A reasonable 2025 run-rate range for a mature, one-territory, one-truck Crushr business is about $59,900 to $146,400, with a base scenario near $81,800. These figures are estimated pre-tax, pre-financing owner earnings after modeled operating expenses and current recurring franchise fees, but before depreciation, amortization, interest, loan principal, capital expenditures, and personal income taxes.
This range is an independent analytical scenario, not an Item 19 financial performance representation by Smash Brothers, LLC. It combines identified facts from the 2026 Crushr Franchise Disclosure Document with separately identified cohort calculations and a Bureau of Labor Statistics wage benchmark. Actual results can differ materially by territory, route density, customer retention, pricing, sales volume, labor, insurance, repairs, storage, financing, owner involvement, and execution.
Legal franchisor: Smash Brothers, LLC d/b/a Crushr. FDD: issued April 28, 2026. Item 19 status: one company-owned outlet income statement for 2023–2025 plus Gross Sales for 51 disclosed franchise outlets for 2024 and 2025. Selected population: nine outlets that reported sales and remained at one Protected Territory and one Installed Vehicle in both 2024 and 2025. Benchmark: May 2025 U.S. wage data for truck drivers in Waste Management and Remediation Services. Date checked: July 21, 2026. No matching official public FDD copy was verified, so FDD citations below are unlinked.
Median for the nine-outlet stable one-territory, one-truck cohort; revenue, not owner earnings.
Reported for one mature company-owned outlet; not a franchisee average or median.
The company-owned outlet’s 2024 Net Margin, used as the central operating-margin proxy.
17.6% of the 51 disclosed franchise outlets met the stable one-territory, one-truck filter.
Greater of 8% of Gross Sales or $1,500 per month after month 19, per territory.
2025 national median for heavy truck drivers in NAICS 562; used only as a directional labor-value cap.
What does the 2026 Crushr Item 19 actually measure?
Officially, Item 19 measures one company-owned outlet’s Gross Sales, selected expenses, Net Income, and Net Margin, plus Gross Sales for 51 disclosed franchise outlets. It does not report franchisee profit, owner compensation, distributions, or after-tax take-home pay. The applicable periods are calendar years 2023–2025 for the company-owned outlet and 2024–2025 for the disclosed franchise outlets.
What is the strongest official earnings figure?
The strongest official earnings measure is $243,654 of 2025 “Net Income” at one company-owned outlet, with a 54.7% Net Margin. This is an official same-brand result for a mature Louisville-area operation that had operated since 2017, used one Installed Vehicle, and served an area approximately equal to one and one-half Protected Territories. It is not a franchisee result and was not audited, reviewed, or verified by an independent accountant.
The FDD says this Net Income excludes depreciation, amortization, interest, principal payments, and income taxes. It includes imputed franchise charges as though the company outlet paid an 8% royalty, 1% Brand Fund contribution, $500 monthly Local Area Advertising, and the then-current Technology Fee. It also uses an imputed $125 monthly storage expense, while the outlet benefited from a reduced insurance rate. Source: 2026 FDD, Item 19, pp. 41–43.
What do the franchisee figures show?
The franchisee table shows Gross Sales, territory counts, and truck counts—not profit. The 51 disclosed franchise outlets were included if they operated throughout either 2023 or 2024, so the table is not a clean census of mature full-year 2025 units. Some outlets changed territory or truck counts, and one identified outlet changed ownership during 2025.
For a more compatible single-unit view, this analysis retained nine records that reported both years and were one territory with one truck in both 2024 and 2025. Their 2025 Gross Sales ranged from $96,560 to $335,016; the median was $182,205. This filter is a derived calculation from the FDD table, not a franchisor-published cohort statistic. Source: 2026 FDD, Item 19, pp. 43–45.
A $182,205 median sales figure does not mean a franchise owner keeps $182,205. Royalty, marketing, technology, labor, insurance, vehicle operating costs, storage, and other operating expenses must be paid before any residual owner earnings exist. The FTC’s franchise buyer guidance specifically warns that Gross Sales alone do not establish profit.
How was the Crushr owner-earnings range calculated?
