Vital Care Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $556K – $1.0M
- Disclosed sales
- $16.5M
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Limited · 56 loans
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Vital Care is a healthcare franchise operating home-infusion pharmacies that provide IV and specialty-infusion therapies to patients at home. Franchisees run an infusion-pharmacy business managing clinical staff, compounding, and payer billing in a territory.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Vital Care franchise requires a total initial investment of $556K – $1.0M, including a $60K franchise fee. Per the 2025 FDD, average unit revenue was $16.5M[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: low - issued within the last 12 months
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 scored6 of 7 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $556K – $1.0M
- 71st pct Healthcare
- Avg gross sales
- $16.5M
- 28th pct Healthcare
- Royalty
- Not extracted
- Units
- 110
- 63rd pct Healthcare
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Healthcare · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Healthcare 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 $556K – $1.0M including a $60K franchise fee.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $16.5M/year (median $9.3M).
- RISKVerdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 85/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +34 franchised outlets in the latest year (35 opened, 1 closed); 24 signed but not yet open (Item 20).
- GROWTHSystem growing at 71.4% CAGR over 3 years with 110 total units. Strong expansion trajectory.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Vital Care Franchisor LLC
- Parent company
- Vital Care Issuer LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 8 of the 2025 FDD
- Ultimate parent
- Vital Care Holdings, LLC (owned by Berkshire Partners, Leonard Green & Partners, and Linden Capital Partners)
- FDD Item 1, page 8 of the 2025 FDD
- Predecessor
- Vital Care Infusion Services, LLC (VCIS); formerly Vital Care, Inc. (Alabama corporation, 1986-2020)
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer and President
- Stephen Foreman
- Incorporated in
- Delaware
- HQ
- 12 Cadillac Drive, Unit 230, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027
- Auditor
- Grant Thornton LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $135.8M
- vs $92.7M prior year
Overview
About
- CEO
- Stephen Foreman
- Headquarters
- TN
- Founded
- 1986
- FDD year
- 2025
- States available
- 34
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 143% above the typical healthcare franchise.
Source: FDD 2025 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2025 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $60K | $60K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $274K | $367K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $222K | $579K |
| Total initial investment | $556K | $1.0M |
Source: Vital Care 2025 FDD, Items 5 and 7[2]. “Equipment, build-out, other” is computed as total minus disclosed line items above.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $556K – $1.0M
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $274K – $367K
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Franchise fee
- $60K – $60K
- Middle of category vs category
- Royalty
- The aggregate of: 19.25% of Gross Revenue (Non-Specialty)…
- Ad fund
- 1.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 20.8%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty (flat) | Complex tiered structure: 19.25% Non-Specialty, 10.25% Specialty, 3.25% Select Specialty, 1.75% Access, plus potential 0-2% increase |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $0 |
| Transfer fee | $100K |
| Renewal fee | $4K |
| Inventory (initial) | $5K – $16K |
| Total fee load | 20.8% of rev |
At 20.8% total fee load, roughly $3417K per year goes to the franchisor before you pay a single operating expense.
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 2336% above the healthcare 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 Vital Care 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 royalty 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
$1.1M
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 Vital Care 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 royalty 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 royalty 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: 2025 FDD
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $16.5M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $9.3M
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- Gross Revenue by quartile and by year (2017-2024), franchised VC Businesses open the entire year
- Sample size
- 73 outlets
- vs category median 20 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $205K→$99.0MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 61 of the 2025 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Quartile band
- $1.3M→$45.4M
- Bottom 25% → top 25%
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2025
- Disclosed in the 2025 filing, covering 2024
- Transparency
- 4 / 10
- vs category median 3 / 10 · above
Compared against 162 Healthcare brands
Revenue is 21.1x the investment midpoint. At typical franchise margins, this suggests a payback under 3 years.
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 $16.5M/year in gross sales. Median is $9.3M — top performers pull the average up, so a typical unit earns less. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 21.1x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 20.8% — above the Healthcare median of 8.0%.
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 expanding at 71.4% CAGR over 3 years across 110 units — operators are staying and new ones are joining.
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 Healthcare medians
How Vital Care Compares
Category median of published Healthcare 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
- 110
- Opened
- 35
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 1
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 1
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 0.9%
- Company-owned
- 2
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 1%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +71.4%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +71.4%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 1
- Transferred
- 18
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 24
- 0.22 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 26
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Transfer rate
- 16.4%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 31 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
96 current owners across 31 states.
