PingPod Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $207K – $473K
- Disclosed sales
- $263K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
PingPod is a recreation franchise operating unattended, app-access indoor table tennis venues with bookable tables, lessons, and leagues. Franchisees run the pods, managing bookings, equipment, and memberships.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A PingPod franchise requires a total initial investment of $207K – $473K, including a $50K franchise fee and an ongoing 6.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2026 FDD, average unit revenue was $263K[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Limited operating history: franchising since 2024. A system this young has fewer than three years of Item 20 outlet history and rarely enough SBA loans for a charge-off rate, so its grade rests on less evidence than an established system's. Read its Item 20 tables and talk to its first franchisees before relying on the grade. Other new franchisors
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: low - issued within the last 12 months
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 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
- $207K – $473K
- 38th pct Health & Fitn…
- Avg gross sales
- $263K
- Company-owned only
- Royalty
- 6.0%
- 13th pct Health & Fitn…
- Units
- 18
- 50th pct Health & Fitn…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Health & Fitness · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Health & Fitness 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 $207K – $473K including a $50K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $263K/year (median $221K) (company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance).
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 58/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +6 franchised outlets in the latest year (6 opened, 0 closed); 2 signed but not yet open (Item 20).
- EARLYEmerging franchise: only 2 years of franchising with 18 units. Early-stage systems carry higher risk but may offer better territory availability.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- PingPod Franchising LLC
- Parent company
- PingPod, Inc.
- FDD Item 1, page 6 of the 2026 FDD
- CEO title
- Co-Chief Executive Officers
- David Silberman / Ernesto Ebuen
- Incorporated in
- DE
- HQ
- 2025 Hudson Street, Fort Lee, New Jersey 07024
- Auditor
- Divine, Blalock, Martin & Sellari, LLC
- Audited financials
Overview
About
- CEO
- David Silberman / Ernesto Ebuen
- Headquarters
- NJ
- Founded
- 2023
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 4
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 13% below the typical health & fitness franchise.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown16 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $50K | $50K | |
| Lease Review Fee | $1K | $1K | |
| E-2 Visa Fee | $0 | $15K | |
| Real Estate, Rent Deposits and Pre-Paid Expenses - 3 Months | $16K | $75K | |
| Architectural and Engineering | $9K | $20K | |
| Construction of Leasehold Improvements | $45K | $85K | |
| Signage | $10K | $20K | |
| Furniture, Fixtures, Décor and Equipment | $15K | $30K | |
| PodPlay Technologies Setup Fee | $19K | $28K | |
| Business Licenses and Permits | $1K | $5K | |
| Professional Fees | $2K | $5K | |
| Insurance - 3 Months | $2K | $8K | |
| Inventory and Supplies | $5K | $5K | |
| Travel and Living Expenses While Training | $2K | $4K | |
| Grand Opening Advertising | $1K | $3K | |
| Additional Funds - 3 Months | $30K | $120K | |
| Total initial investment | $207K | $473K |
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
- $207K – $473K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $30K – $120K
- Middle of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $50K – $50K
- Middle of category vs category
- Royalty
- 6.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 0.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 7.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 6.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 0.0% |
| Technology fee | $150 |
| Transfer fee | $12K |
| Renewal fee | $25K |
| Inventory (initial) | $5K – $5K |
| Total fee load | 7.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 45% below the health & fitness norm.
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
Source: FDD 2026 · 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 PingPod 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
$415K
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 PingPod 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: 2026 FDD
Financial Performance
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
- Avg gross sales
- $263K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $221K
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- Total Sales (Gross Revenues plus coach lesson payments) for Affiliated Pods only, unaudited
- Sample size
- 11 outlets
- vs category median 11
- Range (low → high)
- $94K→$675KCited, not corroborated — printed on page 47 of the 2026 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2025
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2026
- Disclosed in the 2026 filing, covering 2025
- Transparency
- 4 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · typical
Compared against 173 Health & Fitness brands
Revenue is only 0.8x 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 $263K/year in gross sales. Median is $221K — top performers pull the average up, so a typical unit earns less. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 0.8x. Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 7.0% — below the Health & Fitness median of 9.0%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 4/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Multi-unit rate
Only 19% of franchisees own multiple units. Could indicate challenging economics or a young system where operators haven't had time to expand.
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 Health & Fitness medians
How PingPod Compares
Category median of published Health & Fitness 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 2026 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 18
- Opened
- 6
- 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
- 12
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 33%
- vs corporate-owned
- Multi-unit owners
- 18.8%
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 2
- 0.11 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 0
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 3 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
8 current owners across 3 states.
- NY 4
- FL 2
- NJ 2
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.
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
PingPod presents elevated risk due to undisclosed net income, tiny franchise system, franchisor financial instability, complex dual-royalty model, and lack of transparent franchisee profitability data.
Why this reads harsher than the B grade: the grade weighs financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency across the whole filing, while this summary lists individual flags without that weighting. The flags are worth checking with current owners; neither is investment advice.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation required to be disclosed
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Divine, Blalock, Martin & Sellari, LLC
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
$86,180 total revenue per most recent audited financial statements (fiscal year ending December 31, 2025), as disclosed in Item 8
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 58 / 100 verdict
- 01MEDNo average net income disclosed despite $263k average revenue — inability or unwillingness to report profitability is a major red flag
- 02MEDOnly 18 units with unknown growth trajectory — extremely small franchise system limits support infrastructure and suggests limited market validation
- 03MINORDual royalty structure (6% + per-lesson fee of $7.50-$10) creates unpredictable cost burden and reduces transparency of true franchise costs
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 2026 · 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 territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | Yes |
| Territory radius | 3 mi |
| Territory population | 200,000 |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | No |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 25 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Arbitration location | Bergen County, New Jersey |
| Jury trial waiver | No |
| Governing law | NJ |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation required to be disclosed
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 24 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 5 hrs
- Training location
- Franchisor's location in the Tri-State (NY metropolitan) area, plus 2 days at franchisee location
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 8 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- Franchisee with franchisor approval
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Stripe
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Stripe
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
8 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 PingPod franchise?
The total investment to open a PingPod franchise ranges from $207K – $473K, 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 PingPod franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the PingPod FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $263K. The median is $221K. 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 PingPod?
PingPod is franchised by PingPod Franchising LLC. Its parent company is PingPod, Inc.. Source: FDD Item 1, 2026 filing.
What is Item 19 in the PingPod 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 PingPod FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is PingPod's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for PingPod (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 PingPod franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, PingPod has 18 total units in the United States, including 6 franchised units and 12 company-owned units. 6 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is PingPod a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates PingPod as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 58 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.