Spherion Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $214K – $343K
- Disclosed sales
- $6.0M
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Under 10 loans (5)
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Spherion is a staffing-agency franchise placing temporary and permanent workers in clerical, light-industrial, and professional roles. Franchisees run an office recruiting candidates, managing placements and payroll, and serving employer accounts.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Spherion franchise requires a total initial investment of $214K – $343K, including a $40K franchise fee and an ongoing 25.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2024 FDD, average revenue per franchisee was $6.0M. This franchisor reports Item 19 per franchisee rather than per outlet, so the figure is not comparable with per-outlet averages[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: A (Strongest tier), 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 7 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $214K – $343K
- 55th pct Business Serv…
- Avg gross sales
- $6.0M
- Per franchisee, not per outlet
- Royalty
- 25.0%
- 51st pct Business Serv…
- Units
- 211
- 58th 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 $214K – $343K including a $40K franchise fee, 25.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage revenue per franchisee of $6.0M/year (median $3.2M). Averaged per franchisee, not per outlet - not comparable with per-outlet figures.
- RISKVerdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 80/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHNegative: net -6 franchised outlets in the latest year (29 opened, 35 closed) (Item 20).
- TERMSNo protected territory and the franchisor reserves the right to compete in your area. Clarify territorial boundaries before signing.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Spherion Staffing, LLC
- Parent company
- SFN Group, LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 8 of the 2024 FDD
- Ultimate parent
- Randstad N.V.
- FDD Item 1, page 8 of the 2024 FDD
- Predecessor
- SFN Professional Services, LLC (f/k/a Spherion Atlantic Enterprises, LLC); Spherion Corporation (f/k/a SFN Group, Inc.)
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer, Randstad North America, Inc.
- Marc-Etienne Julien
- CEO experience
- 20 yrs
- Years in role or industry
- Incorporated in
- Delaware
- HQ
- One Overton Park, 3625 Cumberland Blvd., Suite 500, Atlanta, GA 30339
- Auditor
- Bennett Thrasher LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $414.4M
- vs $463.4M prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Affiliated brands
- Temp Force
Other brands the franchisor or its parent operates (Item 1).
Overview
About
- CEO
- Marc-Etienne Julien
- Headquarters
- GA
- Founded
- 1946
- FDD year
- 2024
- States available
- 35
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 109% above the typical business services franchise.
Source: FDD 2024 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown16 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Feesnot refundable | $40K | $40K | |
| Computer System Hardwarenot refundable | $0 | $7K | |
| Real Propertynot refundable | $4K | $7K | |
| Furniture and Fixturesnot refundable | $16K | $35K | |
| Leasehold Improvementsnot refundable | $10K | $15K | |
| Signsnot refundable | $2K | $8K | |
| Equipmentnot refundable | $500 | $15K | |
| Opening Advertisingnot refundable | $8K | $13K | |
| Training Expensesnot refundable | $6K | $9K | |
| Start-up Suppliesnot refundable | $510 | $1K | |
| Insurancenot refundable | $2K | $8K | |
| Utility Expensesnot refundable | $160 | $1K | |
| Professional Feesnot refundable | $1K | $5K | |
| Business Licenseesnot refundable | $160 | $1K | |
| Hardware Installationnot refundable | $720 | $1K | |
| Additional Funds for 11 monthsnot refundable | $125K | $176K | |
| Total initial investment | $214K | $343K |
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
- $214K – $343K
- Middle of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $125K – $176K
- Middle of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $40K – $40K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 25.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- -n/d
- Total fee load
- 25.3%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 25.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $200 |
| Transfer fee | $20K |
| Inventory (initial) | $510 – $1K |
| Total fee load | 25.3% of rev |
At 25.3% total fee load, roughly $1516K per year per franchisee goes to the franchisor before you pay a single operating expense.
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 775% above the business services norm.