- FL 11
- AL 10
- TX 9
- TN 6
- MS 5
- NC 5
- SC 5
- LA 4
- CO 3
- MO 3
- OH 3
- AR 2
- +19 more states
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20; 1 entries carry no state. 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
- 56
- Loan volume
- $51.0M
- Median loan
- $900K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- Limited · 56 loans
- Limited SBA coverage: 56 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 · 56 loans
- 5-yr charge-off
- 0.0%
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 17
- Defaults
- 0
- Typical loan rate
- 9.0%
- avg rate to borrowers
- vs industry
- 0.0%
- NAICS 456110
- Jobs supported
- 410
- 0.9 per loan
- Lender concentration
- 48%
- top lender's share
Borrower mix: 87% went to startups / new businesses, 13% to established operators
Top lenders financing Vital Care franchisees
Showing 3 of 17 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 Vital Care from SBA 7(a) FOIA data.
- Principal loss rate
- 0.0%
- Avg SBA guarantee
- 72%
- Avg interest rate
- 8.98%
- Lender concentration
- 48.0%
- Job velocity
- 0.9 per $100K
- Startup risk premium
- 0.0pp
- NAICS benchmark
- 0.0%
- NAICS 456110
- Jobs supported
- 410
Top SBA lendersTop lender holds 48% of loans
| # | Lender | Loans | Volume | Default % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | First Financial Bank | 24 | $27.3M | 0.0% |
| 2 | The Huntington National Bank | 6 | $3.5M | N/A |
| 3 | Cadence Bank | 3 | $2.9M | N/A |
| 4 | Encore Bank | 3 | $2.5M | N/A |
| 5 | Idaho Central CU | 3 | $871K | 0.0% |
| 6 | First Interstate Bank | 2 | $1.6M | 0.0% |
| 7 | Horizon Bank | 2 | $781K | N/A |
| 8 | First Bank | 1 | $465K | 0.0% |
| 9 | Ameris Bank | 1 | $625K | 0.0% |
| 10 | Regions Bank | 1 | $2.5M | 0.0% |
Geographic failure vector
| State | Loans | Defaults | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| MDMaryland | 6 | 0 | -- |
| TXTexas | 5 | 0 | -- |
| FLFlorida | 4 | 0 | 0.0% |
| ALAlabama | 3 | 0 | 0.0% |
| IDIdaho | 3 | 0 | 0.0% |
| MIMichigan | 3 | 0 | -- |
| NJNew Jersey | 3 | 0 | -- |
| CACalifornia | 2 | 0 | -- |
| INIndiana | 2 | 0 | -- |
| MSMississippi | 2 | 0 | 0.0% |
SBA 7(a) lending trend
Borrower profile
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, no bankruptcy, no distress. Strong positive equity ($15.0M net worth), Item 19 disclosed, audited, and 71.4% net unit growth across 110 units.
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 · Grant Thornton LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
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 85 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORZero litigation/bankruptcy
- 02MINORNet worth $15.0M positive
- 03MEDItem 19 disclosed, strong +71.4% net growth
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 20.8% 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 | 2 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory sizeℹ | Geographic |
| 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 | 10 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 21 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 3 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Brentwood, Tennessee |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Tennessee |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation required to be disclosed
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 63 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 0 hrs
- Training location
- On-site and corporate
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Site selection
- franchisor reviews and accepts/rejects proposed sites; franchisee selects
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Vital Systems by CareTend
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Vital Systems by CareTend
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
97 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 Vital Care franchise?
The total investment to open a Vital Care franchise ranges from $556K – $1.0M, with an initial franchise fee of $60K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Vital Care franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Vital Care FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $16.5M. The median is $9.3M. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Vital Care?
Vital Care is franchised by Vital Care Franchisor LLC. Its parent company is Vital Care Issuer LLC. The ultimate parent named in the FDD is Vital Care Holdings, LLC (owned by Berkshire Partners, Leonard Green & Partners, and Linden Capital Partners). Source: FDD Item 1, 2025 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Vital Care 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 Vital Care FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Vital Care's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Vital Care (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 Vital Care franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Vital Care has 110 total units in the United States, including 108 franchised units and 2 company-owned units. 35 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Vital Care a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Vital Care as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 85 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.