Lapels Dry Cleaning Franchise Cost & 2026 FDD Data
40/100
Middle tier
40 this brand56 Cleaning & Maintenance medianlikely 36–44: narrower with more SBA loans (high confidence)
Higher is better · an editorial assessment, not investment advice
#2,393 of 3,069 graded brands
Why a C: Helped by financial health, legal record and transparency. Held back by unit economics. See all six factors
- Total investment
- $536K – $797K
- Avg gross sales
- $423K
- 34 outlets reporting; not profit
- SBA charge-off
- 30.0%
1 in 3 SBA 7(a) loans to Lapels Dry Cleaning owners charged off (3 of 10 resolved loans, approved FY2014 to FY2015); Cleaning & Maintenance median 14.3%.
Data from the FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records. Analysis by FranchiseVerdict · Methodology · Website · Report an error · Franchisor? Claim this listing
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026 FDD
Per the 2026 FDD, a Lapels Dry Cleaning franchise requires a total initial investment of $536K – $797K, including a $27K – $60K franchise fee. Once open, the ongoing royalty is 6.0%. Per the 2026 FDD, average gross sales were $423K (34 outlets reporting; gross sales, not profit). SBA 7(a) loans show a 30.0% charge-off rate on 10 resolved loans. Verdict grade: C (Middle tier), an editorial assessment, not investment advice.
Sources: 2026 FDD · SBA 7(a) loan records (FOIA) · What one unit could make and lose →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: low (issued within the last 12 months)
Evidence for the headline figures: 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 scored8 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
Quick verdict · vs Cleaning & Maintenance median
Top edge: green = better than the Cleaning & Maintenance median by more than 10%, red = worse by more than 10%, gray = within 10% or no benchmark. Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a).
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Methodology
Bottom line
- RETURNSAverage gross sales of $423K/year (outlet median $389K; reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system; 34 outlets reporting; gross sales, not profit).
- GROWTHIn the latest Item 20 year, the number of franchised outlets grew by 2 (3 opened, 1 closed).
AT STAKEOne unit at the Item 7 midpoint: $86K a year in payments on assumed SBA 7(a)-style terms.You put in about $133K of your own cash and personally guarantee a $533K loan. Assumptions are labeled in Sales; not investment advice.See what one unit could make and lose
Things to check before you sign (2)
- SBA 7(a) charge-off 30.0% on 10 resolved loans approved FY2014 to FY2015, above the Cleaning & Maintenance median of 14.3% (33 brands).
- The franchisor keeps the right to compete inside your territory (Item 12, territory).
Checked and clear: no auditor doubt that the franchisor can keep operating, no net loss of franchised outlets in the latest Item 20 years, no lawsuit naming the franchisor in Item 3, no supplier rebates to the franchisor, no rule that the owner must run it personally and the full filing on file, and an Item 19 average from 34 units. Not on file here, so ask: jury-trial waiver.
What to do next
Step 1: Read the FDD itself.
Free: the franchisor must give it to you at least 14 days before you sign or pay. Or look it up in a state registry (Wisconsin, Minnesota, California). What to read first.
Step 2: Talk to current and former owners.
Free: Item 20 of the FDD lists every current owner and those who left last year, most with a phone number. Questions to ask.
Step 3: Talk to an SBA lender.
Free: the SBA's Lender Match, or the lenders already lending to this brand in the SBA section. Ask what you would personally guarantee and what the monthly payment would be. If you plan to use retirement savings, ask a CPA about the rules for that first.
Step 4: Have a franchise attorney review the FDD and agreement.
Free: your state bar's lawyer referral service can name franchise lawyers, and many offer a short first consultation. Bring the checks listed above.
Research steps, not investment or legal advice.
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost (the Item 7 midpoint) is 4.1× the Cleaning & Maintenance median ($162K).
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7 (fees and startup costs)
Do you qualify? The filing states no minimum net worth or liquid capital. Ask Next Step Franchising, LLC (Item 1: 711 5th Avenue South, Suite 210, Naples, Florida 34102) and your lender what they require, and keep living costs for the first year outside the deal.
