Relax The Back Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $195K – $420K
- Disclosed sales
- $911K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- 21.7%
- on 57 loans
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Relax The Back is a retail franchise selling ergonomic and wellness products, adjustable beds, massage chairs, recliners, and back-support items. Franchisees run showrooms with consultative selling and customer education.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A RELAX THE BACK franchise requires a total initial investment of $195K – $420K, including a $30K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2024 FDD, average unit revenue was $911K[2]. SBA 7(a) loans show a 21.7% charge-off rate across 57 loans[1]. 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: 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 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
- $195K – $420K
- 22nd pct Retail
- Avg gross sales
- $911K
- 13th pct Retail
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 6th pct Retail
- Units
- 79
- 25th pct Retail
- SBA charge-off
- 21.7%
- % of SBA 7(a) loans not repaid · median varies by category
Quick verdict · Retail · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Retail 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 $195K – $420K including a $30K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $911K/year (median $831K).
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 56/100 (higher is better). SBA loan charge-off rate of 21.7% across 57 loans (well above the 16% franchise average, based on all SBA 7(a) franchise lending, 2010–2025).
- GROWTHNegative: net -2 franchised outlets in the latest year (0 opened, 2 closed); 1 signed but not yet open (Item 20).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Relax the Back Corporation
- Parent company
- Interactive Health, Inc. (IH)
- FDD Item 1, page 8 of the 2024 FDD
- CEO title
- Director of RTB; Chief Executive Officer of IH
- David Wood
- Incorporated in
- Delaware
- HQ
- 4600 E. Conant, Long Beach, CA 90808
- Auditor
- Moss Adams LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $8.2M
- vs $8.8M prior year
Overview
About
- CEO
- David Wood
- Headquarters
- CA
- Founded
- 2000
- FDD year
- 2024
- States available
- 25
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 8% below the typical retail franchise.
Source: FDD 2024 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown13 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Feenot refundable | $5K | $30K | |
| Real Property Improvementsnot refundable | $0 | $75K | |
| Rent/Security Deposit | $5K | $20K | |
| Equipment, Fixtures, & Suppliesnot refundable | $33K | $55K | |
| Initial Inventorynot refundable | $22K | $22K | |
| Other Inventorynot refundable | $75K | $109K | |
| Training Related Expensesnot refundable | $2K | $8K | |
| Grand Opening Expensesnot refundable | $10K | $10K | |
| Insurancenot refundable | $3K | $5K | |
| Exterior Signsnot refundable | $7K | $20K | |
| Computer Hardware & Softwarenot refundable | $3K | $3K | |
| Visual Merchandising Feenot refundable | $0 | $4K | |
| 6 months' Additional Fundsnot refundable | $30K | $60K | |
| Total initial investment | $195K | $420K |
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
- $195K – $420K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $30K – $60K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $30K – $30K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- Set by a formula · 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 |
| Transfer fee | $8K |
| Renewal fee | $12K |
| Inventory (initial) | $97K – $131K |
| Total fee load | 7.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 13% above the retail norm.
Source: FDD 2024 · 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 RELAX THE BACK 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
$352K
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 RELAX THE BACK 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: 2024 FDD
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $911K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $831K
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- Actual
- Sample size
- 76 outlets
- vs category median 46
- Range (low → high)
- $428K→$2.6MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 36 of the 2024 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Quartile band
- $556K→$1.4M
- Bottom 25% → top 25%
- Reporting year
- 2023
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2024
- Disclosed in the 2024 filing, covering 2023
- Transparency
- 10 / 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 $911K/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 3.0x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 7.0% (near the Retail median).
Disclosure
Transparency score 10/10 — 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 Retail medians
How Relax The Back Compares
Category median of published Retail 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 2024 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 79
- Opened
- 0
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 2
- Turnover rate
- 10.4%
- Company-owned
- 2
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 97%
- vs corporate-owned
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Signed, not yet open
- 1
- 0.01 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 3
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Transfer rate
- 4.8%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
- Continuity rate
- 97.5%
- Units that stayed open
- Termination rate
- 3.6%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
- Ceased ops
- 2.4%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 25 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.
