MRI Network Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $44K – $96K
- Disclosed sales
- partial, no system average
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
MRINetwork is an executive-search and recruiting franchise placing mid- and senior-level professionals with employers. Franchisees run a search firm sourcing candidates, managing client relationships, and earning placement fees.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A MRI Network franchise requires a total initial investment of $44K – $96K, including a $40K franchise fee and an ongoing 9.0% royalty[2]. The 2023 FDD on file does not yield a unit-revenue figure we can publish. 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: 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 scored5 of 5 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $44K – $96K
- 12th pct Business Serv…
- Avg gross sales
- N/A
- Projection
- Royalty
- 9.0%
- 40th pct Business Serv…
- Units
- 203
- 57th pct Business Serv…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Business Services · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Business Services 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 $44K – $96K including a $40K franchise fee, 9.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSThe figure shown was the average fee earned on ONE executive-search placement, across 6,352 placements made by 197 reporting offices (printed p.40) — a per-transaction price, not office revenue. The FDD makes the unit explicit by printing 'Average Number of Placements per office 31.0' as a separate line. No annual per-office revenue is disclosed for executive search.
- RISKVerdict C (Average), verdict score 44/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHNegative: net -43 franchised outlets in the latest year (6 opened, 49 closed) (Item 20).
- DECLINESystem contracting at -22.6% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven (consolidation) or franchisee-driven (economics).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- HQ MRI Corporation
- Parent company
- HireQuest, Inc.
- FDD Item 1, page 6 of the 2023 FDD
- Predecessor
- Management Recruiters International, Inc.
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- President and CEO
- Richard F. Hermanns
- Incorporated in
- DE
- HQ
- 111 Springhall Drive, Goose Creek, SC 29445
- Auditor
- Plante & Moran, PLLC
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $31.0M
- vs $22.5M prior year
Affiliated brands
- HQ Franchising
- Hire Quest
Other brands the franchisor or its parent operates (Item 1).
Same owner · FDD Item 1, page 6
2 other brands on this site name HireQuest, Inc. as parent or ultimate parent in their own FDD.
Grouped by the owner's name as each filing prints it (this page: the 2023 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
- CEO
- Richard F. Hermanns
- Headquarters
- SC
- Founded
- 2021
- FDD year
- 2023
- States available
- 42
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 47% below the typical business services franchise.
Source: FDD 2023 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2023 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $40K | $40K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $4K | $56K |
| Total initial investment | $44K | $96K |
Source: MRI Network 2023 FDD, Items 5 and 7[2]. “Equipment, build-out, other” is computed as total minus disclosed line items above.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $44K – $96K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- N/A
- Cash you must have on hand
- Franchise fee
- $40K – $40K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 9.0%
- Tiered by sales volume · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 0.5%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 1.5%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 9.0% of net sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 0.5% |
| Transfer fee | $5K |
| Total fee load | 1.5% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Source: FDD 2023 · Item 19
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
No Item 19 revenue figure for MRI Network is on file. The return models need a revenue figure to start from, and the operating costs that turn gross sales into a profit are in no FDD. Enter your own and the calculator runs on your assumptions — nothing here is modelled until you do.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one MRI Network 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 annual revenue, COGS, labour, rent / occupancy, other operating costs and working capital, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
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
The figure shown was the average fee earned on ONE executive-search placement, across 6,352 placements made by 197 reporting offices (printed p.40) — a per-transaction price, not office revenue. The FDD makes the unit explicit by printing 'Average Number of Placements per office 31.0' as a separate line. No annual per-office revenue is disclosed for executive search.
Reported per transaction, not per outlet
- Item 19 type
- 2022 Executive Search Placement Information for the 197 of 205 offices reporting, January 1 - December 31, 2022: 6,352 systemwide placements producing $183,057,280 of systemwide placement fees, an Average Placement Fee of $28,940.86 against a $23,750.00 median, a Highest Placement Fee of $189,062.50 and a Lowest of $196.34, and an average of 31.0 placements per office. Every one of those dollar figures is a single placement, not an office's revenue - the only office-level number in the Executive Search table is the placement count. A companion 2022 Contract Staffing table covers only the 63 offices that participated, since franchisees are not required to offer contract staffing, and reports an $85.44 average contractor bill rate, $16.26 average commission per billable hour, and an Average Commission per office of $180,983.56 against a median of just $42,984.17. The filing warns that not all franchisees are required to self-report placement activity.
