Dale Carnegie
Bottom line
- Total investment $93K – $246K including a $20K franchise fee, 12.0% ongoing royalty.
- No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 61/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 25 loans (below the industry average).
- System contracting at -6.0% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven (consolidation) or franchisee-driven (economics).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
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 Dale Carnegie unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
25%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Overview
About
Franchisees operate Dale Carnegie corporate training and personal development centers, delivering in-person and virtual courses on communication, leadership, and confidence-building. Daily operations involve recruiting corporate clients, scheduling/delivering instructor-led training programs, managing a small staff, and handling billing/customer retention.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
This franchisor did not disclose financial performance representations in Item 19, or our extractor could not parse them.
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 24 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 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.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Dale Carnegie presents meaningful risk due to stagnant growth, missing financial disclosure, aggressive royalty structure, and lack of evidence franchisees achieve positive ROI.
Score breakdown · what drove the 61 / 100 rating
- 01MINORStagnant unit growth at 0.7% YoY indicates a mature or declining system with minimal expansion momentum
- 02MEDFinancial performance metrics (avg revenue and net income) not disclosed in FDD Item 19, making ROI assessment impossible
- 03MINORTiered royalty structure up to 12% is aggressive and disproportionately punishes underperforming locations, creating cash flow pressure
- 04MED143 total units is a small franchise system with limited brand recognition and support infrastructure compared to competitors
- 05MED10-year term is unusually long for a training/services business with no disclosed unit economics or franchisee profitability data
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
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
45 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Dale Carnegie · FDD (2022) PDF