Averaged per franchisee, not per outlet - not comparable with per-outlet figures
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 Spherion 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
$429K
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 Spherion 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: 2024 FDD
Financial Performance
Averaged per franchisee, not per outlet - not comparable with per-outlet figures
- Avg gross sales
- $6.0M
- Per franchisee, per year — not per outlet
- Median gross sales
- $3.2M
- Per franchisee, not per outlet
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- Historical Sales, Gross Profit, and Gross Profit % by franchisee tenure cohort (Fiscal Year 2023)
- Sample size
- 67 franchisees
- vs category median 37
- Range (low → high)
- $100K→$41.3MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 54 of the 2024 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2023
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2024
- Disclosed in the 2024 filing, covering 2023
- Transparency
- 4 / 10
- vs category median 3 / 10 · above
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
The average franchisee generates $6.0M/year in gross sales. Median is $3.2M — top performers pull the average up, so a typical unit earns less.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 25.3% — above the Business Services 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.
Operator retention
System roughly stable (+4.5% 3-year CAGR) with 211 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 Business Services medians
How Spherion Compares
Per franchisee, not per outlet - the category median is per-outlet only, so no comparison is shown
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 2024 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 211
- Opened
- 29
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 35
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 16.6%
- Company-owned
- 2
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 99%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +4.5%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +4.5%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 11
- Reacquired
- 2
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 0
- 0.00 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 10
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Transfer rate
- 5.3%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
- Ceased ops
- 15.9%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 35 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.
35
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA loan disclosures. This brand has only 5 7(a) loans on file; statistical reliability is limited below 10 loans.
- Total loans
- 5
- Loan volume
- $14.5M
- Median loan
- $2.9M
- average
- Charge-off rate
- Under 10 loans (5)
- Insufficient SBA coverage: 5 loans, rate hidden below 10
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- Under 10 loans (5)
- 5-yr charge-off
- Under 10 loans (5)
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 5
- 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
Strong financials: positive net worth $36.4M, net income $5.49M on $414.4M revenue, franchising since 1956 across 211 units. Two litigation matters (one pending breach/PPP-fraud dispute with a former franchisee plus counterclaim, one prior 2012 predecessor suit) are low relative to system size.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: the franchisor is a named party (defendant).
Pending: Spherion sued former franchisee Hart & Associates/Patrick Hart for breach of contract (PPP loan fraud, payment defaults); Hart counterclaimed for wrongful termination and unpaid commissions. Prior: Cross & Associates sued SFN Professional Services (predecessor) in 2012 over a 2007 business sale; settled 2014 for $26,000.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Bennett Thrasher LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Financials are for Spherion Staffing, LLC (the franchisor entity); Net revenues reflect commissions/fees, not franchisee system-wide sales. FY2023: $414,378K; FY2022: $463,356K; FY2021: $443,449K (in thousands per audited statements).
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 80 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORPositive net worth $36,370,000
- 02MINORNet income $5,485,000 on revenue $414,378,000
- 03MINOR2 suits, normal for a 211-unit, decades-old system
- 04MEDNo going-concern, no bankruptcy, audited, Item 19 disclosed
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 25.3% 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 | 5 years |
| Territory type | No territory protection |
| Protected territory | No |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory sizeℹ | Political jurisdiction (city, county, parish, township) or contiguous jurisdictions or list of zip codes |
| Online sales rights | Granted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 60 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 1 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 1 |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Georgia |
| Litigation count | 2 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Pending: Spherion sued former franchisee Hart & Associates/Patrick Hart for breach of contract (PPP loan fraud, payment defaults); Hart counterclaimed for wrongful termination and unpaid commissions. Prior: Cross & Associates sued SFN Professional Services (predecessor) in 2012 over a 2007 business sale; settled 2014 for $26,000.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Training location
- Franchisor location and on-site
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Site selection
- joint
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- PeopleSoft
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: PeopleSoft
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
150 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 Spherion franchise?
The total investment to open a Spherion franchise ranges from $214K – $343K, with an initial franchise fee of $40K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Spherion franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Spherion FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $6.0M. The median is $3.2M. Important context: Averaged per franchisee, not per outlet - not comparable with per-outlet figures. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Spherion?
Spherion is franchised by Spherion Staffing, LLC. Its parent company is SFN Group, LLC. The ultimate parent named in the FDD is Randstad N.V.. Source: FDD Item 1, 2024 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Spherion 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 Spherion FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Spherion's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Spherion (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 Spherion franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Spherion has 211 total units in the United States, including 209 franchised units and 2 company-owned units. 29 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Spherion a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Spherion as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 80 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.