Playful Pack Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Playful Pack is a pet care franchise offering dog daycare, boarding, and enrichment programs. Franchisees run the facilities, managing staff, pet care operations, and scheduling.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Playful Pack franchise requires a total initial investment of $286K – $489K, including a $60K franchise fee. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $543K[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: C (Average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified · figures per the 2025 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $286K – $489K
- 57th pct Pet Services
- Avg gross sales
- $543K
- Incl. company outlets24th pct Pet Services
- Royalty
- N/A
- Units
- 9
- 39th pct Pet Services
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Pet Services · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Pet Services 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 $286K – $489K including a $60K franchise fee.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $543K/year (includes company-owned outlets).
- RISKVerdict C (Average), verdict score 39/100 (higher is better).
- EARLYEmerging franchise: only 2 years of franchising with 9 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
- Playful Pack Franchising, LLC
- Parent company
- STAPS Holdings, LLC
- Incorporated in
- VA
- HQ
- 888 North Quincy Street, Suite 1604, Arlington, VA 22203
- Auditor
- Muhammad Zubairy, CPA PC
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $93K
- vs $3K prior year
Overview
About
- CEO
- Scott Parker
- Headquarters
- VA
- Founded
- 2019
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 4
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 45% below the typical pet services franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2025 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $60K | $60K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $65K | $65K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $161K | $364K |
| Total initial investment | $286K | $489K |
Source: Playful Pack 2025 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
- $286K – $489K
- Middle of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $65K – $65K
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Franchise fee
- $60K – $60K
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Royalty
- Greater of (i) 6% of Gross Sales or (ii) minimum $300/week
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 7.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $500 |
| Transfer fee | $15K |
| Renewal fee | $0 |
| Inventory (initial) | $3K – $4K |
| Total fee load | 7.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 24% below the pet services norm.
Includes company-owned outlets
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
$87K
16.0% margin
Unlevered ROIC
19%
EBITDA / total invested capital
Payback
5.2 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 Playful Pack unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Estimated return on your total franchise investment, before any debt financing.
19%
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 Playful Pack units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$978K
on $4.9M purchase
Total debt
$3.9M
SBA $2.4M + 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
Includes company-owned outlets
- Avg gross sales
- $543K
- 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
- gross sales
- Sample size
- 7
- vs category median 12
- Range (low → high)
- $473K→$1.3M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- Disclosed in the 2025 filing, covering 2024
- Transparency
- 6 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 68 Pet Services 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 $543K/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 1.4x. Includes company-owned outlets.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 7.0% — below the Pet Services average of 9.3%.
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 Pet Services averages
How Playful Pack Compares
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 9
- Opened
- 1
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 1
- Turnover rate
- 0.0%
- Company-owned
- 8
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 11%
- vs corporate-owned
3-year detail · Item 20
- Opened (3yr)
- 1
- Closed (3yr)
- 0
- Terminated (3yr)
- 0
- Non-renewed (3yr)
- 0
- Transfers (3yr)
- 0
- Reacquired (3yr)
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 4 states 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.
4
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA loan disclosures. This brand has only 2 7(a) loans on file; statistical reliability is limited below 10 loans.
- Total loans
- 2
- Loan volume
- $325K
- Median loan
- $163K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- N/A
- limited sample (2 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
- 1
- 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
Early-stage franchise with opaque profitability, minimal unit count, and missing financial disclosures that prevent accurate ROI validation.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Muhammad Zubairy, CPA PC
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Score breakdown · what drove the 39 / 100 verdict
- 01MINOROnly 9 units system-wide with unknown growth trajectory — indicates nascent/stalled expansion
- 02MINORMinimum royalty of $300/week ($15,600/year) creates fixed cost burden even during low-revenue months
- 03MEDHigh investment range ($286k-$489k) relative to disclosed average revenue provides narrow margin of safety
- 04HIGHGoing Concern status is FALSE — unclear if this means the franchisor lacks going concern or if data is simply unavailable
- 05MED10-year term locks franchisees into long commitment with limited historical performance data
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 |
| Online sales rights | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | No |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 50 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Arbitration location | Arlington, VA (non-binding mediation at franchisor's option) |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | VA |
| Litigation count | 0 |
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 16 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 48 hrs
- Training location
- Corporate Training Location in VA (Affiliate-Owned location) and Franchised Business Premises
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
1 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
Playful Pack · FDD (2025) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Playful Pack franchise?
The total investment to open a Playful Pack franchise ranges from $286K – $489K, 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 Playful Pack franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Playful Pack FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $543K. Important context: Includes company-owned outlets. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
What is Item 19 in the Playful Pack 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 Playful Pack FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Playful Pack's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Playful Pack (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 Playful Pack franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Playful Pack has 9 total units in the United States, including 1 franchised units and 8 company-owned units. 1 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Playful Pack a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Playful Pack as a C-grade franchise with a verdict score of 39 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.