FranchiseVerdict
BrightStar Care Homes logo
FV-00391·MODERATEExcellent95

BrightStar Care Homes

Health & Wellness - Senior CareFranchising since 2021Website
Investment
$201K – $2.2M
90th pct Senior Care
Avg revenue
$691K
19th pct Senior Care
Royalty
5.0%
6th pct Senior Care
Units
5
15th pct Senior Care
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $201K – $2.2M including a $50K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $691K/year (median $707K).
  • Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 60/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 4 loans (below the industry average).
  • Auditor disclosed a going-concern note — flagged doubt about the franchisor's ability to continue operations. Verify against the latest FDD.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
BrightStar Senior Living Franchising, LLC
Parent company
BrightStar Group Holdings, Inc.
Incorporated in
Illinois
HQ
2275 Half Day Road, Suite 210, Bannockburn, Illinois 60015
Auditor
BDO USA, P.C.
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$458K
vs $570K prior year
⚠ Going-concern note
Disclosed in FDD 2024
Status as of 2024; may have been resolved in a later filing we don't yet have.

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 Homes unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $691,095
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: $201K–$2.2M
Working capital
$
FDD reports $23K–$67K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

12%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$155K
EBITDA margin
22.5%
Total invested
$1.2M
Payback
96 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 Homes units return on equity?

Edit assumptions

Equity IRR · 5-yr

45.7%

6.56× MOIC

Year-1 DSCR

1.96×

EBITDA ÷ debt service

Equity required

$2.5M

on $10.7M purchase

Total debt

$8.2M

SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note

SBA 7(a) request ($5.4M) exceeds the $5M program cap. Excess capped automatically; backfill via conventional or equity.

Overview

About

BrightStar Care Homes franchisees operate home care agencies providing non-medical in-home services (personal care, companionship, household support) to elderly and disabled clients. Daily operations involve recruiting and training caregivers, managing client schedules and billing, ensuring regulatory compliance, and building relationships with referral sources (hospitals, social services, families).

CEO
Andrew Ray
Founded
2013
FDD year
2024
States available
1

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$201K – $2.2M
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$23K – $67K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$50K
Royalty
5.0%
Percentage of Net Billings · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
2.5%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
8.3%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$691K
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
$707K
Item 19 type
Historical Revenue and Occupancy
Sample size
3 units
vs category median 23 · small
Range (low → high)
$570K$796K
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
4 / 5
vs category median 4 / 5 · typical
Revenue rank19th
vs Health & Wellness - Senior Care peers
Investment cost rank90th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank6th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank15th
vs Health & Wellness - Senior Care peers
Risk score rank60th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
5
Opened
1
Last reporting year
Closed
0
Turnover rate
0.0%
Company-owned
0
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
100%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+25.0%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+25.0%
Compounded over last 3 years
2022
5+1
Franchised units
2023
4
Franchised units
2024
4
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 15 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 · 15 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
4
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

60
Risk · 0-100
MODERATE60 / 100

BrightStar Care Homes presents meaningful litigation risk, undisclosed profitability metrics, and a tiny franchise network with franchisor financial concerns that warrant careful validation before investment.

Score breakdown · what drove the 60 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDNet Income not disclosed in Item 19 despite $691K average revenue — unable to validate actual profitability
  2. 02MINORFive active lawsuits/arbitrations (2 settled franchisee suits + 3 franchisor claims for post-termination damages) indicate systemic relationship friction
  3. 03MINOROnly 5 franchised units with 25% YoY growth is minimal scale; small network limits peer support and brand leverage
  4. 04MINORHigh fee-to-revenue ratio: $50K franchise fee + 5% royalty on net billings creates significant upfront and ongoing cost burden
  5. 05HIGHGoing Concern status suggests financial instability at franchisor level, raising questions about support infrastructure sustainability

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

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

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Radius or Zip Codes
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
20 years
Renewal term
10 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Not 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
38 hrs
On-the-job training
0 hrs
POS system
Advanced 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

22 numbers

Locked
(608) 266-••••
WI
(605) 773-••••
SD
(701) 328-••••
ND

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

BrightStar Care Homes · FDD (2024) PDF

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