Children’s Art Classes Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $134K – $264K
- Disclosed sales
- partial, no system average
- SBA charge-off
- Under 10 loans (8)
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Children's Art Classes is a children's education franchise offering drawing, painting, and craft instruction for kids. Franchisees run local programs, managing instructors, class scheduling, and enrollment.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Children’s Art Classes franchise requires a total initial investment of $134K – $264K, including a $60K franchise fee and an ongoing 8.3% royalty[2]. The 2025 FDD on file does not yield a unit-revenue figure we can publish. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: medium - issued 12 to 24 months ago; a newer filing is likely on file
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 scored4 of 6 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $134K – $264K
- 40th pct Education
- Avg gross sales
- N/A
- Royalty
- 8.3%
- 61st pct Education
- Units
- 14
- 33rd pct Education
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Education · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Education 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 $134K – $264K including a $60K franchise fee, 8.3% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSItem 19 reports outlet revenue, but not in a form that yields a per-outlet average we can compare across brands.
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 46/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHNegative, pipeline stalled: 27 agreements signed but not yet open against 14 open outlets (Item 20).
- DATAItem 19 reports outlet revenue, but not in a form that yields a per-outlet average we can compare across brands. Ask franchisees directly for full unit-level revenue.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- CAC Franchising, LLC
- CEO title
- President
- Stephanie Larsen
- CEO experience
- 15 yrs
- Years in role or industry
- Founder active
- Yes
- Original founder still leading the business
- Incorporated in
- FL
- HQ
- 9838 Old Baymeadows Road, #158, Jacksonville, FL 32256
- Auditor
- Metwally CPA PLLC
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $324K
- vs $247K prior year
Affiliated brands
- has the same business address as us
Other brands the franchisor or its parent operates (Item 1).
Overview
About
- CEO
- Stephanie Larsen
- Headquarters
- FL
- Founded
- 2019
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 10
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost is about typical for a education franchise (near the category median).
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown18 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Feenot refundable | $60K | $60K | |
| Training-Related Expensesnot refundable | $1K | $6K | |
| Initial Local Advertisingnot refundable | $10K | $15K | |
| Rent and Security Deposit for Lease and Utilities | $8K | $16K | |
| Leasehold Improvements, including architectural servicesnot refundable | $12K | $88K | |
| Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipmentnot refundable | $15K | $20K | |
| Initial Inventory and Suppliesnot refundable | $10K | $16K | |
| Insurance (3 months)not refundable | $300 | $600 | |
| Business Licenses and Permitsnot refundable | $200 | $500 | |
| Optional Teacher Recruiting Servicesnot refundable | $0 | $4K | |
| Professional Feesnot refundable | $1K | $4K | |
| Signagenot refundable | $4K | $10K | |
| Computersnot refundable | $2K | $2K | |
| Software and Technology Servicesnot refundable | $1K | $2K | |
| Camera & Security Systemnot refundable | $300 | $500 | |
| Fingerprinting and Background Checksnot refundable | $18 | $60 | |
| Uniformsnot refundable | $300 | $500 | |
| Additional Funds (for first 3 months)not refundable | $10K | $20K | |
| Total initial investment | $134K | $264K |
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
- $134K – $264K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $10K – $20K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $60K – $60K
- Middle of category vs category
- Royalty
- 8.3%
- Set by a formula · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 9.3%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 8.3% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% |
| Technology fee | $0 |
| Training fee | $200 |
| Transfer fee | $5K |
| Renewal fee | $5K |
| Inventory (initial) | $10K – $16K |
| Total fee load | 9.3% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
No Item 19 revenue figure for Children’s Art Classes is on file. The return models need a revenue figure to start from, and the operating costs that turn gross sales into a profit are in no FDD. Enter your own and the calculator runs on your assumptions — nothing here is modelled until you do.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Children’s Art Classes 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 annual revenue, 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.
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
- Item 19 type
- gross sales and income statement
- Sample size
- 9 outlets
- vs category median 16
- Range (low → high)
- $25K→$359KNot cited — published from our reading of the franchisor's disclosure document; the page it is printed on has not been located.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- Disclosed in the 2025 filing, covering 2024
- Transparency
- 6 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 204 Education brands
Item 19 · by group
What the filing does disclose
Item 19 of this FDD reports performance in more than one group. We publish no single average for this brand; the groups the filing does disclose are listed below, quoted from its own Item 19 table.
