AeroWest Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $38K – $94K
- Disclosed sales
- $136K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
AeroWest is a commercial air-care franchise providing restroom odor control and scent-marketing services to businesses. Franchisees run route-based operations, servicing dispensers and managing recurring commercial accounts.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A AeroWest franchise requires a total initial investment of $38K – $94K, including a $28K franchise fee and an ongoing 9.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $136K[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: 2025 filing · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: medium - a newer filing may exist
Evidence: strong✓ Investment (Item 7)✓ Item 19 status✓ Units and owners (Item 20)✗ SBA loan coverage✓ Litigation (Item 3)✓ Financial statements (Item 21)✓ Franchisor identityhow this is scored6 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $38K – $94K
- 9th pct Cleaning & Ma…
- Avg gross sales
- $136K
- 0th pct Cleaning & Ma…
- Royalty
- 9.0%
- 70th pct Cleaning & Ma…
- Units
- 33
- 35th pct Cleaning & Ma…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Cleaning & Maintenance · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Cleaning & Maintenance median · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- COSTTotal investment $38K – $94K including a $28K franchise fee, 9.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $136K/year (median $89K).
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 56/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHFlat: no net change in franchised outlets in the latest year (0 opened, 0 closed) (Item 20).
- TERMSNo protected territory and the franchisor reserves the right to compete in your area. Clarify territorial boundaries before signing.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- West Sanitation Services, Inc.
- CEO title
- President and Chief Executive Officer
- Dr. Maria Bhacca
- Incorporated in
- Delaware
- HQ
- 2158 Beaumont Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70806
- Auditor
- PDM, LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $4.0M
- vs $4.3M prior year
Overview
About
- CEO
- Dr. Maria Bhacca
- Headquarters
- LA
- Founded
- 1983
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 15
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 61% below the typical cleaning & maintenance franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown9 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Feenot refundable | $28K | $28K | |
| Real Estate and Leasehold Improvements | $0 | $18K | |
| Storage Space | $0 | $2K | |
| Furnishings, Office Equipment and Supplies | $500 | $2K | |
| Vehicle/Transportation | $0 | $20K | |
| Uniformsnot refundable | $100 | $300 | |
| Permits and Licenses | $100 | $500 | |
| Insurance | $500 | $4K | |
| Additional Funds And Working Capital (1 year) | $9K | $20K | |
| Total initial investment | $38K | $94K |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. Total is the sum of line-item lows / highs — actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $38K – $94K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $9K – $20K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $28K – $28K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 9.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 4.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 15.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 9.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 4.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $2 |
| Training fee | $3K |
| Transfer fee | $3K |
| Renewal fee | $500 |
| Total fee load | 15.0% of rev |
At 15.0% total fee load, roughly $20K per year goes to the franchisor before you pay a single operating expense.
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 75% below the cleaning & maintenance norm.
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
Single-unit · not modelled
Returns at a glance
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit, and the operating costs that turn one into the other are in no filing. We publish no modelled return for AeroWest until someone supplies them — yours, in the models below.
—
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
Total invested capital · disclosed
$81K
Item 7 initial investment plus working capital, as filed — the one figure here that needs no assumption.
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit, read against the 30–60% reference band · Yale SOM, Post-MBA Path Exhibit 2 (2023). Below that band a passive index fund likely outperforms; above it the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses, and it is the top line only — gross sales are not profit. No FDD discloses the operating costs that turn one into the other, so those fields start empty and nothing is modelled until you supply them from your own lease quote, labor market and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one AeroWest unit return on the cash you put in?
Illustrative category typicals — not sourced to any filing, survey or sample. Replace them with figures from franchisee validation calls before you rely on the output.
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Your modelled return on total invested capital, before any debt financing.
—
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
A 25-unit return is built on a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in Model A above and this model runs on that figure, or take the whole scenario to the full ROI workbench, where the portfolio and LBO models accept your own per-unit economics directly.
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2025 FDD
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $136K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $89K
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- gross sales
- Sample size
- 23 outlets
- vs category median 32
- Range (low → high)
- $7K→$541KCited, not corroborated — printed on page 31 of the 2025 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- Disclosed in the 2025 filing, covering 2024
- Transparency
- 4 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · typical
Compared against 191 Cleaning & Maintenance brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $136K/year in gross sales. Median is $89K — top performers pull the average up, so a typical unit earns less. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 2.0x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 15.0% — above the Cleaning & Maintenance median of 8.3%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 4/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Operator retention
System expanding at 9.1% CAGR over 3 years across 33 units — operators are staying and new ones are joining.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Cleaning & Maintenance medians
How AeroWest Compares
Category median of published Cleaning & Maintenance brands that report the figure; the middle half spans the 25th to 75th percentile and n counts the brands behind it. Medians are used because a few very large systems pull an average far from the typical brand. Revenue is disclosed gross sales, not profit.
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 33
- Opened
- 0
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Turnover rate
- N/A
- Company-owned
- 9
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 73%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +9.1%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +9.1%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Termination rate
- 0.1%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 14 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator. Not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
20 current owners across 14 states.
- TX 3
- CA 2
- IL 2
- LA 2
- MI 2
- AL 1
- GA 1
- MD 1
- MS 1
- NC 1
- NY 1
- PA 1
- +2 more states
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20. Names and phone numbers are for your own due diligence and are not shown here.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
What could kill this investment?
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
AeroWest presents meaningful risk due to undisclosed profitability, unclear unit growth, unprotected territory, and possible franchisor financial instability, warranting deep franchisee validation before commitment.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
Item 3 states no litigation is required to be disclosed.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · PDM, LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
Score breakdown · what drove the 56 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORTerritory NOT protected — franchisees may face internal competition and cannibalization from nearby units
- 02MINORUnit count at 34 with unknown growth trajectory — no visibility into system momentum or franchisee recruitment trends
- 03MINORHigh royalty burden (9%) on modest average revenue ($135,811) may compress margins below breakeven without strong cost control
- 04MINORWide investment range ($38.2k–$94.3k) suggests inconsistent startup costs or undefined scope of support
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 15.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 5 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | No territory protection |
| Protected territory | No |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory sizeℹ | Designated Route, size varies case-by-case |
| Online sales rights | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 1 year |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 90 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 1 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 2 |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | LA |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Item 3 states no litigation is required to be disclosed.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 21 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 45 hrs
- Training location
- Corporate offices in Baton Rouge, LA (classroom) and in franchisee's Route (field)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Quick Service
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Quick Service
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
20 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a AeroWest franchise?
The total investment to open a AeroWest franchise ranges from $38K – $94K, with an initial franchise fee of $28K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do AeroWest franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the AeroWest FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $136K. The median is $89K. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns AeroWest?
AeroWest is franchised by West Sanitation Services, Inc.. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the AeroWest FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the AeroWest FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is AeroWest's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for AeroWest (fewer than 10 loans on file). Charge-off rates are one way to gauge franchise risk, but not all franchise loans go through the SBA program. We recommend reviewing turnover and closure data in the FDD and speaking with current franchisees.
How many AeroWest franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, AeroWest has 33 total units in the United States, including 24 franchised units and 9 company-owned units.
Is AeroWest a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates AeroWest as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 56 out of 100 (higher is better). The grade is a deterministic score built from six weighted dimensions — financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency — then calibrated against SBA loan charge-off rates and FDD age. Transparency is one of the six, so a filing that discloses less scores lower on that dimension than one that discloses more. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
Are you the franchisor?
If you represent AeroWest, you can request corrections or provide updated information.
Other Cleaning & Maintenance franchises
Compare similar franchise opportunities in the Cleaning & Maintenance category
Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.