Bark Busters Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $78K – $117K
- Disclosed sales
- $144K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Under 10 loans (9)
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Bark Busters is a pet-services franchise providing in-home dog training and behavior work using a natural, communication-based method. Franchisees run a mobile, owner-operated business delivering training sessions at clients' homes in a territory.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Bark Busters franchise requires a total initial investment of $78K – $117K, including a $50K franchise fee and an ongoing 10.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2026 FDD, average unit revenue was $144K[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: A (Strongest tier), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: low - issued within the last 12 months
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 scored8 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $78K – $117K
- 25th pct Pet Services
- Avg gross sales
- $144K
- 3rd pct Pet Services
- Royalty
- 10.0%
- 82nd pct Pet Services
- Units
- 133
- 82nd pct Pet Services
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Pet Services · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Pet Services 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 $78K – $117K including a $50K franchise fee, 10.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $144K/year (median $128K).
- RISKVerdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 71/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHFlat: no net change in franchised outlets in the latest year (4 opened, 2 closed) (Item 20).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Bark Busters North America, LLC
- Predecessor
- Who Ya Gonna Call Bark Busters Pty. Ltd. (Australian Bark Busters)
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- Carl Peterson
- Incorporated in
- CA
- HQ
- 318 Diablo Road, Suite 265, Danville, CA 94526
- Auditor
- Iryna Accountancy Corporation
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $2.5M
- vs $3.3M prior year
Overview
About
- CEO
- Carl Peterson
- Headquarters
- CA
- Founded
- 2013
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 34
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 70% below the typical pet services franchise.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2026 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $50K | $50K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $3K | $5K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $25K | $63K |
| Total initial investment | $78K | $117K |
Source: Bark Busters 2026 FDD, Items 5 and 7[2]. “Equipment, build-out, other” is computed as total minus disclosed line items above.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $78K – $117K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $3K – $5K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $50K – $50K
- Middle of category vs category
- Royalty
- 10.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 0.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 13.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 10.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 0.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $380 |
| Training fee | $20K |
| Transfer fee | $20K |
| Renewal fee | $1K |
| Inventory (initial) | $1K – $4K |
| Total fee load | 13.0% of rev |
At 13.0% total fee load, roughly $19K per year goes to the franchisor before you pay a single operating expense.
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 76% below the pet services norm.
Source: FDD 2026 · 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 Bark Busters 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
$101K
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 Bark Busters 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: 2026 FDD
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $144K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $128K
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 revenue
- Sample size
- 132 outlets
- vs category median 12 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $2K→$655KCited, not corroborated — printed on page 41 of the 2026 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2025
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2026
- Disclosed in the 2026 filing, covering 2025
Compared against 69 Pet Services 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 $144K/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 1.5x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 13.0% — above the Pet Services median of 8.0%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 0/10 — minimal disclosure beyond the required average. Hard to judge the distribution of outcomes across units.
Operator retention
System roughly stable (+1.5% 3-year CAGR) with 133 units.
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 Pet Services medians
How Bark Busters Compares
Category median of published Pet Services 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 2026 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 133
- Opened
- 4
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 2
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 1.5%
- Company-owned
- 0
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 100%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +1.5%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +1.5%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 5
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 0
- 0.00 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 6
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 34 states reported
The Territory Map
FDD Item 12 reports the state count, but the specific list isn't in our current data. The map will appear once we re-extract from the FDD or enough franchisee contacts are available.
34
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
2 current owners across 2 states.
- LA 1
- MI 1
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20; 140 entries carry no state. 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 loan disclosures. This brand has only 9 7(a) loans on file; statistical reliability is limited below 10 loans.
- Total loans
- 9
- Loan volume
- $1.6M
- Median loan
- $88K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- Under 10 loans (9)
- Insufficient SBA coverage: 9 loans, rate hidden below 10
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- Under 10 loans (9)
- 5-yr charge-off
- Under 10 loans (9)
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 8
- Defaults
- N/A
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
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
Stagnant 133-unit system with near-zero growth, zero financial disclosure, and high fees creates meaningful profitability uncertainty and limited upside potential.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
Administrative proceeding in Maryland (2005) against Dingo, Inc. (prior U.S. licensee), resolved by consent order requiring compliance training and rescission offer. No current litigation disclosed.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Iryna Accountancy Corporation
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
FY ended Dec 31, 2025 (audited). Revenue is led by Royalties ($1,907,604); also Initial franchisee fees, Technology/website fees, transfer/renewal/training fees, return on investments, and interest income. Total revenue $2,451,187.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: No
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 71 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORSystem stagnation: Only 1.5% YoY unit growth indicates mature/declining franchise with minimal expansion momentum
- 02MINORNo financial transparency: Franchisor does not disclose average unit revenue or net income (Item 19), making ROI assessment impossible
- 03MED10% royalty on gross revenues is aggressive burden for service-based business with no disclosed average revenue baseline
- 04MINORHigh franchisee acquisition cost: $49,500 franchise fee suggests franchisor prioritizes fee revenue over franchisee profitability
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 13.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2026 · 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 | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory population | 100,000 |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Not allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 75 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 15 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | California |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | CA |
| Litigation count | 1 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Administrative proceeding in Maryland (2005) against Dingo, Inc. (prior U.S. licensee), resolved by consent order requiring compliance training and rescission offer. No current litigation disclosed.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 189 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 40 hrs
- Training location
- Denver, CO or Phoenix, AZ (or designated location); some training remote from home office
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 4 mo
- From signing to launch
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- CRM software system
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: CRM software system
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
142 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 Bark Busters franchise?
The total investment to open a Bark Busters franchise ranges from $78K – $117K, with an initial franchise fee of $50K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Bark Busters franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Bark Busters FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $144K. The median is $128K. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Bark Busters?
Bark Busters is franchised by Bark Busters North America, LLC. The FDD names no parent company. Source: FDD Item 1, 2026 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Bark Busters 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 Bark Busters FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Bark Busters's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Bark Busters (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 Bark Busters franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Bark Busters has 133 total units in the United States, including 133 franchised units and 0 company-owned units. 4 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Bark Busters a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Bark Busters as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 71 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?
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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.