The range is estimated by pairing the stable franchise cohort’s 2025 sales distribution with the company-owned outlet’s three disclosed annual Net Margins, then correcting for the mature minimum royalty. The model applies to a mature one-territory, one-truck operation and is not a probability forecast.
| Scenario | 2025 Gross Sales anchor | Margin and royalty treatment | Estimated owner earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | $152,703 | 25th percentile sales × 43.0% company Net Margin, less $5,784 to reach the $18,000 mature royalty floor. | $59,879 |
| Base | $182,205 | Median sales × 46.8% company Net Margin, less $3,424 to reach the $18,000 mature royalty floor. | $81,848 |
| Upside | $267,588 | 75th percentile sales × 54.7% company Net Margin; 8% royalty already exceeds the annual minimum. | $146,371 |
Pre-tax, pre-financing residual for a mature one-territory, one-truck operation.
Interpretation: The spread is driven by both sales variation and the unusually wide 43.0%–54.7% company-outlet Net Margin range. Source: derived from 2026 FDD, Item 19, pp. 42–45, and the mature royalty schedule in Item 6, pp. 6–7. Values are rounded to the nearest $100 in the chart.
- Revenue anchors: 25th percentile, median, and 75th percentile of the nine-outlet 2025 stable cohort, calculated using an inclusive percentile method.
- Margin anchors: the company-owned outlet’s disclosed 2023, 2024, and 2025 Net Margins of 43.0%, 46.8%, and 54.7%; these are yearly observations from one outlet, not franchisee quartiles.
- Fee correction: at sales below $225,000, 8% of Gross Sales is less than the mature $18,000 annual minimum royalty, so the difference is subtracted.
- Excluded from the answer: depreciation, amortization, interest, principal, capital expenditures, and personal income taxes. No after-tax take-home estimate is presented.
How does owner involvement change the result?
Active owner operation can increase economic benefit only when the owner replaces labor that the business would otherwise pay for. The FDD requires active participation unless Crushr approves management personnel, and the official Crushr franchise page describes both staffed and solo operation. The FDD does not separately identify an owner salary, manager wage, or driver wage, so the labor component below is estimated rather than official.
What is manager-run owner earnings?
Manager-run or employee-staffed owner earnings are the $59,900–$146,400 residual shown above. This estimated range assumes normal labor remains inside operating expenses, based on the company-owned outlet’s disclosed labor expense ratios. It represents business residual before financing and taxes, not compensation for the owner’s personal work.
What is estimated owner-operator benefit?
Estimated owner-operator benefit rises to about $109,700–$202,900 if the owner replaces one full-time field driver/operator role. This is not pure business profit: it combines the residual operating result with the market value of work performed by the owner. The labor add-back is capped at the lower of the modeled labor pool and the 2025 national median annual wage of $56,520 for heavy truck drivers in Waste Management and Remediation Services.
The gap is labor value, not passive income.
Interpretation: Owner labor can add economic value, but that value is compensation for driving, field work, scheduling, or related operating duties—not passive return. Source: labor ratios derived from 2026 FDD, Item 19, pp. 42–43; wage cap from the BLS Waste Management and Remediation Services wage table, 2025.
The owner-operated figure should not be compared directly with a passive investment yield. A buyer who performs a full-time field role is receiving two economic streams: residual business earnings and the value of labor. If the owner later hires that work out, the labor-value portion becomes payroll expense and owner benefit falls toward the employee-staffed residual.
Which Crushr fees materially affect annual earnings?
The most material recurring obligations are the royalty or minimum continuing fee, Brand Fund contribution, Local Area Advertising, and Technology Fee. These are official 2026 FDD terms for a U.S. Crushr franchise; the scenario model includes their disclosed treatment through the company-outlet margin proxy and adds a correction where the mature minimum royalty exceeds 8% of sales.
| Recurring item | 2026 FDD rule | Scenario treatment | Earnings implication |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royalty / Minimum Continuing Fee | Greater of 8% of Gross Sales or a monthly floor that reaches $1,500 after month 19, per territory. | 8% is embedded in the margin proxy; an extra adjustment is made below $225,000 of annual sales. | The mature floor raises the effective royalty rate at lower sales levels. |
| Brand Fund | Minimum 1% of Gross Sales per month. | Embedded in all three company-outlet Net Margins. | Variable expense rises directly with sales. |
| Local Area Advertising | At least $500 per month; Crushr reserves the right to increase it to $1,000 per month. | $6,000 annually is embedded in the disclosed margin proxy. | A future increase to $12,000 would reduce residual earnings dollar for dollar, all else equal. |
| Technology Fee | Currently $475 per month per territory, with a 33% increase for each additional Installed Vehicle and each additional software user. | $5,700 annually is embedded for the one-territory, one-truck format. | Additional trucks or users can increase fixed recurring cost. |
Other contingent charges—including national account fees up to 3% and temporary replacement-vehicle rental—are not included because they do not apply uniformly. Source: 2026 FDD, Item 6, pp. 6–9.
