Monkee’s Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Monkee's is a women's fashion boutique franchise selling designer apparel, shoes, and accessories in an upscale setting. Franchisees run the boutiques, managing curated inventory, styling service, merchandising, and local marketing.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A MONKEE’S franchise requires a total initial investment of $297K – $535K, including a $60K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $1.1M[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: A (Strongest tier), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified · figures per the 2025 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $297K – $535K
- 34th pct Retail
- Avg gross sales
- $1.1M
- Outlet subset12th pct Retail
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 6th pct Retail
- Units
- 57
- 22nd pct Retail
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Retail · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Retail avg · 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 $297K – $535K including a $60K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $1.1M/year (median $848K) (reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system).
- RISKVerdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 83/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHSystem growing at 58.3% CAGR over 3 years with 57 total units. Strong expansion trajectory.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Monkee's Franchising, LLC
- Predecessor
- Monkee's, LLC
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Managing-Member and President
- Deirdre H. Shaw
- Incorporated in
- NC
- HQ
- 2522 Reynolda Road, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27106
- Auditor
- Bernard Robinson & Company, L.L.P.
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $4.2M
- vs $4.2M prior year
Overview
About
- CEO
- Deirdre H. Shaw
- Headquarters
- NC
- Founded
- 2012
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 12
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost is about average for a retail franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown15 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Feenot refundable | $30K | $60K | |
| Real Estatenot refundable | $10K | $25K | |
| Leasehold Improvementsnot refundable | $108K | $225K | |
| Furniture, Fixtures, Equipmentnot refundable | $30K | $40K | |
| Signagenot refundable | $6K | $14K | |
| Insurancenot refundable | $3K | $5K | |
| Grand Opening Advertisingnot refundable | $5K | $5K | |
| Computer System (Back Office Equipment and Technology)not refundable | $3K | $4K | |
| Point of Sale Systemnot refundable | $500 | $500 | |
| Opening Inventorynot refundable | $75K | $100K | |
| Opening Supplies of generic and MONKEE'S Branded Items and Packaging; Store Suppliesnot refundable | $5K | $6K | |
| Miscellaneous Opening Costsnot refundable | $1K | $3K | |
| Prepaid Expenses and Depositsnot refundable | $500 | $1K | |
| Training Expensesnot refundable | $750 | $3K | |
| Additional Funds (3-months' worth)not refundable | $20K | $45K | |
| Total initial investment | $297K | $535K |
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
- $297K – $535K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $20K – $45K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $60K – $60K
- Middle of category vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- percentage · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 2.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 7.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 2.0% of gross sales |
| Training fee | $500 |
| Transfer fee | $8K |
| Renewal fee | $500 |
| Inventory (initial) | $75K – $100K |
| Total fee load | 7.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 14% above the retail norm.
Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
Single-unit · estimated
Returns at a glance
Indicative numbers using FDD Item 7 / Item 19 inputs and category-benchmarked cost ratios. Full single-unit, 25-unit portfolio, and LBO models (with every input editable to stress-test your own scenario) live on the financials page.
Store EBITDA · annual
$88K
8.0% margin
Unlevered ROIC
20%
EBITDA / total invested capital
Payback
5.1 yrs
cash-on-cash, unlevered
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. The target band for an attractive franchise is 30–60% ROIC. Below that and a passive index fund likely outperforms; above that and the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses. It's the top line only. Operating costs below are category estimates. Override them to match your real lease quote, labor market, and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one MONKEE’S unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Estimated return on your total franchise investment, before any debt financing.
20%
Below the 30–60% attractive-franchise band
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%.
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 MONKEE’S units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$219K
on $1.1M purchase
Total debt
$877K
SBA $0.5M + senior + seller note
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
Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system
- Avg gross sales
- $1.1M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $848K
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 receipts
- Sample size
- 42 outlets
- vs category median 47
- Range (low → high)
- $222K→$3.9M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- Disclosed in the 2025 filing, covering 2024
- Transparency
- 4 / 10
- vs category median 3 / 10 · above
Compared against 278 Retail 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 $1.1M/year in gross sales. Median is $848K — top performers pull the average up, so a typical unit earns less. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 2.6x. Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 7.0% — below the Retail average of 8.9%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 4/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Operator retention
System expanding at 58.3% CAGR over 3 years across 57 units — operators are staying and new ones are joining.
