goGLOW Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $283K – $497K
- Disclosed sales
- $663K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Under 10 loans (4)
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
goGLOW is a beauty franchise specializing in airbrush spray tanning and skincare services. Franchisees run the studios, managing technicians, appointments, and retail.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A goGLOW franchise requires a total initial investment of $283K – $497K, including a $60K franchise fee and an ongoing 8.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $663K[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: C (Average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Limited operating history: franchising since 2024. A system this young has fewer than three years of Item 20 outlet history and rarely enough SBA loans for a charge-off rate, so its grade rests on less evidence than an established system's. Read its Item 20 tables and talk to its first franchisees before relying on the grade. Other new franchisors
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: partial✓ 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 scored6 of 7 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $283K – $497K
- 31st pct Personal Care…
- Avg gross sales
- $663K
- Company-owned onlyNet sales
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- 51st pct Personal Care…
- Units
- 10
- 18th pct Personal Care…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Personal Care & Beauty · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Personal Care & Beauty 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 $283K – $497K including a $60K franchise fee, 8.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $663K/year (company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance).
- RISKVerdict C (Average), verdict score 44/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +7 franchised outlets in the latest year (7 opened, 0 closed) (Item 20).
- EARLYEmerging franchise: only 2 years of franchising with 10 units. Early-stage systems carry higher risk but may offer better territory availability.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- goGLOW Franchise, LLC
- Parent company
- goGLOW Holding, LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 7 of the 2025 FDD
- CEO title
- Founder & Chief Executive Officer
- Melanie Richards
- Incorporated in
- DE
- HQ
- 7493 France Avenue S., Edina, Minnesota 55435
- Auditor
- Aprio, LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $657K
- vs $9K prior year
Affiliated brands
- goGLOW Sk
- goGLOW
- goGLOW Enterprises
Other brands the franchisor or its parent operates (Item 1).
Overview
About
- CEO
- Melanie Richards
- Headquarters
- MN
- Founded
- 2021
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 7
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost is about typical for a personal care & beauty franchise (near the category median).
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown25 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Feenot refundable | $60K | $60K | |
| On-Site Initial Training Feenot refundable | $5K | $5K | |
| Costs and Expenses Associated with Initial Training | $500 | $3K | |
| Lease - Deposit and Rent over First 3 Months | $5K | $18K | |
| Design, Architecture, and Engineering Feesnot refundable | $8K | $15K | |
| Site Survey - Due Diligencenot refundable | $0 | $7K | |
| Permits and Permit Managementnot refundable | $2K | $7K | |
| Construction Project Managementnot refundable | $0 | $18K | |
| Utility Deposit | $500 | $1K | |
| Professional Fees | $3K | $5K | |
| Net Leasehold Improvements | $50K | $180K | |
| Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment | $42K | $45K | |
| Interior and Exterior Signagenot refundable | $3K | $9K | |
| Business Management Systemnot refundable | $10K | $10K | |
| Technology Fee - 6 Monthsnot refundable | $6K | $6K | |
| Digital Marketing and Advertising Management - 6 Monthsnot refundable | $6K | $6K | |
| Grand Opening - Project Management Feenot refundable | $5K | $5K | |
| Business Licenses | $2K | $3K | |
| Computer System Hardware | $0 | $4K | |
| Financing/Leasing Amounts due in Connection with Initial Equipment Packagenot refundable | $6K | $8K | |
| Total initial investment | $283K | $497K |
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
- $283K – $497K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $15K – $25K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $60K – $60K
- Middle 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 net sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% of net sales |
| Technology fee | $1K |
| Training fee | $5K |
| Transfer fee | $10K |
| Renewal fee | $10K |
| Inventory (initial) | $25K – $28K |
| Total fee load | 9.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 26% above the personal care & beauty norm.
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
Reported as net sales, not gross sales
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 goGLOW 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
$410K
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 goGLOW 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
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
Reported as net sales, not gross sales
- Avg gross sales
- $663K
- 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
- historical actuals
- Sample size
- 3 outlets
- vs category median 38 · small
- Range (low → high)
- $406K→$876KCited, not corroborated — printed on page 63 of the 2025 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- The FDD edition these figures were read from
- Transparency
- 6 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 177 Personal Care & Beauty 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 $663K/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 1.7x. Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 9.0% (near the Personal Care & Beauty median).
Disclosure
Transparency score 6/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence. Sample size of 3 outlets — treat as directional only.
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 Personal Care & Beauty medians
How goGLOW Compares
Category median of published Personal Care & Beauty 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
- 10
- Opened
- 7
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- N/A
- Company-owned
- 3
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 70%
- vs corporate-owned
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 7 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.
7
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA loan disclosures. This brand has only 4 7(a) loans on file; statistical reliability is limited below 10 loans.
- Total loans
- 4
- Loan volume
- $1.9M
- Median loan
- $471K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- Under 10 loans (4)
- Insufficient SBA coverage: 4 loans, 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 (4)
- 5-yr charge-off
- Under 10 loans (4)
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 2
- 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
Early-stage, micro-franchise system with minimal scale, opaque royalty structure, and undisclosed unit performance data creates elevated risk despite positive unit-level economics.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation is required to be disclosed in Item 3.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Aprio, LLP
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
Score breakdown · what drove the 44 / 100 verdict
- 01MEDOnly 10 units system-wide suggests very early-stage franchise with unproven scalability and limited peer support network
- 02MEDNo disclosed unit growth trajectory despite 10-year operating history raises concerns about expansion viability and franchisee recruitment success
- 03MEDDual royalty structure (8% or minimum fee) is opaque—actual minimum royalty amount not disclosed, creating hidden cost risk
- 04MINORHigh initial investment range ($282.9k–$497k) against only 10 operating units creates survivorship bias; no data on failed locations
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 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 | 2 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory radius | 2 mi |
| Territory population | 50,000 |
| Online sales rights | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 25 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 3 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 4 |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Arbitration location | Minneapolis, Minnesota (at franchisor's option, non-binding mediation or arbitration) |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | MN |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation is required to be disclosed in Item 3.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 16 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 43 hrs
- Training location
- Minneapolis, MN and/or your Premises
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 12 mo
- From signing to launch
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Zenoti
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Zenoti
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a goGLOW franchise?
The total investment to open a goGLOW franchise ranges from $283K – $497K, with an initial franchise fee of $60K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do goGLOW franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the goGLOW FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $663K. Important context: Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance; Reported as net sales, not gross sales. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns goGLOW?
goGLOW is franchised by goGLOW Franchise, LLC. Its parent company is goGLOW Holding, LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the goGLOW 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 goGLOW FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is goGLOW's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for goGLOW (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 goGLOW franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, goGLOW has 10 total units in the United States, including 7 franchised units and 3 company-owned units. 7 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is goGLOW a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates goGLOW as a C-grade franchise with a verdict score of 44 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
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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.