Each row below is quoted from the FDD's own Item 19 table. Gross sales are not profit.
Item 19 detail
all locations
| Segment | Sample (outlets) | Avg |
|---|---|---|
| All Locations (Franchisee + Affiliate) - Gross Sales 2024 | 14 outlets | — |
affiliate owned
| Segment | Sample (outlets) | Avg |
|---|---|---|
| Two Affiliate-Owned Locations - Adjusted Discretionary Income 2024 | 2 outlets | $131K |
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 9.3% (near the Education median).
Disclosure
Item 19 reports outlet revenue, but not in a form that yields a per-outlet average we can compare across brands.
Operator retention
System expanding at 100.0% CAGR over 3 years across 14 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 Education medians
How Children’s Art Classes Compares
Category median of published Education 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
- 14
- Opened
- 3
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- N/A
- Company-owned
- 2
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 86%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +100.0%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +100.0%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Signed, not yet open
- 27
- 1.93 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 38
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 19 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.
Available to sell in · Item 12
- Wisconsin
States where the franchisor is registered to sell new franchises (FDD registration filings).
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
34 current owners across 19 states.
- CA 4
- FL 4
- NY 4
- AZ 3
- NC 3
- VA 3
- CO 1
- CT 1
- IL 1
- IN 1
- MA 1
- MD 1
- +7 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.
Fast growth in a small system. Newer franchisors expanding quickly may not yet have the support infrastructure of larger systems.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA loan disclosures. This brand has only 8 7(a) loans on file; statistical reliability is limited below 10 loans.
- Total loans
- 8
- Loan volume
- $1.2M
- Median loan
- $145K
- average
- Charge-off rate
- Under 10 loans (8)
- Insufficient SBA coverage: 8 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 (8)
- 5-yr charge-off
- Under 10 loans (8)
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 3
- 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
Early-stage children's art franchise with undocumented financial claims, implausible profit margins, and rapid growth from minimal unit base creates moderate-to-high uncertainty around sustainability and return projections.
Why this reads harsher than the B grade: the grade weighs financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency across the whole filing, while this summary lists individual flags without that weighting. The flags are worth checking with current owners; neither is investment advice.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation required to be disclosed
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Metwally CPA PLLC
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Item 21 states audited financial statements as of 12/31/2024, 2023, 2022 are in Exhibit E, but the Exhibit E financial statement pages are scanned images not captured in the OCR text; no figures or auditor name extractable.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- 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 46 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORRoyalty structure creates ambiguity: $500 minimum monthly royalty means locations with <$6,061 revenue pay disproportionately high rates (8.25%+)
- 02MEDRapid unit growth (33.3% YoY) from small base (14 units) indicates early-stage system with limited operational track record and sustainability data
- 03MINORHigh initial investment range ($134K–$264K) combined with unverified financials creates significant risk exposure
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 9.3% 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 | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 2 |
| Territory type | Exclusive territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | Yes |
| Territory radius | 3 mi |
| Territory population | 50,000 |
| Online sales rights | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 25 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 1 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Jacksonville, Florida |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | FL |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation required to be disclosed
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 54 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 42 hrs
- Training location
- Jacksonville, FL (in-person); Online; Pre-Training Conference Call
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 4 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- Franchisee (subject to franchisor approval)
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Sawyer Tools
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Sawyer Tools
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
34 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 Children’s Art Classes franchise?
The total investment to open a Children’s Art Classes franchise ranges from $134K – $264K, with an initial franchise fee of $60K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Children’s Art Classes franchise owners earn?
Item 19 of the Children’s Art Classes FDD discloses outlet figures from $25K to $359K but no single average across all outlets. These are gross sales figures, not profit; the Revenue section shows what the filing reports and on what basis. Item 20 of the FDD lists current and former franchisees; asking them directly is the standard way to fill this gap.
Who owns Children’s Art Classes?
Children’s Art Classes is franchised by CAC Franchising, LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Children’s Art Classes 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 Children’s Art Classes FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Children’s Art Classes's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Children’s Art Classes (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 Children’s Art Classes franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Children’s Art Classes has 14 total units in the United States, including 12 franchised units and 2 company-owned units. 3 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Children’s Art Classes a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Children’s Art Classes as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 46 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 Children’s Art Classes, you can request corrections or provide updated information.
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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.