Full Item 7 breakdown18 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $60K | $60K | |
| Leasehold Improvements A) | $50K | $200K | |
| Architecture/ Engineering | $16.6K | $19.5K | |
| Construction Management | $4.25K | $20.8K | |
| Start Up Supplies and Equipment Package A) | $292.4K | $318.3K | |
| Equipment Installation | $50K | $50K | |
| Freight | $13K | $20K | |
| Green Earth Solution Licensing Fee | $2.5K | $2.5K | |
| Initial Supplies and Ancillary Items | $500 | $3K | |
| Exterior Signage and permits | $8K | $15K | |
| Interior Signage | $1.5K | $4K | |
| Computer, Electronics and IT Systems | $1.5K | $4K | |
| Travel And Living Expenses While Training | $250 | $3K | |
| Real Estate and Prepaid Rent, Security and Utility Deposits | $0 | $15K | |
| Grand Opening Marketing | $12K | $12K | |
| Insurance | $850 | $2.2K | |
| Professional Service, Licenses, and Permits | $2.5K | $7.5K | |
| Additional funds – 3 months | $20K | $40K | |
| Total initial investment | $536K | $797K |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. The total row is the total as printed in Item 7. Actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Item 6 · what you pay once you are open
Ongoing fees
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 6.0% of gross revenues |
| Marketing / ad fund | 2.0% of gross revenues |
| Technology fee$60/month per station for POS software access (SPOT), subject to increase | $60/month |
| Transfer fee | $1 |
| Renewal fee | $0 |
| Total fee loadnear the Cleaning & Maintenance median of 8.0% | 8.0% of sales |
What do units actually make?
Average gross sales are 18% below the Cleaning & Maintenance median ($519K).
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 19 (sales and earnings)
Items 6 (other fees), 7 (startup costs) and 19 (sales and earnings) · assumptions labeled
What you could make and lose: one unit
What one Lapels Dry Cleaning unit would ask of you, from the filing's Item 7 total and labeled assumptions.
Average gross sales are $423K (FDD p.45), and the royalty and ad fund take about $34K of that a year (Item 6). This brand's Item 19 does not print cost lines. Enter your own from a lease quote, a payroll plan and calls with current owners. So this box does not estimate a profit. To cover the loan payment alone, one unit has to clear $86K a year after its food, labor, rent and other costs and the franchisor's fees.
How these figures are worked out
- Loan (assumption): 80% of the $666K Item 7 midpoint is a $533K loan, paid over 10 years at 10.5%: $86K a year. SBA 7(a)-style terms on a long-term rate; your lender sets yours. Lapels Dry Cleaning's past SBA 7(a) loans averaged 5.8% at approval; 7(a) rates move with the prime rate, so 10.5% is a current-rate assumption, not this brand's history.
What you put at risk
Your own cash in: about $133K Assumption (the part the loan does not cover of the $666K Item 7 midpoint), plus whatever anything Item 7 leaves out (its notes say what). The loan is $533K.
Personal guarantee. SBA 7(a) loans require a personal guarantee from anyone who owns 20% or more of the business. If the unit cannot pay, the lender can collect from you personally, which can include your savings and your home. The worst case is losing the cash you put in and still owing the rest of the loan.
Gross sales are not profit, and none of these figures is take-home pay until tax and every operating cost are paid. The assumptions are ours, not the filing's. Not investment advice.
Returns modelOne unit · several units · editable
One unit
One unit: what is left after the loan payment
Gross sales, minus the franchisor's fees and the operating costs, is the unit's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). Minus an assumed loan payment, that is what is left for you, before tax. Gross sales are not profit.
This brand's Item 19 does not print cost lines. Enter your own from a lease quote, a payroll plan and calls with current owners. Invested capital is the Item 7 total, which already includes its working-capital (additional funds) line.
Returns model · one unit
What would one Lapels Dry Cleaning unit leave you each year after the loan payment?
Item 19 reports $422,994 per unit. Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system.
Gross sales, not profit: the costs below decide what is left.
Item 6, as stored, a year. A fixed fee, so it comes off EBITDA as dollars, not a share of sales.
This brand's Item 19 does not print cost lines. Enter your own from a lease quote, a payroll plan and calls with current owners.
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.
