How Much Does a Holiday Stationstores Franchise Owner Make?

The strongest defensible answer is a scenario-based manager-run range of about $92,000 to $513,000 per store, rounded in the opening to $90,000–$515,000. The base scenario is $271,527, rounded to $272,000. These are estimates for a mature operating year, not Item 19 results, and they apply to a gasoline station with convenience-store sales rather than every possible Holiday format or site.

The model uses a national industry revenue anchor of approximately $5.20 million per employer establishment and a 5.22% operating-earnings proxy. Because neither figure is same-brand unit performance, the evidence confidence is LIMITED. The principal strength is that every input is traceable to the 2025 FDD or an official U.S. government dataset; the principal weakness is the absence of a Holiday-specific sales and expense distribution.

The official answer is that Holiday Diversified Services, LLC makes no financial performance representation. Item 19 does not report Gross Sales, Gross Profit, Operating Profit, EBITDA, Net Income, cash flow, owner compensation or any other store-level earnings measure for franchised or company-operated Holiday Stationstores. That is an official FDD fact for the 2025 offer, not an estimate.

Item 19 states that actual records may be provided when a buyer is considering an existing store. The Federal Trade Commission's franchise guidance explains why earnings claims belong in Item 19 and why a prospect should request written substantiation. Consequently, no public Holiday revenue number should be presented as though it were an Item 19 average.

How is the industry revenue anchor calculated?

The revenue anchor is a derived benchmark for the 2023 U.S. industry population, not a same-brand result. The Census AIES table reports $499.302 billion of sales for NAICS 447110, Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores. County Business Patterns reports 96,002 employer establishments in that industry. Dividing the two produces approximately $5,200,952 per establishment.

This calculation has an important compatibility limitation: AIES uses the company as its reporting unit, while County Business Patterns counts physical establishments. The result is therefore a practical per-location benchmark, not a Census-published average, median or franchise-specific unit volume. The current 2022 NAICS equivalent is NAICS 457110, Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores.

How is the operating-margin proxy calculated?

The base margin is a derived 2021 industry proxy because the 2022 ARTS gross-margin estimate for broad NAICS 447 was suppressed. The complete compatible 2021 values show an 18.6% Gross Margin and $76.617 billion of Total Operating Expenses on $572.654 billion of sales. The reproducible formula is:

5.221% residual = 18.600% Gross Margin − ($76.617B ÷ $572.654B) Total Operating Expenses.

The Census ARTS definitions state that Gross Margin is sales minus cost of goods sold. Total Operating Expenses include payroll, benefits, rent, advertising, card charges, depreciation and other operating costs, while excluding cost of goods sold, interest, income taxes and capital expenditures. Because this is already an all-in operating-expense measure, the model does not subtract Holiday's disclosed recurring fees a second time. The trade-off is that the broad industry ratio reflects a mix of franchised and non-franchised firms and does not prove that Holiday fee economics match the industry average.

Owner involvement changes the modeled benefit by approximately $53,380 per year only when the owner actually replaces a paid first-line retail supervisor. The result is estimated, applies to one store and should be called owner-operator benefit rather than pure business profit because the added amount compensates the owner for work performed.

The 2025 FDD, Item 15, p. 25, does not require the owner to personally supervise the business, but it recommends personal and direct operation. The store must be supervised on-premises by a manager who has completed the required training. A manager-run owner therefore leaves normal manager compensation inside operating expenses. An active owner who fulfills that role may avoid some manager payroll, but only to the extent that the owner's actual schedule and capabilities replace the position.

The official FDD identifies several recurring charges, but it does not provide the merchandise-sales mix, gallons sold, card mix or transaction count needed to calculate one reliable annual fee total. The scenario margin therefore treats recurring fees through the broad all-in industry expense proxy and lists the Holiday-specific obligations separately to prevent false precision or double counting.

What is excluded from the annual earnings estimate?

The estimate is before financing interest and debt principal. It also excludes personal income taxes and does not convert the 2025 FDD's initial investment range into an annual expense. The source margin includes depreciation and amortization but excludes capital expenditures. Therefore, the modeled figure is not the same as distributable cash after replacement equipment, remodels or other capital spending.