How much confidence should a buyer place in this range?
Confidence is Moderate because all principal sales, margin, and fee inputs come from the current same-brand FDD, but the franchise earnings range still depends on a one-outlet company margin proxy. The model is more grounded than a generic industry-margin estimate, yet it cannot establish typical franchisee profit.
- Company-versus-franchise difference: the margin source is one mature company-owned outlet serving roughly one and one-half territories, while the revenue cohort is nine franchised one-territory, one-truck outlets.
- Expense-definition risk: the company table excludes depreciation, amortization, financing costs, principal, income taxes, and start-up expenses. It does not separately disclose vehicle repairs, owner compensation, or capital replacement reserves.
- Insurance and storage difference: the company outlet received a reduced insurance rate and had access to rent-free storage; the FDD inserted a $125 monthly storage estimate but did not normalize the insurance discount.
- Cohort limitation: the nine-outlet sales subset is an editorial compatibility filter, not an FDD-defined performance cohort, and end-of-year truck counts do not prove the same capacity was in service for every month.
- System movement: Item 20 reports 97 franchised outlets at year-end 2025, six openings, two terminations, one reacquisition, one other cessation, and nine transfers during 2025. Those changes reinforce the need to examine local operating histories rather than rely on a single systemwide point estimate.
The FTC’s Item 19 evaluation guidance recommends reviewing the source, sample, assumptions, geographic relevance, and written substantiation behind earnings claims. It also warns that company-owned outlets may have cost structures that differ from franchised outlets.
What should a buyer verify before relying on the estimate?
A buyer should verify whether the disclosed company-outlet margin can be reproduced in the intended territory and owner-role model. The following checks apply to the 2026 FDD, written Item 19 substantiation, and interviews with current and former U.S. franchisees.
- Request the written substantiation supporting Item 19 and ask how Gross Sales and each expense line were compiled.
- Ask one-territory, one-truck owners for 2025 revenue, payroll, fuel, insurance, maintenance, storage, bad debt, and local advertising—not merely Gross Sales.
- Confirm whether one full-time driver/operator, sales role, or manager is required at the buyer’s expected customer count and route density.
- Obtain actual vehicle-financing terms and calculate interest and principal separately from operating earnings.
- Verify whether the Technology Fee will increase for planned users or additional Installed Vehicles and whether national account fees apply.
- Compare established versus ramping territories and identify any closures, transfers, or ownership changes that affect the apparent sales history.
- Confirm the current FDD and any state amendments before signing; do not rely on earnings statements that conflict with Item 19.
The business format is a mobile compaction service using an Installed Vehicle rather than a conventional fixed retail location. The official mobile-compaction overview is useful for understanding the service model, but it is not financial evidence. Current offer details should be checked against the FDD and the official U.S. franchise information page.
What is the strongest defensible earnings takeaway?
The strongest defensible range is approximately $59,900 to $146,400 per year in estimated pre-tax, pre-financing owner earnings for a mature one-territory, one-truck Crushr operation, with a base scenario near $81,800. It is scenario-based, not an official franchisee-profit disclosure. The most important driver is recurring sales volume relative to route and labor capacity. The largest unresolved uncertainty is whether the single mature company-owned outlet’s Net Margin transfers to franchised territories after local insurance, maintenance, staffing, storage, and financing costs.
An active owner who replaces one paid field role may realize estimated owner-operator benefit of roughly $109,700 to $202,900, but the labor-value portion is compensation for work rather than passive business profit. Before relying on either range, a buyer should reconcile Item 19 substantiation with actual franchisee income statements and confirm all financing, labor, and vehicle-cost assumptions in writing.