Meraki Assisted Living Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $129K – $222K
- Disclosed sales
- $919K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Meraki Assisted Living is a senior care franchise operating small residential assisted living homes with personalized care. Franchisees run the care homes, managing caregiving staff, residents, and daily operations.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Meraki Assisted Living franchise requires a total initial investment of $129K – $222K, including a $75K franchise fee and an ongoing 7.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2023 FDD, average unit revenue was $919K[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: C (Average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: high - issued more than two years ago
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 scored7 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $129K – $222K
- 74th pct Senior Care
- Avg gross sales
- $919K
- Company-owned only
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- 77th pct Senior Care
- Units
- 7
- 27th pct Senior Care
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Senior Care · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Senior Care 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 $129K – $222K including a $75K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $919K/year (median $952K) (company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance).
- RISKVerdict C (Average), verdict score 44/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHFlat: no net change in franchised outlets in the latest year (0 opened, 0 closed) (Item 20).
- FLAGItem 4 discloses a bankruptcy of an officer or of a company an officer ran, not of the franchisor. Review Item 4 for details.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Meraki Assisted Living LLC
- Parent company
- The Geneva Suites L.L.C.
- FDD Item 1, page 6 of the 2023 FDD
- Predecessor
- The Geneva Suites L.L.C.
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- Scott Hemenway
- Incorporated in
- MN
- HQ
- 8100 Old Cedar Avenue South, Suite 105, Bloomington, MN 55425
- Auditor
- Frederick & Rosen, Ltd
- Audited financials
Independent franchisee associations
- Franchise Advisory Council (FAC)
Franchisee-led councils or alliances disclosed in Item 20. Indicates operator voice.
Overview
About
- CEO
- Scott Hemenway
- Headquarters
- MN
- Founded
- 2020
- FDD year
- 2023
- States available
- 1
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 28% above the typical senior care franchise.
Source: FDD 2023 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown12 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee (Note 1) | $75K | $75K | |
| Security Deposit, Down Payment (Note 2) | $0 | $8K | |
| 3 Months’ Rent, Mortgage Payment (Note 2) | $15K | $24K | |
| Care Home Improvements (Note 3) | $0 | $25K | |
| Signage (Note 4) | $0 | $500 | |
| Furniture (Note 5) | $15K | $25K | |
| Office Equipment, Supplies, and Computer System (Note 6) | $2K | $5K | |
| Training Expenses (Note 7) | $810 | $2K | |
| Business Licenses (Note 8) | $500 | $1K | |
| Professional Fees (Note 9) | $2K | $3K | |
| Insurance (Note 10) | $750 | $1K | |
| Additional Funds – 3 Months (Note 11) | $19K | $53K | |
| Total initial investment | $129K | $222K |
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
- $129K – $222K
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $19K – $53K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $75K – $75K
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- Set by a formula · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 2.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 9.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 7.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 2.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $75 |
| Transfer fee | $56K |
| Renewal fee | $8K |
| Total fee load | 9.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 14% below the senior care norm.
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
Source: FDD 2023 · 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 Meraki Assisted Living 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
$212K
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 Meraki Assisted Living 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: 2023 FDD
Financial Performance
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
- Avg gross sales
- $919K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $952K
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- gross revenue and gross profit
- Sample size
- 7 outlets
- vs category median 22 · small
- Range (low → high)
- $715K→$1.1MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 32 of the 2023 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2022
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2023
- Disclosed in the 2023 filing, covering 2022
- Transparency
- 6 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 79 Senior Care brands
Revenue is 5.2x the investment midpoint. At typical franchise margins, this suggests a payback under 3 years.
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 $919K/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 5.2x. Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 9.0% — above the Senior Care median of 7.0%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 6/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
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 Senior Care medians
How Meraki Assisted Living Compares
Category median of published Senior Care 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 2023 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 7
- Opened
- 0
- 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
- 7
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 0%
- vs corporate-owned
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
- 2
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 1 state 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.
1
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
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
Meraki Assisted Living presents HIGH RISK due to franchisor going concern warnings, undisclosed profitability metrics, minimal franchise system size, and complex senior care regulatory requirements masking operational and financial opacity.
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)
Subject: an officer. An officer’s own bankruptcy or a company an officer ran, not the franchisor’s
S. Hemenway, Inc. (entity of CEO Scott Hemenway) filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy May 2, 2016, Case No. 16-31466-KAC; closed and discharged June 13, 2017; sold January 2018.
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Frederick & Rosen, Ltd
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: No
- Must buy proprietary products: No
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 44 / 100 verdict
- 01MINOROnly 7 units system-wide with unknown growth trajectory — extremely small and potentially stagnant network
- 02MEDNet Income not disclosed in FDD Item 19 — cannot verify actual profitability claims against $918k average revenue
- 03MINORHigh royalty burden at 7% of revenue PLUS $500/unit minimum creates dual fee pressure on thin-margin senior care business
- 04MED10-year term with no disclosed unit growth — raises sustainability and franchisee exit concerns
- 05MINORAssisted living is highly regulated, labor-intensive business with significant liability exposure — not addressed in provided data
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 2023 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 2 |
| Territory type | Exclusive territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | Yes |
| Territory population | 10,000 |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 10 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | No |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 60 days |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 1 |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Arbitration location | Hennepin County, Minnesota |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | varies by franchisee state (disputes in Hennepin County, MN) |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation required to be disclosed in Item 3.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 53 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 2 hrs
- Training location
- Bloomington, MN (franchisor headquarters or designated location)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 6 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- franchisee with franchisor approval
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Eldermark Senior Housing software; ClearCare scheduling software; QuickBooks; Microsoft 365
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Eldermark Senior Housing software; ClearCare scheduling software; QuickBooks; Microsoft 365
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Meraki Assisted Living franchise?
The total investment to open a Meraki Assisted Living franchise ranges from $129K – $222K, with an initial franchise fee of $75K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Meraki Assisted Living franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Meraki Assisted Living FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $919K. The median is $952K. Important context: Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Meraki Assisted Living?
Meraki Assisted Living is franchised by Meraki Assisted Living LLC. Its parent company is The Geneva Suites L.L.C.. Source: FDD Item 1, 2023 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Meraki Assisted Living 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 Meraki Assisted Living FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Meraki Assisted Living's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Meraki Assisted Living (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 Meraki Assisted Living franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Meraki Assisted Living has 7 total units in the United States.
Is Meraki Assisted Living a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Meraki Assisted Living 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
Are you the franchisor?
If you represent Meraki Assisted Living, 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.