Item 7 midpoint of $536K to $797K
Item 7's $20K to $40K additional funds are already in the total
Left after the loan payment · per year
The unit's EBITDA minus the assumed loan payment. Before tax, depreciation and any cost your inputs leave out (insurance, accounting and legal, licenses, technology fees): not take-home pay.
Gross sales are not profit. Neither the filing nor a stated assumption on this page supplies direct costs, labor, rent / occupancy and other operating costs. Enter your own (a lease quote, owner calls) and the model runs on it.
Loan of $533K at 10.5% over 10 years, an assumption, not a quote. Return and payback are before tax, depreciation and the costs above. The loan usually needs your personal guarantee.
Buying several existing units? The acquisition scenario
Buying several units
What buying a few existing units could return
Prices an existing operator of a few units off the single-unit EBITDA above, after shared services, and finances it with an SBA 7(a) loan, a conventional loan and a seller note. It shows the yearly return on your cash (IRR), whether year-1 earnings cover the loan payments (DSCR) and how the price is paid for. It starts at 5 units; every deal term is an assumption you can change, and none is from the FDD.
Not modelled yet
Gross sales are not profit. Neither the filing nor a stated assumption on this page supplies direct costs, labor, rent / occupancy and other operating costs. Enter your own (a lease quote, owner calls) and the model runs on it.
This scenario starts from a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in the one-unit model above and it runs on that figure, or take it to the full ROI workbench, where the multi-unit and acquisition models accept your own per-unit economics.
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 · filed by Next Step Franchising, LLC
Financial performance
- Range (low → high)
- $148K→$989KSource: 2026 FDD, page 45
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
Percentile ranks within Cleaning & Maintenance
Each rank is among the Cleaning & Maintenance brands that report that figure (the count is under each bar).
Average gross sales are only 0.6x the investment midpoint, so recouping the initial outlay is likely to take years even at strong margins. Gross sales are not profit.
vs Cleaning & Maintenance medians
How Lapels Dry Cleaning 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.
Who are you contracting with?
Next Step Franchising, LLC, owned by Clean Franchise Brands, LLC.
Item 1 (the franchisor) · who you're contracting with
The franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Next Step Franchising, LLC
- Parent company
- Clean Franchise Brands, LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 9 of the 2026 FDD
- Predecessor
- Next Step Franchising, Inc.
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- Kevin A. DuBois
- Incorporated in
- DE
- HQ
- 711 5th Avenue South, Suite 210, Naples, Florida 34102
- Franchisor revenue
- $2.8M
- latest fiscal year in the 2026 FDD; $1.6M the year before
Same owner · FDD Item 1, page 9
1 other brand on this site names Clean Franchise Brands, LLC as parent or ultimate parent in its own FDD.
- Martinizing Dry Cleaning (grade B)
Grouped by the owner's name as each filing prints it (this page: the 2026 FDD). Spelling variants of the same group may be listed apart; a brand is never grouped with an owner its filing does not name.
Overview
About
Full-service environmentally friendly dry cleaning Plants, Satellite Dry Cleaning Stores, Pick Up and Delivery Model (Lapels Delivers), and Laundromats offering dry cleaning, shirt service, laundry, tailoring, shoe repair, wedding gown storage, fur storage, and other ancillary services.
- CEO
- Kevin A. DuBois
- Franchised outlets in
- 16 states and territories
- Item 20 Table 3, at year end
- States and territories listed
- 17
- registered or offered in, as the filing lists them (DC and territories included); not where units may open
Is the system healthy?
0 franchised outlets over the two years to 2025 (83 to 83, 0.0% in total, 0.0% a year compounded).
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 20 (outlets opened, closed and transferred)
Item 20 (outlet counts) · unit dynamics
The growth chart
- Company-owned
- 0
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 100%
- vs corporate-owned
Last fiscal year · Item 20 rates and pipeline
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 12
- 0.14 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 10
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Item 20 · franchised units at year end
Franchised units held at 83 from 2023 to 2025
Axis does not start at zero.
Source and method
Item 20 (outlet counts) Table 3 · franchised outlets at year end
Where current outlets are
Franchised outlets at year end by state, as the filing's Item 20 Table 3 counts them. Not a list of where the franchisor may sell new units.
