Perspire Sauna Studio Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $566K – $990K
- Disclosed sales
- $536K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Limited · 70 loans
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Perspire Sauna Studio is a wellness franchise offering private infrared-sauna and red-light-therapy sessions on a membership model. Franchisees run studios managing bookings, sanitation, memberships, and add-on services.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Perspire Sauna Studio franchise requires a total initial investment of $566K – $990K, including a $50K franchise fee and an ongoing 7.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $536K[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above 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: medium - issued 12 to 24 months ago; a newer filing is likely on file
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 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
- $566K – $990K
- 72nd pct Healthcare
- Avg gross sales
- $536K
- 10th pct Healthcare
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- 37th pct Healthcare
- Units
- 72
- 60th pct Healthcare
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Healthcare · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Healthcare 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 $566K – $990K including a $50K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $536K/year.
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 56/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +22 franchised outlets in the latest year (22 opened, 0 closed) (Item 20).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Sweat Equity Group, LLC
- Parent company
- Sweat Equity Group Holdings, LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 9 of the 2025 FDD
- CEO title
- CEO, President and Co-Founder
- Lee Braun
- Founder active
- Yes
- Original founder still leading the business
- Incorporated in
- CA
- HQ
- 129 Cabrillo St. Suite 200, Costa Mesa, CA 92627
- Auditor
- Windes
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $1.5M
- vs $5.1M prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Overview
About
- CEO
- Lee Braun
- Headquarters
- CA
- Founded
- 2017
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 22
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 142% above the typical healthcare franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown18 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $50K | $50K | |
| Initial Equipment Package | $67K | $87K | |
| Travel Expenses During Training to Our Headquarters | $0 | $5K | |
| Three Months' Rent And Deposits | $12K | $63K | |
| Office Equipment And Computers | $2K | $5K | |
| Audio Equipment (Tv's Speakers, Security Cameras) | $8K | $22K | |
| Leasehold Improvements | $341K | $585K | |
| Permits, Etc. | $2K | $6K | |
| Opening Inventory And Supplies | $3K | $6K | |
| Pre-Sale Marketing And Grand Opening Advertising | $20K | $20K | |
| Insurance | $2K | $10K | |
| Digital Marketing Signage Fee | $300 | $300 | |
| Technology Fee from the Technology Commencement Date through Three Months after Required Opening Date | $8K | $8K | |
| Professional And Organization Costs | $5K | $6K | |
| Estimated Shipping And Sauna Install | $4K | $18K | |
| Signage | $13K | $34K | |
| New Store Opening Kit | $5K | $5K | |
| Additional Funds Three Months | $25K | $60K | |
| Total initial investment | $566K | $990K |
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
- $566K – $990K
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $25K – $60K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $50K – $50K
- Top 40% of category 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 | $408 |
| Transfer fee | $10K |
| Renewal fee | $10K |
| Inventory (initial) | $1K – $3K |
| Total fee load | 9.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 21% below the healthcare norm.
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 Perspire Sauna Studio 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
$820K
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 Perspire Sauna Studio 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
- Avg gross sales
- $536K
- Per unit/yr · from the Item 19 franchised-cohort breakdown (no single system-wide average disclosed)
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- Annual Gross Revenue for the 44 franchisee-owned Perspire Sauna Studio Businesses open the entire 2024 calendar year, out of 66 franchised studios operating at year end - published only as quartile bands of eleven studios each, with no all-system average or median row anywhere in the Item 19. Quartile average gross revenue runs $340,875 (Bottom 25%) to $719,928 (Top 25%), medians $334,796 to $680,949, and the widest individual studios shown are a low of $255,364 and a high of $935,880. Gross Revenue is the franchise agreement's broad definition - 'the total sales from all customers, including single use, package and membership fees, retail sales, gift cards, and all other revenues of every kind and nature' - excluding only taxes and reported chargebacks. Item 19 separately prints a full profit-and-loss down to Net Profit, but only for the six corporate/affiliate studios, whose margins run -15.49% to 27.0%; no franchisee earnings are disclosed.
- Sample size
- 44 outlets
- vs category median 20 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $255K→$936KCited, not corroborated — printed on page 69 of the 2025 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- Disclosed in the 2025 filing, covering 2024
Compared against 162 Healthcare brands
Revenue is only 0.7x the investment. This means each unit may take 5+ years to recoup the initial outlay at typical margins.
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 $536K/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 0.7x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 9.0% (near the Healthcare median).
Disclosure
Transparency score 0/10 — minimal disclosure beyond the required average. Hard to judge the distribution of outcomes across units.
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 Healthcare medians
How Perspire Sauna Studio Compares
Category median of published Healthcare 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
- 72
- Opened
- 22
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Turnover rate
- N/A
- Company-owned
- 6
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 86%
- vs corporate-owned
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Projected new
- 33
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Transfer rate
- 23.8%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
- Continuity rate
- 100.0%
- Units that stayed open
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 22 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
61 current owners across 19 states; 5 former (terminated, transferred or not renewed) listed separately.
