Crdn Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $85K – $539K
- Disclosed sales
- $1.4M
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
CRDN is a specialty franchise that restores clothing, textiles, and contents damaged in fires, floods, and other insured losses. Franchisees run a restoration operation working with insurers and contractors to clean and return damaged belongings in a territory.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A CRDN franchise requires a total initial investment of $85K – $539K, including a $46K – $65K franchise fee and an ongoing 6.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $1.4M[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: A (Strongest tier), 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 scored5 of 6 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $85K – $539K
- 24th pct Cleaning & Ma…
- Avg gross sales
- $1.4M
- 26th pct Cleaning & Ma…
- Royalty
- 6.0%
- 14th pct Cleaning & Ma…
- Units
- 127
- 68th pct Cleaning & Ma…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Cleaning & Maintenance · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Cleaning & Maintenance 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 $85K – $539K including a $46K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $1.4M/year.
- RISKVerdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 79/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHFlat: no net change in franchised outlets in the latest year (6 opened, 2 closed); 5 signed but not yet open (Item 20).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Certified Restoration Drycleaning Network, LLC
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- Wayne Wudyka
- CEO experience
- 24 yrs
- Years in role or industry
- Founder active
- Yes
- Original founder still leading the business
- Incorporated in
- Michigan
- HQ
- 2060 Coolidge Hwy, Berkley, MI 48072
- Auditor
- Kaufman Richard CPAs PC
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $18.7M
- vs $17.5M prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Affiliated brands
- as is its sole shareholder
- Huntington
Other brands the franchisor or its parent operates (Item 1).
Overview
About
- CEO
- Wayne Wudyka
- Headquarters
- Michigan
- Founded
- 2001
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 40
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 84% above the typical cleaning & maintenance franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown20 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed Licensing Fee | $16K | $16K | |
| Territory Fee | $16K | $35K | |
| Initial Package Fee | $14K | $14K | |
| Initial Training Expensesnot refundable | $1K | $3K | |
| Dry Cleaning Trainingnot refundable | $0 | $3K | |
| Real Estate Purchase/Lease and Leasehold Improvementsnot refundable | $15K | $65K | |
| Plant Machinery and Equipmentnot refundable | $0 | $160K | |
| Ozone Machinenot refundable | $300 | $1K | |
| Storage Facility Rent and Depositnot refundable | $0 | $12K | |
| Storage Racking Systemnot refundable | $2K | $20K | |
| Accounting, Legal, and Other Professional Feesnot refundable | $0 | $5K | |
| Miscellaneous Opening Costsnot refundable | $0 | $6K | |
| Signage, Exterior Onlynot refundable | $500 | $1K | |
| Boxes, Solvents and Detergentsnot refundable | $250 | $1K | |
| Vehiclenot refundable | $0 | $20K | |
| Full time marketing personnot refundable | $10K | $20K | |
| Computer hardwarenot refundable | $0 | $8K | |
| Point of Sale Systemnot refundable | $0 | $10K | |
| Insurancenot refundable | $0 | $40K | |
| Additional Fundsnot refundable | $10K | $100K | |
| Total initial investment | $85K | $539K |
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
- $85K – $539K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $10K – $100K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $46K – $65K
- Middle of category vs category
- Royalty
- 6.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 7.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 6.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $100 |
| Training fee | $8K |
| Transfer fee | $10K |
| Inventory (initial) | $250 – $1K |
| Total fee load | 7.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 162% above the cleaning & maintenance norm.
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
Single-unit · not modelled
Returns at a glance
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit, and the operating costs that turn one into the other are in no filing. We publish no modelled return for CRDN until someone supplies them — yours, in the models below.
—
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for 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.
Total invested capital · disclosed
$367K
Item 7 initial investment plus working capital, as filed — the one figure here that needs no assumption.
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit, read against the 30–60% reference band · Yale SOM, Post-MBA Path Exhibit 2 (2023). Below that band a passive index fund likely outperforms; above it the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses, and it is the top line only — gross sales are not profit. No FDD discloses the operating costs that turn one into the other, so those fields start empty and nothing is modelled until you supply them from your own lease quote, labor market and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one CRDN 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 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.
