FranchiseVerdict
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FV-00604·STRONGExcellent100

Comfort Keepers

Health & Wellness - Senior CareFranchising since 1999Website
Investment
$120K – $191K
68th pct Senior Care
Avg revenue
$1.3M
48th pct Senior Care
Royalty
Units
624
97th pct Senior Care
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $120K – $191K including a $55K franchise fee.
  • Average unit revenue of $1.3M/year (median $857K). Estimated payback in 0.3 years.
  • Rated STRONG with a risk score of 42/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 179 loans (below the industry average).
  • System growing at 17.0% CAGR over 3 years with 624 total units — strong expansion trajectory.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
CK Franchising, Inc.
Parent company
CK Holdco, Inc.
Incorporated in
Ohio
HQ
1 Park Plaza, Suite 300, Irvine, CA 92614
Auditor
Grant Thornton LLP
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$42.3M
vs $49.3M 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 Comfort Keepers unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $1,277,857
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: $120K–$191K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $39K–$191K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

99%

Above typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$268K
EBITDA margin
21.0%
Total invested
$270K
Payback
12 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 Comfort Keepers units return on equity?

Edit assumptions

Equity IRR · 5-yr

31.0%

3.86× MOIC

Year-1 DSCR

2.59×

EBITDA ÷ debt service

Equity required

$7.5M

on $17.9M purchase

Total debt

$10.4M

SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note

SBA 7(a) request ($8.9M) exceeds the $5M program cap. Excess capped automatically; backfill via conventional or equity.

Overview

About

Franchisees operate home health care agencies providing non-medical in-home services (companionship, personal care, light housekeeping) to elderly and disabled clients. Day-to-day work involves recruiting and managing caregiver staff, scheduling client visits, handling billing/insurance, and ensuring quality control and regulatory compliance in a highly regulated sector.

CEO
Natalie Black
Founded
1999
FDD year
2025
States available
44

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$120K – $191K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$39K – $191K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$55K
Royalty
the greater of the minimum Royalty Fee of $500 or 5% of G…
Ad fund
The lesser of $802.89 per month or 2% of monthly Gross Re…
Total fee load
7.0%
vs 9–13% typical
Payback period
0.3 yrs
From v3 / Item 19

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$1.3M
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
$857K
Item 19 type
Net Revenue and Owners' Discretionary Profit
Sample size
600 units
vs category median 23 · large
Range (low → high)
$9K$21.5M
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
7 / 5
vs category median 4 / 5 · above
Revenue rank48th
vs Health & Wellness - Senior Care peers
Investment cost rank68th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank71th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank97th
vs Health & Wellness - Senior Care peers
Risk score rank10th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
624
Opened
45
Last reporting year
Closed
4
Turnover rate
0.6%
Company-owned
5
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
99%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+7.1%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+17.0%
Compounded over last 3 years
2023
619+5
Franchised units
2024
578
Franchised units
2025
529
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 9 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 · 9 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
179
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

42
Risk · 0-100
STRONG42 / 100

Comfort Keepers presents elevated legal and operational risk due to active wage-and-hour litigation, vicarious liability claims, and regulatory investigations into hiring practices, combined with unverified profitability claims and modest unit growth in a mature system.

Score breakdown · what drove the 42 / 100 rating

  1. 01HIGHActive litigation including wage-and-hour class action and state AG investigations into non-solicit/hire practices creates operational and compliance risk
  2. 02MINORVicarious liability negligence claims (2x) indicate potential gaps in training, screening, or supervision of caregivers—critical in home health services
  3. 03MINORModest unit growth (7.1% YoY) suggests market saturation or competitive pressure in a 624-unit system
  4. 04MINORHigh franchise fee ($55,000) + royalty structure (5% or $500 minimum) with no Item 19 financials provided—cannot validate profit claims
  5. 05MINORMaster franchise termination in Quebec signals relationship breakdown and possible expansion strategy failure
  6. 06MINORSignificant investment range ($119,560–$190,700) with vague profit attribution—wide variance suggests inconsistent unit economics

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 codes
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
10 years
Renewal term
10 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
6
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
Ohio

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
45 hrs
On-the-job training
3 hrs
POS system
Viv Technologies
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

90 numbers

Locked
(916) 260-••••
CA
(323) 932-••••
CA
(386) 322-••••
FL

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Comfort Keepers · FDD (2025) PDF

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