Express Employment Professionals
Bottom line
- Total investment $131K – $599K including a $40K franchise fee, 40.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $5.3M/year (median $4.0M).
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 43/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 163 loans (below the industry average).
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 Express Employment Professionals unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
-150%
Negative
Overview
About
Express Employment Professionals franchisees operate staffing agencies that recruit, vet, and place temporary and permanent job candidates with client companies. Day-to-day operations involve client prospecting, candidate sourcing and screening, interview coordination, payroll processing, and relationship management across a protected territory, with the franchisor capturing 40% of gross margin in royalties.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
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 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
Express Employment Professionals exhibits meaningful caution-level risk due to system contraction, extraordinarily high royalty burden, undisclosed profitability metrics, and a pattern of litigation reflecting franchisor-franchisee conflict over territory quality and business fundamentals.
Score breakdown · what drove the 43 / 100 rating
- 01MINORDeclining unit count (-3.2% YoY with 765 units) indicates system contraction and potential market saturation or franchisee dissatisfaction
- 02MINORExceptionally high royalty structure (40% of gross margin) severely limits franchisee profitability and leaves minimal cushion for operating expenses
- 03HIGHMultiple litigation patterns: fraud allegations, debt collection lawsuits against franchisees, wage/labor disputes, and territory misrepresentation claims suggest systemic franchisor-franchisee tensions
- 04MINORNo Item 19 (average net income) disclosure prevents transparent ROI analysis despite high royalty burden—critical red flag for a $131k-$599k investment
- 05MINORSettled class action on labor/wage statements raises compliance and operational risk concerns that may persist post-settlement
- 06MINORFormer franchisee allegations of territory misrepresentation directly undermine the franchise model's core value proposition
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
97 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Express Employment Professionals · FDD (2026) PDF