Current outlets (count on the tile) · 16 statesNo current outlet
83 franchised outlets at year end in 16 states (Item 20 Table 3).
Government records
SBA loan data
Lenders charged off 30.0% of 10 resolved SBA 7(a) loans, above the 14.3% category median. 7(a) is the SBA's main small-business loan; a resolved loan was paid in full or charged off.
- Loans on file
- 12
- SBA 7(a) loans matched to this brand, incl. those still being repaid
- Loan volume
- $5.7M
- Average loan
- $475K
- loan volume divided by loans
- Charge-off rate
- 30.0%
- 3 of 10 resolved loans
- Paid in full
- 70.0%
- of resolved loans
- Recent-loan charge-off
- No recent loans
- no SBA 7(a) loan approved since FY2018
- Lenders
- 6
- Average interest rate
- 5.8%
- Jobs reported
- 89
- Lender concentration
- 33%
- top lender's share
Cumulative: every 7(a) loan matched to this brand in the SBA’s FOIA files, approved FY1991 onward. Historical lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
Benchmark: the median Cleaning & Maintenance brand charges off 14.3% (33 brands with a published rate, same cumulative window and source). This brand is 15.7 points above it.
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Full SBA lending reportlenders · charge-off rate · trend
Lender network · SBA 7(a)
SBA Lending Report
Lender, state and yearly detail for Lapels Dry Cleaning from SBA 7(a) FOIA loan records.
- Average SBA guarantee
- 73%
- Average interest rate
- 5.8%
- Lender concentration
- 33%
- Jobs reported
- 89
Top 10 SBA lenders by loan count
| Loans | Volume | Charge-off |
|---|---|---|
| CRF Small Business Loan Company, LLC | ||
| 4 | $2.1M | Not on file |
| Southern Bank | ||
| 3 | $1.8M | Not on file |
| Rockland Trust Company | ||
| 2 | $461K | Not on file |
| Renasant Bank | ||
| 1 | $461K | Not on file |
| Ameris Bank | ||
| 1 | $500K | Not on file |
A lender’s rate counts only its resolved loans, the loans that have finished (paid in full or charged off); a 0.0% often means few of its loans have finished. Under 10 resolved loans, the rate reads “Too few”.
Charge-off rate by state (top 10 by loans)
| State | Loans | Charged off | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| MA Massachusetts | 6 | 0 | Too few5 resolved |
| FL Florida | 2 | 2 | Too few2 resolved |
| AZ Arizona | 1 | 0 | Too few1 resolved |
| MS Mississippi | 1 | 0 | Too few1 resolved |
| TN Tennessee | 1 | 0 | Too few0 resolved |
| TX Texas | 1 | 1 | Too few1 resolved |
Rate: charged-off loans over resolved loans (paid in full plus charged off), shown from 10 resolved loans. "Too few": under 10 resolved. The Loans column counts every approval in the window, including loans still being repaid.
SBA 7(a) loans approved per year
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA loan-level data, matched to the brand by FranchiseVerdict.
A 30.0% charge-off rate means about 1 in 3 resolved SBA 7(a) loans to this brand was charged off. The approval-year chart above shows which years they came from.
What are the risks?
Main risk in the grade: unit economics. The reasons are below.
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Verdict grade + FDD Items 3 (litigation), 4 (bankruptcy), 8 (required suppliers), 16 (what you may sell), 21 (audited financials)
Risk and legal
Grade C: Middle tier, 40/100 (category median 56); the full grade is at the top of the page.
How the grade is built
Why a C, factor by factor
- Financial health HelpsAudited financials; no going-concern doubt; franchisor net income positive
- Unit economics Weighs on it, weakest dimensionAvg gross sales $423K on a $666K investment midpoint, 0.6x (gross sales, not profit)
- Unit growth Neutral0 franchised outlets over the two years to 2025 (83 to 83, 0.0% in total, 0.0% a year compounded); turnover 1.2%
- Scale Neutral83 franchised units; franchising since 2018
- Legal HelpsNo litigation naming the franchisor in Item 3
- Transparency HelpsItem 19 discloses financial performance; audited financials
- Adjustments after the six dimensions (-19 points)SBA loan record: the SBA charge-off rate (30.0% on 10 resolved loans approved FY2014 to FY2015) is between 20% and 50%, a range the score counts against a brand, so it took 15 points off. The score uses fixed ranges, not the category median, so a rate below its category median can still cost points.Score limits: a ceiling the method sets for specific risks (such as a very high SBA charge-off rate, high turnover or an auditor's going-concern doubt) took 4 points off.