- CA 13
- TX 6
- GA 5
- AZ 4
- IL 4
- CO 3
- FL 3
- IA 3
- MN 3
- ID 2
- IN 2
- KS 2
- +7 more states
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20. Names and phone numbers are for your own due diligence and are not shown here.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 70
- Loan volume
- $25.1M
- Median loan
- $401K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- Limited · 70 loans
- Limited SBA coverage: 70 loans, rate hidden until 10 have resolved and loans reach 2% of franchised units
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- Limited · 70 loans
- 5-yr charge-off
- 0.0%
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 18
- Defaults
- 0
- Typical loan rate
- 9.1%
- avg rate to borrowers
- Franchised industry avg
- 17.4%
- n=2,725 loans
- Jobs supported
- 710
- 2.8 per loan
- Lender concentration
- 49%
- top lender's share
Borrower mix: 99% went to startups / new businesses, 1% to established operators
Franchise vs independent — in other personal care services, franchised businesses charge off at 17.4% vs 20.9% for independents — franchising is associated with 17% lower SBA default risk in this category.
Top lenders financing Perspire Sauna Studio franchisees
Showing 3 of 18 lenders. The full breakdown — every lender, state distribution, interest rates & risk ratings — is in the SBA Lending Report below.
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Lender network · 7(a) + 504
SBA Lending Report
Full lending analysis for Perspire Sauna Studio from SBA 7(a) FOIA data.
- Principal loss rate
- 0.0%
- Avg SBA guarantee
- 69%
- Avg interest rate
- 9.09%
- Lender concentration
- 49.3%
- Job velocity
- 2.8 per $100K
- NAICS benchmark
- 5.1%
- NAICS 812199
- Jobs supported
- 710
Top SBA lendersTop lender holds 49% of loans
| # | Lender | Loans | Volume | Default % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Huntington National Bank | 34 | $10.8M | N/A |
| 2 | First Bank of the Lake | 8 | $4.3M | 0.0% |
| 3 | Lincoln Savings Bank | 4 | $1.9M | N/A |
| 4 | Ameris Bank | 3 | $1.1M | 0.0% |
| 5 | First National Bank of Omaha | 2 | $178K | 0.0% |
| 6 | Alerus Financial, National Association | 2 | $707K | 0.0% |
| 7 | Idaho First Bank | 2 | $125K | N/A |
| 8 | Cadence Bank | 2 | $833K | N/A |
| 9 | Republic Bank & Trust Company | 2 | $890K | N/A |
| 10 | Old National Bank | 2 | $451K | N/A |
Geographic failure vector
| State | Loans | Defaults | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| CACalifornia | 11 | 0 | 0.0% |
| COColorado | 6 | 0 | -- |
| NJNew Jersey | 5 | 0 | 0.0% |
| NYNew York | 5 | 0 | -- |
| FLFlorida | 4 | 0 | 0.0% |
| KSKansas | 4 | 0 | -- |
| TXTexas | 4 | 0 | -- |
| GAGeorgia | 3 | 0 | 0.0% |
| IAIowa | 3 | 0 | -- |
| IDIdaho | 3 | 0 | -- |
SBA 7(a) lending trend
Borrower profile
Source: SBA 7(a) + 504 FOIA loan-level data, matched by FranchiseVerdict
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
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation information is required to be disclosed.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Windes
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
FY2021 financials presented in Item 21/Exhibit E are unaudited QuickBooks statements (cash basis) for Sweat Equity Group, LLC as of December 31, 2021. Total 40000 Revenue was $1,526,467.22; Total Income (incl. reimbursables) was $1,633,024.95. No independent auditor's report/CPA opinion is present in the document. Prior-year (2020) full statements not included in the extracted text. The notes to the FY2024 statements state substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern and set out management's plans, without saying the doubt is resolved. The auditor's report is unmodified and carries no going-concern section.
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
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 56 / 100 verdict
- 01MEDHigh capital requirement ($565k–$990k) with no disclosed average revenue or net income benchmarks
- 02MINORRapid expansion (46.7% YoY growth) may indicate aggressive recruitment over unit sustainability; quality control risk
- 03MINORMinimum royalty floor of $600/month creates fixed cost burden even for underperforming locations
- 04MEDWellness/fitness category has high failure rates; sauna studios are experiential with limited recurring revenue model clarity
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 |
| Territory type | Exclusive territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | Yes |
| Territory population | 12,000 |
| 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 | 15 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | City closest to franchisor headquarters (currently Costa Mesa, CA) |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | CA |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation information is required to be disclosed.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 48 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 22 hrs
- Training location
- Costa Mesa, CA corporate headquarters and affiliate-owned operating unit; virtual via Zoom
- 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
- MindBody
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: MindBody
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
66 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 Perspire Sauna Studio franchise?
The total investment to open a Perspire Sauna Studio franchise ranges from $566K – $990K, with an initial franchise fee of $50K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Perspire Sauna Studio franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Perspire Sauna Studio FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $536K. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Perspire Sauna Studio?
Perspire Sauna Studio is franchised by Sweat Equity Group, LLC. Its parent company is Sweat Equity Group Holdings, LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Perspire Sauna Studio 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 Perspire Sauna Studio FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Perspire Sauna Studio's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Perspire Sauna Studio (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 Perspire Sauna Studio franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Perspire Sauna Studio has 72 total units in the United States, including 66 franchised units and 6 company-owned units. 22 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Perspire Sauna Studio a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Perspire Sauna Studio as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 56 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.