- Sample size
- 197
- vs category median 37 · large
- Reporting year
- 2022
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2023
- Disclosed in the 2023 filing, covering 2022
Compared against 296 Business Services brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 1.5% — below the Business Services median of 9.0%.
Disclosure
Item 19 reports per-transaction figures rather than annual gross sales, so unit revenue is not directly comparable.
Operator retention
System contracting at -22.6% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven consolidation or franchisee exits.
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 Business Services medians
How MRI Network Compares
Category median of published Business Services 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
- 203
- Opened
- 6
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 49
- Terminated
- 4
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 20
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 24.1%
- Company-owned
- 0
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 100%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- -22.6%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- -22.6%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 4
- Not renewed
- 20
- Signed, not yet open
- 0
- 0.00 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 18
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 41 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.
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
187 current owners across 41 states.
- FL 20
- CA 14
- NC 13
- TX 13
- OH 10
- MI 9
- GA 8
- NJ 8
- SC 8
- IL 7
- TN 7
- IN 6
- +29 more states
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20; 33 entries carry no state. Names and phone numbers are for your own due diligence and are not shown here.
A system losing more than 10% of its units year-over-year is a red flag. Check whether closures are concentrated in specific regions.
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
MRI Network exhibits high-risk characteristics including rapid unit contraction, litigation history, undisclosed financials, high fixed fees on short terms, and unprotected territories—suggesting a destabilized system with structural incentive misalignment.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: the franchisor is a named party (defendant).
3 concluded actions by predecessor franchisor Management Recruiters International, Inc.: (1) MRI v. Management Recruiters of Tampa-North (breach of contract, royalty failure; settled $6,500, 2021); (2) MRI v. Rouillard (breach of contract, royalties; settled $75,000 plus new franchise agreement, 2019); (3) Gre-ter Enterprises v. MRI (encroachment, franchise law violations; settled $300,000 to MRI, 2019). All concluded by predecessor.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Plante & Moran, PLLC
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
ⓘ These are the parent company's consolidated financials (the parent guarantees the franchisor), not this brand's standalone results — the figure reflects the whole corporate group, not this brand alone.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
Score breakdown · what drove the 44 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORUnit count declining 17.3% YoY indicates systematic franchisee failure or attrition
- 02MINORThree concluded legal actions involving breach of contract, royalty disputes, and territory conflicts suggest systemic governance and enforcement issues
- 03MEDHigh fixed annual fees ($24K-$48K minimum) on undisclosed revenue creates cash flow risk, especially with 1% variable royalty
- 04MINORTerritory not protected despite 205 competing units exposes franchisees to internal competition and encroachment
- 05MINORZero franchise fee suggests franchisor prioritizes rapid unit growth over quality franchisee screening
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 1.5% 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 | 3 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Territory type | No territory protection |
| Protected territory | No |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Online sales rights | Granted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 180 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Berkeley County, South Carolina |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | SC |
| Litigation count | 3 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
3 concluded actions by predecessor franchisor Management Recruiters International, Inc.: (1) MRI v. Management Recruiters of Tampa-North (breach of contract, royalty failure; settled $6,500, 2021); (2) MRI v. Rouillard (breach of contract, royalties; settled $75,000 plus new franchise agreement, 2019); (3) Gre-ter Enterprises v. MRI (encroachment, franchise law violations; settled $300,000 to MRI, 2019). All concluded by predecessor.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 27 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 0 hrs
- Training location
- Virtual
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
220 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a MRI Network franchise?
The total investment to open a MRI Network franchise ranges from $44K – $96K, with an initial franchise fee of $40K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do MRI Network franchise owners earn?
Item 19 of the MRI Network FDD discloses figures for part of the system but no single average across all outlets. These are gross sales figures, not profit; the Revenue section shows what the filing reports and on what basis. Item 20 of the FDD lists current and former franchisees; asking them directly is the standard way to fill this gap.
Who owns MRI Network?
MRI Network is franchised by HQ MRI Corporation. Its parent company is HireQuest, Inc.. Source: FDD Item 1, 2023 filing.
What is Item 19 in the MRI Network 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 MRI Network FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is MRI Network's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for MRI Network (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 MRI Network franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, MRI Network has 203 total units in the United States, including 203 franchised units and 0 company-owned units. 6 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is MRI Network a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates MRI Network 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.