Drama Kids Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $44K – $55K
- Disclosed sales
- $175K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Under 10 loans (1)
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Drama Kids is a children's education franchise offering after-school drama classes that build confidence and communication skills. Franchisees run local programs, managing instructors, class scheduling, and student enrollment.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Drama Kids franchise requires a total initial investment of $44K – $55K, including a $36K franchise fee and an ongoing 8.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2026 FDD, average unit revenue was $175K[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: low - issued within the last 12 months
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 7 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $44K – $55K
- 7th pct Education
- Avg gross sales
- $175K
- Outlet subset2nd pct Education
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- 44th pct Education
- Units
- 44
- 53rd 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 $44K – $55K including a $36K franchise fee, 8.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $175K/year (reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system).
- RISKVerdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 81/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +1 franchised outlets in the latest year (2 opened, 1 closed) (Item 20).
- DECLINESystem contracting at -14.3% 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
- Drama Kids International, Inc.
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer and Director
- Douglas C. Howard
- Incorporated in
- FL
- HQ
- 15271 McGregor Blvd., Suite 16-282, Fort Myers, Florida 33908
- Auditor
- Mullen Sondberg Wimbish & Stone, PA
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $863K
- vs $817K prior year
Overview
About
- CEO
- Douglas C. Howard
- Headquarters
- FL
- Founded
- 1999
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 20
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 75% below the typical education franchise.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2026 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $36K | $36K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $2K | $4K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $5K | $14K |
| Total initial investment | $44K | $55K |
Source: Drama Kids 2026 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
- $44K – $55K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $2K – $4K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $36K – $36K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- Set by a formula · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 9.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 8.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $50 |
| Transfer fee | $8K |
| Renewal fee | $5K |
| Total fee load | 9.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 57% below the education norm.
Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system
Source: FDD 2026 · 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 Drama Kids 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
$52K
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 Drama Kids 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: 2026 FDD
Financial Performance
Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system
- Avg gross sales
- $175K
- Per unit, per year
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- quartile gross sales
- Sample size
- 40 outlets
- vs category median 16 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $3K→$738KCited, not corroborated — printed on page 36 of the 2026 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Quartile band
- $32K→$396K
- Bottom 25% → top 25%
- Reporting year
- 2025
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2026
- Disclosed in the 2026 filing, covering 2025
- Transparency
- 3 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · below
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.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $175K/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 3.6x. Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 9.0% (near the Education median).
Disclosure
Transparency score 3/10 — moderate disclosure depth. Average and range data are available but detailed cohort breakdowns may be limited.
Operator retention
System contracting at -14.3% 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 medians
How Drama Kids 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 2026 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 44
- Opened
- 2
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 1
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 2.3%
- Company-owned
- 2
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 96%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +2.4%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- -14.3%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 0
- 0.00 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 8
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 20 states reported
The Territory Map
FDD Item 12 reports the state count, but the specific list isn't in our current data. The map will appear once we re-extract from the FDD or enough franchisee contacts are available.
20
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA loan disclosures. This brand has only 1 7(a) loan on file; statistical reliability is limited below 10 loans.
- Total loans
- 1
- Loan volume
- $12K
- Median loan
- $12K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- Under 10 loans (1)
- Insufficient SBA coverage: 1 loan, 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 (1)
- 5-yr charge-off
- Under 10 loans (1)
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 1
- 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
Undisclosed profitability, anemic unit growth, and opaque financial performance create meaningful investment risk despite lack of litigation.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Mullen Sondberg Wimbish & Stone, PA
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Figures from audited financial statements of Drama Kids International, Inc. (the franchisor), audited by Mullen Sondberg Wimbish & Stone, PA, for fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (yr1) with prior year December 31, 2024 (yr2). Single entity; no parent/guarantor. Stated in whole US dollars (not scaled). Total revenue is Total income $863,376 (royalties $608,177 + franchise sales $121,692 + advertising fund and technology fees $126,703 + interest income $6,804). Other revenue is total income less royalties = $255,199. Balance sheet reconciles: total assets $498,908 = total liabilities $206,196 + total stockholder's equity $292,712.
ⓘ These are the parent company's consolidated financials (the parent guarantees the franchisor), not this brand's standalone results — the figure reflects the whole corporate group, not this brand alone.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
Score breakdown · what drove the 81 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORMinimal unit growth (2.4% YoY) suggests market saturation or franchisee struggles in a children's entertainment sector with high competition
- 02MEDHigh initial investment ($43,500–$54,500) relative to disclosed revenue without profitability data creates ROI uncertainty
- 03MINORRoyalty structure heavily favors franchisor (8% of gross sales) with escalating minimums ($500/month by year 3 = $6,000 annually), compressing margins on thin revenue
- 04MINOR7-year term is longer than industry standard for entertainment franchises, reducing exit flexibility
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 9.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 7 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 7 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | Exclusive territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | Yes |
| Territory population | 50,000 |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 20 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Fort Myers, Florida |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | FL |
| Litigation count | 0 |
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 40 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 11 hrs
- Training location
- Tampa, Florida (Act Up! Classroom Training); Webinar/online (DKI Quick Start Training)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 3 mo
- From signing to launch
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Jackrabbit Class
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Jackrabbit Class
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
40 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 Drama Kids franchise?
The total investment to open a Drama Kids franchise ranges from $44K – $55K, with an initial franchise fee of $36K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Drama Kids franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Drama Kids FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $175K. Important context: Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Drama Kids?
Drama Kids is franchised by Drama Kids International, Inc.. Source: FDD Item 1, 2026 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Drama Kids 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 Drama Kids FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Drama Kids's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Drama Kids (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 Drama Kids franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Drama Kids has 44 total units in the United States, including 42 franchised units and 2 company-owned units. 2 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Drama Kids a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Drama Kids as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 81 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 Drama Kids, 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.