25
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 57
- Loan volume
- $11.7M
- Median loan
- $252K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- 21.7%
- on 57 loans · rates vary by category · see methodology
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- 78.3%
- 5-yr charge-off
- N/A
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 4
- Defaults
- 10
- Typical loan rate
- 6.2%
- avg rate to borrowers
- Franchised industry avg
- 16.3%
- brand above franchise avg ↑
- Jobs supported
- 84
- 2.0 per loan
- Lender concentration
- 40%
- top lender's share
Borrower mix: 25% went to startups / new businesses, 75% to established operators
Franchise vs independent — in all other health and personal care stores, franchised businesses charge off at 16.3% vs 21.4% for independents — franchising is associated with 24% lower SBA default risk in this category.
Top lenders financing Relax The Back franchisees
Showing 3 of 4 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 Relax The Back from SBA 7(a) FOIA data.
- Principal loss rate
- 0.0%
- Avg SBA guarantee
- 73%
- Avg interest rate
- 6.23%
- Lender concentration
- 40.0%
- Job velocity
- 2.0 per $100K
- NAICS benchmark
- 7.4%
- NAICS 446199
- Jobs supported
- 84
Top SBA lendersTop lender holds 40% of loans
| # | Lender | Loans | Volume | Default % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wells Fargo Bank National Association | 4 | $1.3M | 0.0% |
| 2 | Old National Bank | 3 | $1.5M | N/A |
| 3 | The Huntington National Bank | 2 | $480K | 0.0% |
| 4 | Readycap Lending, LLC | 1 | $871K | N/A |
Geographic failure vector
| State | Loans | Defaults | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| AZArizona | 4 | 0 | 0.0% |
| TNTennessee | 2 | 0 | -- |
| TXTexas | 2 | 0 | 0.0% |
| CTConnecticut | 1 | 0 | 0.0% |
| FLFlorida | 1 | 0 | 0.0% |
SBA 7(a) lending trend
Borrower profile
Source: SBA 7(a) + 504 FOIA loan-level data, matched by FranchiseVerdict
A 21.7% charge-off rate means roughly 1 in 5 franchisees failed to repay their SBA loan. Investigate what changed.
What could kill this investment?
SBA loans charge off at 21.7% — 35% above the 16.0% national norm, i.e. higher lender-observed risk.
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Established (2001) 79-unit retail franchisor with positive net worth ($574,192), revenue $8.2M and net income $302,682, all audited. No litigation, no bankruptcy, no going-concern, and Item 19 disclosed. Clean profile.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation disclosed in Item 3
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Moss Adams LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
$8,205,554 total franchisor 2023 revenue; separately, affiliate Human Touch derived $9,762,057 from sales to franchisees in 2023
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: No
- Restricted to system-approved products: No
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: Yes
Score breakdown · what drove the 56 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORNo litigation, no bankruptcy, no going-concern
- 02MINORPositive net worth $574,192, net income $302,682
- 03MEDAudited financials, Item 19 disclosed
- 04MINOREstablished 79-unit system
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 2024 · 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 | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory radius | 2.5 mi |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 3 years |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 1 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Franchisor's then-current headquarters (currently California) |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Delaware |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation disclosed in Item 3
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 35 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 95 hrs
- Training location
- On-site and franchisor facility
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Site selection
- franchisee (subject to franchisor approval)
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- QuickBooks and a designated point-of-sale system
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: QuickBooks and a designated point-of-sale system
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
80 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 RELAX THE BACK franchise?
The total investment to open a RELAX THE BACK franchise ranges from $195K – $420K, with an initial franchise fee of $30K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do RELAX THE BACK franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the RELAX THE BACK FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $911K. The median is $831K. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns RELAX THE BACK?
RELAX THE BACK is franchised by Relax the Back Corporation. Its parent company is Interactive Health, Inc. (IH). Source: FDD Item 1, 2024 filing.
What is Item 19 in the RELAX THE BACK 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 RELAX THE BACK FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is RELAX THE BACK's franchise failure rate?
Based on SBA 7(a) loan data, RELAX THE BACK has a charge-off rate of 21.7% across 57 loans, meaning 21.7% of franchise loans were charged off. Charge-off rates are one proxy for franchise risk, though they do not capture all closures. This data comes from FOIA-sourced SBA lending records.
How many RELAX THE BACK franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, RELAX THE BACK has 79 total units in the United States, including 77 franchised units and 2 company-owned units.
Is RELAX THE BACK a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates RELAX THE BACK 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
Are you the franchisor?
If you represent RELAX THE BACK, you can request corrections or provide updated information.
Other Retail franchises
Compare similar franchise opportunities in the Retail category
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.