Item 10 offers certain financing for POS equipment and qualifying conversion, capital-improvement or construction costs, but rates and forgiveness depend on the program and prevailing prime rate. No universal debt-service amount is modeled. Item 7 estimates $75,000–$150,000 of Additional Funds for the first three months and expressly does not promise break-even; that startup working-capital estimate is not subtracted from every operating year.

The largest unresolved uncertainty is the absence of same-brand unit sales and expense data. The range is estimated from an exact industry revenue category but a broader, older margin category, and it cannot reveal the median Holiday store, the performance of mature franchised outlets, the distribution of losses, or the economics of specific formats and locations.

• Revenue spread: Conservative, Base and Upside revenue equal 80%, 100% and 120% of the $5.20 million central benchmark. This spread is editorial, not FDD-reported.
• Margin spread: The scenarios use 2.22%, 5.22% and 8.22%, or the single complete industry margin proxy minus 3 percentage points, unchanged, and plus 3 percentage points.
• Maturity: The model represents a stabilized operating year. It does not model opening ramp-up, temporary closures, conversion disruption or a multi-unit development schedule.
• Real estate: Occupancy is embedded only through the industry operating-expense ratio. Item 7 says the investment estimate assumes ownership of land and building; leasing can add approximately $2,000–$10,000 per month.
• Format: The model addresses a gasoline station with convenience-store operations. Car wash participation, co-branded foodservice and Holiday Express differences can change revenue mix and margins.
• No probability claim: The midpoint is not labeled expected or most likely. It is a reproducible base assumption used to show sensitivity.

What does Item 20 add to the risk assessment?

Item 20 is official system context, not an earnings statement. Franchised stores declined from 99 at the start of the 2025 reporting year to 83 at April 27, 2025, while company-owned stores increased from 444 to 455. The franchised-store table records one opening, 14 terminations, one non-renewal and two reacquisitions during that period. The counts cover all Holiday Stationstores concepts, including Holiday Express, so they should not be treated as a clean cohort of comparable standard stores.

Those changes do not prove that remaining stores are profitable or unprofitable. They do make franchisee interviews, closure explanations and existing-store records more important. Corporate financial statements for TMC Franchise Corporation are not used as a store-profit proxy because consolidated franchisor revenue and expense are economically different from the results of one franchised outlet.

A buyer should treat $90,000–$515,000 as a screening range, then replace the industry assumptions with written, store-specific evidence. The verification should cover the same annual period, operating format and ownership structure as the proposed acquisition or development.

• Request Item 19 substantiation and any lawful supplemental information. Confirm in writing that no earnings claim outside the FDD is being used. The FTC consumer guide to buying a franchise explains how to assess financial performance claims.
• For an existing store, obtain at least three full years of records. Reconcile fuel gallons, fuel margin, merchandise sales, foodservice sales, car-wash revenue, card fees, shrink, payroll, occupancy, repairs, depreciation and capital spending.
• Separate store profit from owner labor. Ask whether the seller works full time, which manager costs would remain after transfer and whether family labor is paid at market rates.
• Interview current and former franchisees from Item 20. Ask about gross margin by category, labor coverage, supplier pricing, recurring technology costs, remodel obligations, manager turnover and reasons outlets left the system.
• Recalculate debt service independently. Use the actual purchase price, down payment, interest rate, amortization, collateral requirements and any FDD financing terms. Do not treat pre-interest operating earnings as take-home pay.
• Match the site to the correct format. Compare the proposed store with the brand's official description of Holiday Stationstores, then identify any Holiday Express, car-wash or co-branded operation that changes the economics.

The strongest defensible range is approximately $90,000–$515,000 in annual manager-run pre-tax owner earnings per store, with a $272,000 base scenario. It is a structural FDD-anchored scenario estimate, not an official Holiday Stationstores financial performance representation. If the owner fully replaces a paid retail supervisor, the corresponding estimated owner-operator benefit is about $146,000–$566,000, including $53,380 of modeled labor value.

The most important earnings driver is the store's realized margin on a high revenue base; a few percentage points of margin produce a large dollar swing. The largest unresolved uncertainty is the lack of same-brand Item 19 sales and expense data. Before making an investment decision, a buyer should verify Item 19, request written substantiation, inspect actual store records and test the model against current and former franchisee interviews.