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for 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.
A 25-unit return is built on a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in Model A above and this model runs on that figure, or take the whole scenario to the full ROI workbench, where the portfolio and LBO models accept your own per-unit economics directly.
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
- Avg gross sales
- $1.4M
- Per unit/yr · from the Item 19 franchised-cohort breakdown (no single system-wide average disclosed)
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- gross sales
- Sample size
- 138 territories
- vs category median 32 · large
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- Disclosed in the 2025 filing, covering 2024
- Transparency
- 3 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · below
Compared against 191 Cleaning & Maintenance brands
Revenue is 4.5x the investment midpoint. At typical franchise margins, this suggests a payback under 3 years.
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $1.4M/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 4.5x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 7.0% — below the Cleaning & Maintenance median of 8.3%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 3/10 — moderate disclosure depth. Average and range data are available but detailed cohort breakdowns may be limited.
Operator retention
System roughly stable (+3.2% 3-year CAGR) with 127 units.
Multi-unit rate
50% of franchisees own multiple units, a moderate multi-unit rate.
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 Cleaning & Maintenance medians
How Crdn Compares
Category median of published Cleaning & Maintenance 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
- 127
- Opened
- 6
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 2
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 11.5%
- Company-owned
- 1
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 99%
- vs corporate-owned
- Multi-unit owners
- 50.0%
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +3.2%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +3.2%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 2
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 5
- 0.04 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 4
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Transfer rate
- 3.2%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
- Termination rate
- 2.4%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
- Ceased ops
- 3.2%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 5 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.
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
7 current owners across 5 states.
- MI 2
- RI 2
- FL 1
- MA 1
- PA 1
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.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
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
CRDN presents moderate-to-high risk: undisclosed unit profitability, franchisor financial concerns, unprotected territory, and opaque growth metrics create significant uncertainty for ROI projections.
Why this reads harsher than the A 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: the franchisor is a named party (plaintiff).
CRDN filed two related actions (federal and RI Superior Court) against a former franchisee and his affiliated business to enforce a settlement agreement/promissory note and collect on defaults, following an earlier trade-secret/breach-of-contract suit; a default judgment of $448,794.81 was entered against one defendant.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Kaufman Richard CPAs PC
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: Yes
Score breakdown · what drove the 79 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORWide investment range ($84,650–$538,850) suggests inconsistent unit economics or hidden costs
- 02MINORTerritory not protected — franchisees face direct competition from other CRDN locations
- 03MINOR127 units with unknown growth trajectory — no clarity on system expansion or contraction
- 04MINOR6% royalty on gross sales (not net) means profitability erosion regardless of actual margins
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 7.0% 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 | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory population | 600,000 |
| Online sales rights | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 20 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 10 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 1 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 1 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | American Arbitration Association office closest to franchisor's principal business address (Michigan) |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Michigan |
| Litigation count | 2 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
CRDN filed two related actions (federal and RI Superior Court) against a former franchisee and his affiliated business to enforce a settlement agreement/promissory note and collect on defaults, following an earlier trade-secret/breach-of-contract suit; a default judgment of $448,794.81 was entered against one defendant.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 29 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 9 hrs
- Training location
- CRDN home office in Berkley, Michigan and Huntington's facilities in Huntington Woods and Oak Park, Michigan (some training may be virtual)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Field support
- 8 hrs/yr
- On-site visits per year
- Time to open
- 3 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- franchisee
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- RestorNet
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: RestorNet
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
7 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 CRDN franchise?
The total investment to open a CRDN franchise ranges from $85K – $539K, with an initial franchise fee of $46K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do CRDN franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the CRDN FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $1.4M. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns CRDN?
CRDN is franchised by Certified Restoration Drycleaning Network, LLC. The FDD names no parent company. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the CRDN 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 CRDN FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is CRDN's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for CRDN (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 CRDN franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, CRDN has 127 total units in the United States, including 126 franchised units and 1 company-owned units. 6 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is CRDN a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates CRDN as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 79 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?
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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.