The Coven® Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $213K – $465K
- Disclosed sales
- partial, no system average
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
The Coven is a coworking franchise operating inclusive, women- and nonbinary-focused workspaces with desks, offices, and meeting rooms. Franchisees run the locations, managing memberships, facilities, and events.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A The Coven® franchise requires a total initial investment of $213K – $465K, including a $50K franchise fee and an ongoing 8.0% royalty[2]. The 2025 FDD on file does not yield a unit-revenue figure we can publish. 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: medium - issued 12 to 24 months ago; a newer filing is likely on file
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 scored5 of 5 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $213K – $465K
- 18th pct Recreation & …
- Avg gross sales
- N/A
- Incl. company outletsn=2
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- 43rd pct Recreation & …
- Units
- 6
- 20th pct Recreation & …
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Recreation & Entertainment · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Recreation & Entertainment 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 $213K – $465K including a $50K franchise fee, 8.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSItem 19 reports Historical Performance rather than annual gross sales, so unit revenue is not directly comparable.
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 54/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +2 franchised outlets in the latest year (2 opened, 0 closed); 1 signed but not yet open (Item 20).
- DATAItem 19 reports Historical Performance rather than annual gross sales, so unit revenue is not directly comparable. Ask franchisees directly for full unit-level revenue.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- The Coven Franchising, LLC
- Parent company
- The Coven, Inc.
- FDD Item 1, page 8 of the 2025 FDD
- Predecessor
- The Coven, Inc. (originally The Coven LLC, formed Aug 8, 2017 in Minnesota; converted to The Coven, Inc. Aug 5, 2019)
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- Alex West Steinman
- CEO experience
- 2017 yrs
- Years in role or industry
- Founder active
- Yes
- Original founder still leading the business
- Incorporated in
- Delaware
- HQ
- 165 Western Avenue North, Suite 8, St. Paul, MN 55102
- Auditor
- Schechter Dokken Kanter Andrews & Selcer Ltd.
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $119K
- vs $12K prior year
Affiliated brands
- has not offered franchises in any line of business
Other brands the franchisor or its parent operates (Item 1).
Overview
About
- CEO
- Alex West Steinman
- Headquarters
- MN
- Founded
- 2022
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 2
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 39% below the typical recreation & entertainment franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown17 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Feenot refundable | $50K | $50K | |
| Site Selection Assistance | $0 | $2K | |
| Rent (3 months) | $45K | $84K | |
| Lease, Utility and Security Deposits | $2K | $10K | |
| Design and Architectural Fees | $5K | $35K | |
| Coven Design Servicesnot refundable | $15K | $25K | |
| Leasehold Improvements | $50K | $100K | |
| Equipment | $3K | $5K | |
| Fixtures & Furniture | $15K | $100K | |
| Inventory | $1K | $5K | |
| The Coven Digital Community, Booking Software, and Designated Software (Including 3 months of fees) | $4K | $9K | |
| Signage | $3K | $5K | |
| Training Expenses | $2K | $8K | |
| Community Grand Opening and Pre-Sale Marketing Campaign | $10K | $10K | |
| Licenses, Permits and Professional Fees | $3K | $5K | |
| Insurance | $1K | $2K | |
| Additional Funds - 3 months | $5K | $10K | |
| Total initial investment | $213K | $465K |
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
- $213K – $465K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $5K – $10K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $50K – $50K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- Set by a formula · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 2.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 10.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 8.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 2.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $850 |
| Transfer fee | $25K |
| Renewal fee | $13K |
| Inventory (initial) | $1K – $5K |
| Total fee load | 10.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Source: FDD 2025 · Item 19
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
No Item 19 revenue figure for The Coven® is on file. The return models need a revenue figure to start from, and the operating costs that turn gross sales into a profit are in no FDD. Enter your own and the calculator runs on your assumptions — nothing here is modelled until you do.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one The Coven® 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 annual revenue, 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.
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
Based on a sample of only 2
- Item 19 type
- Historical Performance
- Sample size
- 2
- vs category median 5 · small
- 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 165 Recreation & Entertainment brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 10.0% — above the Recreation & Entertainment median of 8.0%.
Disclosure
Item 19 reports Historical Performance rather than annual gross sales, so unit revenue is not directly comparable.
Operator retention
Net unit growth of +100.0% over 3 years (2 opened, 0 closed).
Multi-unit rate
Only 1% 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 Recreation & Entertainment medians
How The Coven® Compares
Category median of published Recreation & Entertainment 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 2025 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 6
- Opened
- 2
- 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
- 2
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 67%
- vs corporate-owned
- Multi-unit owners
- 1.0%
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +100.0%
- Net unit change over 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 1
- 0.17 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 7
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 2 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.
2
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
0 current owners across 0 states; 4 former (terminated, transferred or not renewed) listed separately.
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.
Fast growth in a small system. Newer franchisors expanding quickly may not yet have the support infrastructure of larger systems.
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
Early-stage coworking franchisor (began 2022, 6 units) with slightly negative net worth of -$756, flagged as early-stage distress. However it posted positive net income of $14,987 on $119,304 revenue, no litigation, no bankruptcy, no going-concern doubt. Treated as minor given startup stage.
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 · Schechter Dokken Kanter Andrews & Selcer Ltd.
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Franchisor's own revenue (Item 8): total revenue $119,304 for last fiscal year (2024), of which $4,915 (4%) came from franchisee purchases of products/services.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: No
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 54 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORNegative net worth -$756 but early-stage
- 02MINORPositive net income $14,987
- 03MINORNo litigation/bankruptcy/going-concern
- 04MED6 units, began franchising 2022 — limited history
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 10.0% 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 territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | Yes |
| Territory population | 100,000 |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| 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 |
| Termination groundsℹ | 1 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 5 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Hennepin County, Minnesota |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Minnesota |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation required to be disclosed
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 58 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 8 hrs
- Training location
- On-site and corporate
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Site selection
- franchisor
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- The Coven Digital Community
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: The Coven Digital Community
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
4 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 The Coven® franchise?
The total investment to open a The Coven® franchise ranges from $213K – $465K, 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 The Coven® franchise owners earn?
Item 19 of the The Coven® FDD discloses figures for part of the system but no single average across all outlets. These are gross sales figures, not profit; the Revenue section shows what the filing reports and on what basis. Item 20 of the FDD lists current and former franchisees; asking them directly is the standard way to fill this gap.
Who owns The Coven®?
The Coven® is franchised by The Coven Franchising, LLC. Its parent company is The Coven, Inc.. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the The Coven® 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 The Coven® FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is The Coven®'s franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for The Coven® (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 The Coven® franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, The Coven® has 6 total units in the United States, including 4 franchised units and 2 company-owned units. 2 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is The Coven® a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates The Coven® as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 54 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.