FranchiseVerdict
BrightStar Care logo
FV-00390·STRONGExcellent95

BrightStar Care

Health & Wellness - Senior CareFranchising since 2005Website
Investment
$96K – $220K
50th pct Senior Care
Avg revenue
$2.4M
68th pct Senior Care
Royalty
5.3%
34th pct Senior Care
Units
427
92nd pct Senior Care
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $96K – $220K including a $50K franchise fee, 5.3% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $2.4M/year (median $1.9M).
  • Rated STRONG with a risk score of 41/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 182 loans (below the industry average).

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
BrightStar Franchising, LLC
Parent company
BrightStar Group Holdings, Inc.
Incorporated in
Illinois
HQ
2275 Half Day Road, Suite 210, Bannockburn, IL 60015
Auditor
BDO USA, P.C.
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$56.8M
vs $62.1M prior year

Yale framework · single-unit ROIC

Returns Analysis

Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.

The model · Yale framework

What would one BrightStar Care unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $2,413,076
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: personal services
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $96K–$220K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $54K–$84K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

236%

Above typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%
ROIC above 100% usually means the revenue figure is a system-wide aggregate or top-cohort number rather than a single-unit average. Verify the "Revenue · per unit" field against the brand's FDD Item 19 detail tables before relying on this output.

Store EBITDA · annual
$537K
EBITDA margin
22.2%
Total invested
$227K
Payback
5 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing

What would 25 BrightStar Care units return on equity?

Edit assumptions

Equity IRR · 5-yr

24.6%

3.01× MOIC

Year-1 DSCR

3.45×

EBITDA ÷ debt service

Equity required

$20.8M

on $36.8M purchase

Total debt

$16.0M

SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note

SBA 7(a) request ($18.4M) exceeds the $5M program cap. Excess capped automatically; backfill via conventional or equity.

Overview

About

BrightStar Care franchisees operate home care staffing agencies, recruiting, training, and deploying caregivers to provide in-home services (personal care, companionship, skilled nursing support) to elderly and disabled clients. Day-to-day operations involve client acquisition, caregiver payroll/scheduling, compliance with healthcare regulations, and billing management to healthcare providers and families.

CEO
Andrew Ray
Founded
2005
FDD year
2026
States available
40

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$96K – $220K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$54K – $84K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$50K
Royalty
5.3%
Gross Sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
2.5%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
7.8%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$2.4M
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
$1.9M
Item 19 type
Average and Median Revenue
Sample size
207 units
vs category median 23 · large
Range (low → high)
$48K$14.8M
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
4 / 5
vs category median 4 / 5 · typical
Revenue rank68th
vs Health & Wellness - Senior Care peers
Investment cost rank50th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank34th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank92th
vs Health & Wellness - Senior Care peers
Risk score rank6th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
427
Opened
34
Last reporting year
Closed
3
Turnover rate
0.7%
Company-owned
31
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
93%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+6.2%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+14.1%
Compounded over last 3 years
2024
396+19
Franchised units
2025
373
Franchised units
2026
347
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 20 · 10 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).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 10 states
Not registered

States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

Total loans
182
Loan volume
Avg loan
Default rate
0.0%
vs <3% typical · system-wide
5-yr default

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

41
Risk · 0-100
STRONG41 / 100

BrightStar Care presents meaningful due diligence concerns due to undisclosed franchisee profitability, multiple active litigation matters suggesting compliance/collection friction, and a prior settlement over territory disclosures — warranting deep validation before committing $96K-$220K.

Score breakdown · what drove the 41 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDNo Item 19 (Average Net Income) disclosed — inability to assess actual franchisee profitability despite $2.4M average revenue
  2. 02HIGHFour active litigation matters including two franchisor-initiated royalty recovery actions suggest collection or compliance issues systemic to the network
  3. 03MINORPrior territory disclosure settlement ($215,000) indicates past franchisor misrepresentation on a core franchisee protection
  4. 04MINORModest unit growth of 6.2% YoY combined with absence of profitability data raises sustainability questions
  5. 05MEDHigh royalty burden (5.25-6.25% of billings) on service-based business with undisclosed margins creates profitability risk

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Zip code based
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
10 years
Renewal term
5 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
5
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
Illinois

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
95 hrs
On-the-job training
0 hrs
POS system
Athena Business System (ABS)
Operating tech stack

Item 20

Franchisee Contacts

Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.

Franchisee contacts

54 numbers

Locked
(479) 464-••••
AR
(317) 232-••••
IN
(501) 623-••••
AR

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

BrightStar Care · FDD (2026) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above