Town Square Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $893K – $1.5M
- Disclosed sales
- $1.3M
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Limited · 10 loans
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Town Square is an adult day care franchise serving people with Alzheimer's and dementia using reminiscence therapy in a 1950s-themed indoor town setting. Franchisees run the centers, managing staff, programming, and care.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Town Square franchise requires a total initial investment of $893K – $1.5M, including a $100K franchise fee and an ongoing 7.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2026 FDD, average unit revenue was $1.3M[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: C (Average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: 2026 filing · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: low - the current year's filing
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 scored8 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $893K – $1.5M
- 71st pct Education
- Avg gross sales
- $1.3M
- Incl. company outlets27th pct Education
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- 21st pct Education
- Units
- 11
- 30th pct Education
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Education · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Education 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 $893K – $1.5M including a $100K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $1.3M/year (median $1.4M) (includes company-owned outlets).
- RISKVerdict C (Average), verdict score 43/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHNegative, pipeline stalled: 12 agreements signed but not yet open against 11 open outlets (Item 20).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Town Square Franchising LLC
- Parent company
- SH Town Square Franchising, Inc.
- FDD Item 1, page 9 of the 2026 FDD
- Ultimate parent
- SHF Holding Company, LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 10 of the 2026 FDD
- Predecessor
- SH Town Square Franchising, Inc.
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer and Founder
- Peter Ross
- Incorporated in
- Delaware
- HQ
- 9708 Belair Road, Perry Hall, Maryland 21236
- Auditor
- Citrin Cooperman & Company, LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $862K
- Most recent fiscal year
Affiliated brands
- of ours
Other brands the franchisor or its parent operates (Item 1).
Overview
About
- CEO
- Peter Ross
- Headquarters
- Maryland
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 6
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 521% above the typical education franchise.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown17 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $100K | $100K | |
| Travel and Living Expenses While Training | $2K | $7K | |
| Lease, Utility, and Security Deposits | $20K | $42K | |
| Building Permit | $2K | $30K | |
| Construction | $475K | $840K | |
| Signage | $30K | $45K | |
| Furniture & Fixtures and Equipment | $50K | $75K | |
| Supplies | $10K | $18K | |
| Grand Opening and Initial Advertising | $10K | $20K | |
| Business Licenses | $1K | $4K | |
| Legal/Professional Fees | $30K | $46K | |
| Insurance | $13K | $25K | |
| Recruitment | $3K | $5K | |
| IT | $25K | $65K | |
| Additional Funds (3 months) | $90K | $165K | |
| Project Management Fee | $27K | $27K | |
| Site Selection Fee | $6K | $6K | |
| Total initial investment | $893K | $1.5M |
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
- $893K – $1.5M
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $90K – $165K
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Franchise fee
- $100K – $100K
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 8.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 7.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $500 |
| Transfer fee | $25K |
| Inventory (initial) | $10K – $18K |
| Total fee load | 8.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 225% above the education 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 Town Square 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
$1.3M
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 Town Square 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: 2026 FDD
Financial Performance
Includes company-owned outlets
- Avg gross sales
- $1.3M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $1.4M
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 Gross Revenue and Membership data for existing Centers (revenue-only; whole-unit)
- Sample size
- 6 outlets
- vs category median 16 · small
- Range (low → high)
- $523K→$2.4MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 59 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
- Transparency
- 9 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 204 Education 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 $1.3M/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 1.1x. Includes company-owned outlets.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 8.0% (near the Education median).
Disclosure
Transparency score 9/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Multi-unit rate
Only 9% 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 Education medians
How Town Square Compares
Category median of published Education 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
- 11
- 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
- 1
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 1%
- vs corporate-owned
- Multi-unit owners
- 9.1%
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 12
- 1.09 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 3
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 11 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator. Not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
14 current owners across 11 states.
- CA 2
- FL 2
- NJ 2
- CO 1
- CT 1
- GA 1
- IA 1
- MD 1
- NV 1
- PA 1
- SC 1
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.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 10
- Loan volume
- $21.0M
- Median loan
- $2.1M
- average
- Charge-off rate
- Limited · 10 loans
- Limited SBA coverage: 10 loans, rate hidden until 10 have resolved and loans reach 2% of franchised units
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- Limited · 10 loans
- 5-yr charge-off
- 0.0%
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 7
- Defaults
- 0
Vintage analysis
Town Square charge-off rate by loan vintage
Top lenders financing Town Square franchisees
Showing 3 of 7 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 Town Square from SBA 7(a) FOIA data.
Top SBA lenders
| # | Lender | Loans | Volume | Default % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | First Bank of the Lake | 3 | $7.5M | N/A |
| 2 | Readycap Lending, LLC | 2 | $3.2M | N/A |
| 3 | Gulf Coast Bank and Trust Company | 1 | $2.5M | N/A |
| 4 | Hyperion Bank | 1 | $1.8M | 0.0% |
| 5 | Celtic Bank Corporation | 1 | $1.7M | N/A |
| 6 | Colony Bank | 1 | $2.3M | N/A |
| 7 | Coastal States Bank | 1 | $1.9M | N/A |
Geographic failure vector
| State | Loans | Defaults | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| FLFlorida | 3 | 0 | -- |
| CACalifornia | 2 | 0 | -- |
| GAGeorgia | 1 | 0 | 0.0% |
| NJNew Jersey | 1 | 0 | -- |
| SCSouth Carolina | 1 | 0 | -- |
| TXTexas | 1 | 0 | -- |
| WAWashington | 1 | 0 | -- |
Source: SBA 7(a) + 504 FOIA loan-level data, matched by FranchiseVerdict
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
No litigation, bankruptcy, or going-concern, positive net worth of $500,000, audited financials, and Item 19 disclosed. Minor concern is the very small/young 8-unit adult day-care system (franchising since 2018) with limited scale.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation information is required to be disclosed in Item 3.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Citrin Cooperman & Company, LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- 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 43 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORSmall 8-unit system
- 02MINORModest net worth $500,000
- 03MEDClean: no litigation, audited, Item 19 disclosed
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 8.0% 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 | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory radius | 3 mi |
| Territory population | 25,000 |
| 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 | 5 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 1 |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Maryland |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation information is required to be disclosed in Item 3.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 80 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 0 hrs
- Training location
- Perry Hall, Maryland (our home office) or designated location, including online instruction
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Site selection
- joint
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- XCITE!
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: XCITE!
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
14 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 Town Square franchise?
The total investment to open a Town Square franchise ranges from $893K – $1.5M, with an initial franchise fee of $100K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Town Square franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Town Square FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $1.3M. The median is $1.4M. 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 Town Square?
Town Square is franchised by Town Square Franchising LLC. Its parent company is SH Town Square Franchising, Inc.. The ultimate parent named in the FDD is SHF Holding Company, LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2026 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Town Square 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 Town Square FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Town Square's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Town Square (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 Town Square franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Town Square has 11 total units in the United States, including 10 franchised units and 1 company-owned units. 2 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Town Square a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Town Square as a C-grade franchise with a verdict score of 43 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 Town Square, you can request corrections or provide updated information.
Other Education franchises
Compare similar franchise opportunities in the Education 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.