Club Z Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Club Z franchise requires a total initial investment of $41K – $57K, including a $20K – $40K franchise fee and an ongoing 8.0% royalty[2]. The 2025 FDD on file does not yield a unit-revenue figure we can publish. SBA 7(a) loans show a 15.8% charge-off rate across 28 loans[1]. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified · figures per the 2025 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $41K – $57K
- 6th pct Education
- Avg gross sales
- N/A
- Outlet subsetProjection
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- 44th pct Education
- Units
- 319
- 76th pct Education
- SBA charge-off
- 15.8%
- % of SBA 7(a) loans not repaid · median varies by category
Quick verdict · Education · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Education avg · 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 $41K – $57K including a $20K franchise fee, 8.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSItem 19 discloses average number of private students (52, 40, 20, 7 across four hours-worked tiers) and hourly tutor/client pay rates by education level (elementary/middle/high school/test prep) - not whole-unit gross sales or net income figures.
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 56/100 (higher is better). SBA loan charge-off rate of 15.8% across 28 loans (above the 16% franchise average, based on all SBA 7(a) franchise lending, 2010–2025).
- DECLINESystem contracting at -8.1% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven (consolidation) or franchisee-driven (economics).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Club Z!, Inc.
- CEO title
- Director and CEO
- Mark Lucas
- Incorporated in
- Florida
- HQ
- 15310 Amberly Drive, Suite 175, Tampa, Florida 33647
Overview
About
In-home tutoring services franchise; Area Director franchisees recruit qualified teachers to tutor children one-on-one in the child's home, grades pre-K to 12
- CEO
- Mark Lucas
- Headquarters
- Florida
- Founded
- 1995
- FDD year
- 2025
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 93% below the typical education franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2025 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $20K | $20K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $4K | $6K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $17K | $32K |
| Total initial investment | $41K | $57K |
Source: Club Z 2025 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
- $41K – $57K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $4K – $6K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $20K – $40K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- Tiered by sales volume · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 2.0%
- typical 3–5%
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 8.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 2.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $75 |
| Transfer fee | $2K |
| Renewal fee | $250 |
What do units actually make?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
No Item 19 revenue figure for Club Z 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 Club Z 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 discloses average number of private students (52, 40, 20, 7 across four hours-worked tiers) and hourly tutor/client pay rates by education level (elementary/middle/high school/test prep) - not whole-unit gross sales or net income figures.
Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system
Not a revenue figure
- Item 19 type
- non-financial (student counts + tutor/client hourly pay rates by hours-worked tier)
- Sample size
- 319 outlets
- vs category median 17 · large
- Reporting year
- 2025
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- The FDD edition these figures were read from
Compared against 204 Education brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Fee burden
8.0% royalty + 2.0% ad fund.
Disclosure
Item 19 reports a non-revenue operating metric rather than annual gross sales, so unit revenue is not directly comparable.
Operator retention
System contracting at -8.1% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven consolidation or franchisee exits.
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 averages
How Club Z Compares
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 319
- Opened
- 16
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Terminated
- 2
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 2
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 1.3%
- Company-owned
- 0
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 100%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +3.7%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- -8.1%
- Compounded over last 3 years
3-year detail · Item 20
- Opened (3yr)
- 16
- Closed (3yr)
- 0
- Terminated (3yr)
- 2
- Non-renewed (3yr)
- 2
- Reacquired (3yr)
- 21
- Franchisor bought back
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 11 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.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 28
- Loan volume
- $1.6M
- Median loan
- $40K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- 15.8%
- rates vary by category · see methodology
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- 84.2%
- 5-yr charge-off
- 0.0%
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 19
- Defaults
- 3
- Typical loan rate
- 7.4%
- avg rate to borrowers
- vs industry
- N/A
- NAICS 6116
- Jobs supported
- 302
- 25.3 per loan
- Lender concentration
- 14%
- top lender's share
Borrower mix: 0% went to startups / new businesses, 100% to established operators
Top lenders financing Club Z franchisees
Showing 3 of 19 lenders. The full breakdown — every lender, state distribution, interest rates & risk ratings — is in the SBA Lending Report below.
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
What could kill this investment?
SBA loans here charge off near the 16.0% national average.
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Litigation (Item 3)
No litigation disclosed.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes
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
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 10.0% 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 | 7 years |
|---|---|
| Territory type | protected |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | Yes |
| Territory population | 200,000 |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 14 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 180 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | American Arbitration Association office closest to franchisor's headquarters (Florida) |
| Governing law | Florida |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation disclosed.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 30 hrs
- Training location
- Tampa, Florida (corporate headquarters) or online; plus 10 hours web-based pre/post-training
- Ongoing training
- Optional
- Time to open
- 1 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- franchisee (home-based or optional commercial office; no site selection criteria/approval required)
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
51 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 Club Z franchise?
The total investment to open a Club Z franchise ranges from $41K – $57K, with an initial franchise fee of $20K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Club Z franchise owners earn?
No average owner earnings figure for Club Z is on file. Item 19 — where a franchisor may disclose what its outlets earn — is voluntary under the FTC Franchise Rule, and we have not established what this brand's FDD says. Item 20 of the FDD lists current and former franchisees; asking them directly is the standard way to fill this gap.
What is Item 19 in the Club Z 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 Club Z FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Club Z's franchise failure rate?
Based on SBA 7(a) loan data, Club Z has a charge-off rate of 15.8% across 28 loans, meaning 15.8% of franchise loans were charged off. Charge-off rates are one proxy for franchise risk, though they do not capture all closures. This data comes from FOIA-sourced SBA lending records.
How many Club Z franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Club Z has 319 total units in the United States, including 319 franchised units and 0 company-owned units. 16 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Club Z a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Club Z 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
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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.