Seniors Blue Book Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $78K – $165K
- Disclosed sales
- $180K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Seniors Blue Book is a senior services franchise publishing a directory and referral resource connecting families with senior care providers. Franchisees run local editions, selling listings and managing provider relationships.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Seniors Blue Book franchise requires a total initial investment of $78K – $165K, including a $50K – $80K franchise fee and an ongoing 6.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2026 FDD, average unit revenue was $180K[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: low - issued within the last 12 months
Evidence: partial✓ 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 6 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $78K – $165K
- 26th pct Business Serv…
- Avg gross sales
- $180K
- Incl. company outlets2nd pct Business Serv…
- Royalty
- 6.0%
- 9th pct Business Serv…
- Units
- 19
- 23rd 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 $78K – $165K including a $50K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $180K/year (includes company-owned outlets).
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 46/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHFlat: no net change in franchised outlets in the latest year (2 opened, 2 closed) (Item 20).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Seniors Blue Book Franchising LLC
- Parent company
- Seniors Blue Book Inc.
- FDD Item 1, page 8 of the 2026 FDD
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer and President
- Oliver Hersch
- Incorporated in
- CO
- HQ
- 12228 South 1840 East, Draper, Utah 84020
- Auditor
- Kezos & Dunlavy
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $181K
- vs $237K prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Independent franchisee associations
- Franchise Advisory Council (FAC)
Franchisee-led councils or alliances disclosed in Item 20. Indicates operator voice.
Overview
About
- CEO
- Oliver Hersch
- Headquarters
- UT
- Founded
- 2012
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 11
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 9% below the typical business services franchise.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown12 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Feenot refundable | $50K | $80K | |
| Distribution and Mailing for First Editionnot refundable | $1K | $10K | |
| Printing for First Editionnot refundable | $15K | $40K | |
| Graphics for First Editionnot refundable | $5K | $10K | |
| Printing and Graphics for Prototype Guidenot refundable | $4K | $6K | |
| Computer Equipmentnot refundable | $0 | $3K | |
| Marketing Materialsnot refundable | $1K | $5K | |
| Business Licenses and Permitsnot refundable | $250 | $2K | |
| Professional Feesnot refundable | $0 | $1K | |
| Insurancenot refundable | $450 | $900 | |
| Training Expensesnot refundable | $0 | $4K | |
| Additional Funds - 3 to 6 Months | $914 | $4K | |
| Total initial investment | $78K | $165K |
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
- $78K – $165K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $914 – $4K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $50K – $80K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 6.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- National Fund Contribution: currently not charged; when i…
- Total fee load
- 7.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 6.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $138 |
| Transfer fee | $10K |
| Renewal fee | $12K |
| Total fee load | 7.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 74% below the business services norm.
Includes company-owned outlets
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 Seniors Blue Book 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 ad fund rate, 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
$124K
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 Seniors Blue Book 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 ad fund rate, 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 ad fund rate, 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
Includes company-owned outlets
- Avg gross sales
- $180K
- Per unit, per year
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 gross revenue, operating costs, and gross margin by individual market/outlet (not aggregated cohorts) for 2023-2025, covering 7 affiliate-owned and 11 franchised locations open at least one year
- Sample size
- 18 outlets
- vs category median 37 · small
- Range (low → high)
- $55K→$420KCited, not corroborated — printed on page 42 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
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.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $180K/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 1.5x. Includes company-owned outlets.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 7.0% — below the Business Services median of 9.0%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 0/10 — minimal disclosure beyond the required average. Hard to judge the distribution of outcomes across units.
Operator retention
System contracting at -14.3% 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 Seniors Blue Book 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 2026 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 19
- Opened
- 2
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 2
- Terminated
- 1
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 10.5%
- Company-owned
- 7
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 63%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- -14.3%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- -14.3%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 1
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 0
- 0.00 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 1
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Transfer rate
- 0.2%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
- Continuity rate
- 100.0%
- Units that stayed open
- Termination rate
- 0.2%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 11 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.
11
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.
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
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation required to be disclosed in Item 3
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Kezos & Dunlavy
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
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: Yes
Score breakdown · what drove the 46 / 100 verdict
- 01MEDOtherwise clean: no litigation, Item 19 disclosed, audited
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 | 7 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory population | 1 |
| 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 | 50 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 3 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Colorado |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation required to be disclosed in Item 3
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 61 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 15 hrs
- Training location
- Salida, Colorado
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 2 mo
- From signing to launch
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Computer System (proprietary software/Sugar CRM)
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Computer System (proprietary software/Sugar CRM)
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Seniors Blue Book franchise?
The total investment to open a Seniors Blue Book franchise ranges from $78K – $165K, 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 Seniors Blue Book franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Seniors Blue Book FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $180K. Important context: Includes company-owned outlets. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Seniors Blue Book?
Seniors Blue Book is franchised by Seniors Blue Book Franchising LLC. Its parent company is Seniors Blue Book Inc.. Source: FDD Item 1, 2026 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Seniors Blue Book 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 Seniors Blue Book FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Seniors Blue Book's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Seniors Blue Book (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 Seniors Blue Book franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Seniors Blue Book has 19 total units in the United States, including 12 franchised units and 7 company-owned units. 2 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Seniors Blue Book a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Seniors Blue Book as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 46 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.