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 Retail averages
How Monkee’s Compares
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 57
- Opened
- 12
- 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
- 1.8%
- Company-owned
- 0
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 100%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +58.3%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +58.3%
- Compounded over last 3 years
3-year detail · Item 20
- Opened (3yr)
- 12
- Closed (3yr)
- 1
- Terminated (3yr)
- 0
- Non-renewed (3yr)
- 0
- Transfers (3yr)
- 3
- Reacquired (3yr)
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Projected new
- 1
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Transfer rate
- 5.3%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
- Ceased ops
- 1.8%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 6 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 contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
Fast growth in a small system. Newer franchisors expanding quickly may not yet have the support infrastructure of larger systems.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA loan disclosures. This brand has only 7 7(a) loans on file; statistical reliability is limited below 10 loans.
- Total loans
- 7
- Loan volume
- $2.3M
- Median loan
- $333K
- average
- Charge-off rate
- N/A
- limited sample (7 loans) — rate not shown below 10
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- N/A
- 5-yr charge-off
- N/A
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 5
- 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
MONKEE'S presents caution-level risk due to undisclosed profitability, aggressive growth masking performance data, litigation history, and absence of going concern statement, making ROI validation impossible before investment.
Litigation (Item 3)
Monkee's, LLC and Monkee's Franchising, LLC vs. South of Your Ankles in Davidson, LLC (File No. 18 CVS 3698, 2018) - declaratory judgment action re termination of license agreement; settled with adjusted royalties and non-compete
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Bernard Robinson & Company, L.L.P.
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: No
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: Yes
Score breakdown · what drove the 83 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORNo Net Income disclosure (Item 19) prevents ROI validation despite $1.09M average revenue
- 02MINORAggressive unit growth (23.9% YoY) with only 57 units suggests rapid expansion without profitability proof
- 03HIGHLitigation history shows franchisor willingness to litigate over license terminations, indicating potential enforcement risk
- 04HIGHGoing Concern = False is a critical governance red flag suggesting potential financial instability at corporate level
- 05MINORHigh investment-to-average-revenue ratio (27-49%) with unknown profitability creates break-even uncertainty
- 06MINORProtected territory claim unverified—no data on territory exclusivity enforcement or actual protection mechanisms
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 7.0% 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 | 1 |
| Territory type | exclusive |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | Yes |
| Territory radius | 2 mi |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Granted |
| 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 |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Forsyth County, North Carolina |
| Jury trial waiver | No |
| Governing law | NC |
| Litigation count | 1 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Monkee's, LLC and Monkee's Franchising, LLC vs. South of Your Ankles in Davidson, LLC (File No. 18 CVS 3698, 2018) - declaratory judgment action re termination of license agreement; settled with adjusted royalties and non-compete
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 20 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 65 hrs
- Training location
- Monkee's Franchising, LLC, Winston-Salem, NC
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 12 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- Franchisee selects, franchisor must approve
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Heartland Retail POS
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Heartland Retail POS
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
14 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
MONKEE’S · FDD (2025) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a MONKEE’S franchise?
The total investment to open a MONKEE’S franchise ranges from $297K – $535K, 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 MONKEE’S franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the MONKEE’S FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $1.1M. The median is $848K. 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.
What is Item 19 in the MONKEE’S 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 MONKEE’S FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is MONKEE’S's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for MONKEE’S (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 MONKEE’S franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, MONKEE’S has 57 total units in the United States, including 57 franchised units and 0 company-owned units. 12 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is MONKEE’S a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates MONKEE’S as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 83 out of 100 (higher is better), based on our analysis of investment costs, revenue data, SBA loan performance, and growth trends. 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.