing reports sales only.
- What did the highest and lowest locations sell last year, and what explains the gap?
- 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 Sanford Rose locations closed, were sold, or changed hands last year, and why?
Run your own numbers.
The Franchise Numbers Check 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 →How much of what you billed actually arrived?
We review your unit economics and cash forecast and build your reporting around a royalty charged on collections, a split form worth half the royalty on a shared placement, and a territory that has no bearing on your market.
Talk to Averanthe franchise library, all 447 brands · how franchise unit economics work · running the books across several locations · what Averan does for franchise owners
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?It works out the sales level where a minimum fee stops applying.
- How much cash do I fund before a new location covers its own costs?It builds a 13-week forecast for the months before break-even.
- My payroll percentage keeps climbing. Is that a payroll problem?It shows how to tell whether payroll is rising or revenue is falling.
- I run several locations. Which ones actually make money?It shows each location's contribution to profit and the reporting it takes to see it.
- How much of Item 19 can I rely on?It explains what an Item 19 financial performance representation tells you and what it leaves out.
Where these figures come from.
Every figure here comes from Sanford Rose Associates International, LLC’s 2026 FDD and is unaudited by us, we are unaffiliated with the brand, calculations of our own are marked with an asterisk where they appear, the figures describe contractual terms and estimated costs. This page is an educational summary and is not legal or tax advice. Sanford Rose Associates® and Dimensional Search® are registered trademarks of their owner. How Averan reads a Franchise Disclosure Document.
These figures come from the brand's disclosure. They are not a forecast, an offer to sell a franchise or advice. Source: Sanford Rose Associates International, LLC, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, issued 15 April 2026.