Tumbles Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $243K – $384K
- Disclosed sales
- $296K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Under 10 loans (8)
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Tumbles is a children's franchise operating kids' gyms with gymnastics, movement, and STEAM enrichment classes. Franchisees run the facilities, managing instructors, classes, and enrollment.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Tumbles franchise requires a total initial investment of $243K – $384K, including a $54K franchise fee and an ongoing 8.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $296K[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: C (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: 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 scored8 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $243K – $384K
- 49th pct Health & Fitn…
- Avg gross sales
- $296K
- 8th pct Health & Fitn…
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- 72nd pct Health & Fitn…
- Units
- 6
- 26th pct Health & Fitn…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Health & Fitness · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Health & Fitness 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 $243K – $384K including a $54K franchise fee, 8.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $296K/year (median $199K).
- RISKVerdict C (Average), verdict score 44/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHNegative, pipeline stalled: 8 agreements signed but not yet open against 6 open outlets (Item 20).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Tumbles LLC
- Predecessor
- Cambridge Franchise Enterprises Private Ltd.; Kidville JWT, LLC; JWT Kids, Inc.; JWT IP, Inc.; J.W. Tumbles Licensing Corporation
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer
- Manish Vakil
- Incorporated in
- DE
- HQ
- 1302 Waugh Drive, Suite 192, Houston, Texas 77019
- Auditor
- Shilpa Kikani, CPA
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $391K
- vs $355K prior year
Overview
About
- CEO
- Manish Vakil
- Headquarters
- TX
- Founded
- 2014
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 6
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 20% below the typical health & fitness franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown12 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $54K | $54K | |
| Lease Payments | $6K | $21K | |
| Access Fee | $15K | $15K | |
| Signage and Site Improvements | $45K | $120K | |
| Utility Deposits, Business Licenses, and Insurance | $4K | $8K | |
| Equipment and Inventory | $69K | $71K | |
| Shipping on Equipment and Inventory | $8K | $14K | |
| Training | $1K | $5K | |
| Grand Opening Advertising | $10K | $22K | |
| Computer Hardware and Software | $2K | $4K | |
| Miscellaneous | $3K | $5K | |
| Additional Funds (for first 3 months of operation) | $27K | $45K | |
| Total initial investment | $243K | $384K |
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
- $243K – $384K
- Middle of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $27K – $45K
- Middle of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $54K – $54K
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- Set by a formula · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 9.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 8.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $750 |
| Transfer fee | $27K |
| Renewal fee | $5K |
| Total fee load | 9.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 38% below the health & fitness norm.
Source: FDD 2025 · 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 Tumbles 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
$349K
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 Tumbles 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: 2025 FDD
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $296K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $199K
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
- Sample size
- 5 franchisees
- vs category median 11 · small
- Range (low → high)
- $132K→$712KCited, not corroborated — printed on page 51 of the 2025 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- Disclosed in the 2025 filing, covering 2024
- Transparency
- 5 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 173 Health & Fitness brands
Revenue is only 0.9x the investment. This means each unit may take 5+ years to recoup the initial outlay at typical margins.
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 $296K/year in gross sales. Median is $199K — top performers pull the average up, so a typical unit earns less. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 0.9x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 9.0% (near the Health & Fitness median).
Disclosure
Transparency score 5/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence. Sample size of 5 franchisees — treat as directional only.
Operator retention
System shrank 16.7% over 3 years — 1 closures. Ask existing franchisees about local market conditions.
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 Health & Fitness medians
How Tumbles Compares
Category median of published Health & Fitness 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
- 1
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 1
- Terminated
- 1
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 16.7%
- Company-owned
- 0
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 100%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- -16.7%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +20.0%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 1
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 2
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 8
- 1.33 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 9
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 6 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.
6
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA loan disclosures. This brand has only 8 7(a) loans on file; statistical reliability is limited below 10 loans.
- Total loans
- 8
- Loan volume
- $2.6M
- Median loan
- $330K
- average
- Charge-off rate
- Under 10 loans (8)
- Insufficient SBA coverage: 8 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 (8)
- 5-yr charge-off
- Under 10 loans (8)
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 3
- 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
Tumbles is a small children's-fitness franchisor with positive net worth of $95,296, no litigation, bankruptcy, or going-concern, audited financials, and Item 19 disclosed. Only 6 units with moderate turnover (16.7%). Clean profile, small system.
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 · Shilpa Kikani, CPA
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Item 21 balance-sheet figures (total assets $763,477, total liabilities $668,181, members'/stockholders' equity $95,296) are for Tumbles LLC as of FYE Dec 31, 2024. These figures were not readable in the Exhibit J audited statements themselves (image-only pages) but are disclosed verbatim in the state risk-factor addendum; they reconcile (668,181 + 95,296 = 763,477). Revenue, net income, and auditor name were not available in the extractable text.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- Must buy proprietary products: No
- Restricted to system-approved products: No
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 44 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORPositive net worth $95,296
- 02MINORNo litigation/bankruptcy/going-concern
- 03MEDAudited, Item 19 disclosed
- 04MINORSmall (6 units)
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 9.0% 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 | 5 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 3 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory radius | 1 mi |
| Territory population | 6,000 |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Granted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| 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 |
| Termination groundsℹ | 1 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 2 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Houston, Texas |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Texas |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation disclosed in Item 3.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 12 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 57 hrs
- Training location
- Franchisor location and on-site
- Ongoing training
- Optional
- Site selection
- franchisee submits site, franchisor approves
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Operations Management System (OMS)
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Operations Management System (OMS)
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Tumbles franchise?
The total investment to open a Tumbles franchise ranges from $243K – $384K, with an initial franchise fee of $54K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Tumbles franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Tumbles FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $296K. The median is $199K. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Tumbles?
Tumbles is franchised by Tumbles LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Tumbles 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 Tumbles FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Tumbles's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Tumbles (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 Tumbles franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Tumbles has 6 total units in the United States, including 6 franchised units and 0 company-owned units. 1 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Tumbles a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Tumbles as a C-grade franchise with a verdict score of 44 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.