From the six scored dimensions, an editorial assessment, not investment advice. How the score is built
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation required to be disclosed in Item 3.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
Ask what the franchisor earns on the supplies it sells you or the rebates it takes (Item 8).
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Franchisor takes supplier rebates: No
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 8.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before your own operating costs.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12 (territory), 15 (owner participation) and 17 (renewal, termination and disputes)
Contract and territory detail
| Protected territory | Yes |
|---|---|
| Exclusive territory | No |
| Territory radius | 3 mi |
| Online sales rights | Reserved by franchisor |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Who runs it (Item 15) | Owner-operator not required |
| Non-compete (years) | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles) | 3 mi |
| Right of first refusal | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Florida |
| Governing law | FL |
Items 10 (financing), 11 (training and support)
Training and operations
- On-the-job training
- 61 hrs
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Site selection
- Franchisee selects with franchisor guidance and approval
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- SPOT
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 (initial fees) & 11 (training and support)
Franchisor support
Item 20 (outlet counts) · call current owners
Franchisee contacts
Who can you call before you sign?
83 current outlets listed
Each record has a phone number and state. No franchisee names or cities. 83 records. From the filing's Item 20 (the outlet list); the FDD itself is the free source.
For your own due-diligence calls only. Not for telemarketing, marketing lists, or automated or prerecorded calls or texts.
The list is not offered for this brand yet. The FDD's Item 20 exhibit lists the owners.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to open a Lapels Dry Cleaning franchise?
Per the 2026 FDD, the total investment to open a Lapels Dry Cleaning franchise ranges from $536K to $797K, with an initial franchise fee of $27K – $60K. This is the Item 7 total in the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD): the startup costs the franchisor lists, such as build-out, equipment, inventory and working capital. It usually leaves out buying land or a building; Item 7's notes say what is excluded.
What do Lapels Dry Cleaning franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Lapels Dry Cleaning FDD, average gross sales were $423K (34 outlets reporting; gross sales, not profit). The median is $389K. What an owner keeps depends on location, operating costs and management.
Who owns Lapels Dry Cleaning?
Lapels Dry Cleaning is franchised by Next Step Franchising, LLC. Its parent company is Clean Franchise Brands, LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2026 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Lapels Dry Cleaning 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 Lapels Dry Cleaning FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Lapels Dry Cleaning's franchise failure rate?
There is no published franchise failure rate. What is measurable is Lapels Dry Cleaning's SBA charge-off rate: 30.0% on 10 resolved loans approved FY2014 to FY2015. Put plainly: 1 in 3 SBA 7(a) loans to Lapels Dry Cleaning owners charged off (3 of 10 resolved loans, approved FY2014 to FY2015). The SBA charge-off rate is the share of a brand's resolved SBA 7(a) loans to its franchisees that the SBA wrote off, including purchased guarantees. Resolved means paid in full or charged off; active loans are excluded because their outcome is not yet known. It is a lending outcome, not a count of closed businesses. A franchisee can repay and close, or default and keep trading.
How many Lapels Dry Cleaning franchise locations are there?
Per the 2026 FDD, Lapels Dry Cleaning has 83 franchised units and 0 company-owned (83 in all). In the latest year, the number of franchised outlets grew by 2 (3 opened, 1 closed).
Is Lapels Dry Cleaning a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict gives Lapels Dry Cleaning a C Verdict grade (Middle tier) with a verdict score of 40 out of 100 (higher is better), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Helped by financial health (audited financials), legal record and transparency. Held back by unit economics (avg gross sales $423K on a $666K investment midpoint, 0.6x: gross sales, not profit). The “Why a C” section on this page lists all six dimensions and any adjustment. Speak with current franchisees before making any investment decision.
Other Cleaning & Maintenance franchises
Similar investment first, then by grade
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.