The central official figure is $185,667: that was the 2025 median EBITDA for 175 qualifying U.S. franchised locations. The lower and upper figures are the corresponding medians for the bottom and top profitability quartiles, not promised outcomes or probability bounds. This measure is not owner take-home pay; it is before financing, personal taxes, depreciation, amortization and potentially paid manager compensation.
The legal franchisor is Suite Management Franchising, LLC, with Propelled Brands Franchising, LLC identified as its immediate parent. The Franchise Disclosure Document was issued May 1, 2026. Its financial-performance section, pages 72-81, reports unaudited 2025 Gross Revenue, General Operating Expense, Rent Expense, Royalties and EBITDA for qualifying U.S. franchised locations. The selected 5,000-8,000-square-foot cohort had 175 reporting locations. Item 20 begins on page 82. Public official sources and federal benchmark data were checked July 18, 2026.
175 qualifying franchised locations; calendar year 2025.
Revenue from suite rent and other business income is not owner earnings.
Reported occupancy as of December 31, 2025.
54.5% of the 321-location reporting population.
Average operating result divided by average Gross Revenue for the selected cohort.
From month 13, the greater of $1,000 monthly or 5.5% of Gross Revenues.
What does the strongest earnings evidence actually measure?
It measures unit-level EBITDA, not an owner's salary, draw, distribution or after-tax income. The official 2026 disclosure reports 2025 results for franchised outlets that met defined age, size and reporting criteria. The selected population consists of 175 U.S. franchised locations open continuously for at least 12 full months, sized from 5,000 to 8,000 square feet, current on required reports and not under contract for purchase during 2025.
The financial-performance section defines EBITDA as Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization. The P&L tables separately show Gross Revenue, General Operating Expense, Rent Expense and Royalties. For the selected cohort, those average components reconcile to the reported $188,489 result after rounding.
The disclosure also provides a broader Group One of 264 qualifying centers at least 3,000 square feet, with median Gross Revenue of $438,909 and median EBITDA of $171,735. That population is not merged with the selected 5,000-8,000-square-foot answer. Although the current offer includes both a New Location and a Conversion Franchise, the earnings tables do not separate those formats.
- Gross Revenue
- Total business revenue under the disclosed definition, excluding separately stated sales taxes and documented refunds or chargebacks. It is revenue, not owner earnings.
- General Operating Expense
- Cash expenses including professional fees, repairs, insurance, utilities, office expenses, advertising and marketing, the technology fee and security. The disclosure says other expenses may exist outside this definition.
- Rent Expense
- Base rent plus NNN or common-area maintenance charges paid to the landlord.
- EBITDA
- Operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. It excludes debt service and is not the same as cash distributed to the owner.
| Average qualifying-location P&L line | 2025 amount | Share of Gross Revenue | Evidence treatment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross Revenue | $470,777 | 100.0% | Official disclosure fact |
| General Operating Expense | $92,732 | 19.7% | Official disclosure fact |
| Rent Expense | $163,664 | 34.8% | Official disclosure fact |
| Royalties | $25,893 | 5.5% | Official disclosure fact |
| EBITDA | $188,489 | 40.0% | Official disclosed result |
Source: 2026 My Salon Suite FDD, Item 19, page 78 for the model-store averages and pages 79-80 for definitions and limitations. Values are unaudited and franchisee-reported.
The $467,192 median Gross Revenue should not be described as owner income. The most directly relevant official earnings measure is the $185,667 median EBITDA, and even that figure still sits above financing costs, personal taxes, capital expenditures and any owner-specific compensation structure.
How wide was the disclosed earnings range across model stores?
The official cohort medians span $87,616 to $301,906 of annual EBITDA. The conservative, base and upside labels below organize the disclosed bottom-quartile, all-center and top-quartile medians for decision analysis; they do not convert those historical cohorts into forecast probabilities.
Calendar year 2025, U.S. franchised outlets open at least 12 full months and measuring 5,000-8,000 square feet.
Interpretation: The top profitability cohort's median EBITDA was about 3.4 times the bottom cohort's median. The disclosure also reports a negative $145,600 low for qualifying locations, so even mature locations were not uniformly profitable.
Source: 2026 My Salon Suite FDD, Item 19, pages 78-79. Cohorts contain 44 locations each; the all-center model-store population contains 175.
| Analytical scenario | Median Gross Revenue | Median occupancy | Median EBITDA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative - bottom profitability quartile | $381,410 | 81.1% | $87,616 |
| Base - all qualifying model stores | $467,192 | 91.2% | $185,667 |
| Upside - top profitability quartile | $544,643 | 94.5% | $301,906 |
Occupancy and lease economics move together in the disclosed cohorts. Median occupancy rises from 81.1% in the bottom profitability quartile to 94.5% in the top quartile, while the average Rent Expense burden falls from 49.6% to 24.8% of Gross Revenue. The tables show association, not proof that either variable alone causes the EBITDA difference.
How does owner involvement change the annual result?
For analytical purposes, an owner who performs the Designated Manager function uses the full disclosed operating measure as combined business return and labor value; a manager-run owner must fund management from the unit's economics. This owner-operator figure is an estimated owner-operator benefit, not pure passive profit. The disclosure requires personal supervision and best efforts but permits delegation to a trained Designated Manager; the official owner-responsibilities page says many owners work 5-10 hours weekly after occupancy stabilizes.
The disclosed General Operating Expense definition does not explicitly list payroll or manager compensation. To make that uncertainty visible, the chart subtracts a $64,290 annual wage-only proxy, the 2025 BLS median for property, real-estate and community-association managers in the real-estate industry. It does not add employer payroll taxes, benefits, recruiting cost or bonus compensation.
Illustrative role sensitivity using the official cohort medians and one national manager-wage proxy.
Interpretation: Under this wage-only sensitivity, the base manager-run residual is about $121,400 before debt principal, interest, capital expenditures and personal taxes. The owner's active labor value accounts for $64,290 of the difference.
Formula: manager-run residual = official median EBITDA - $64,290 BLS wage proxy. Source for EBITDA: 2026 FDD, Item 19, pages 78-79. Source for wage proxy: BLS, NAICS 531, 2025 occupational wage data. The BLS data exclude self-employed workers.
- Owner-operator benefit: The owner performs the management labor and retains the unit's disclosed operating result before financing, taxes and capital spending. This combines operating return with compensation for work performed.
- Manager-run residual: The calculation subtracts one wage proxy only. A real employer may also incur payroll taxes, insurance, benefits, bonuses and coverage costs, lowering residual cash further.
- Double-counting risk: If a reporting franchisee already included manager payroll in General Operating Expense despite payroll not being named in the definition, subtracting the proxy again would understate owner economics. Written substantiation should resolve this.
Calling the full reported operating measure “passive income” would be unsupported. Item 15 requires ongoing owner supervision even when a Designated Manager is used, and the manager-run calculation remains before financing and owner-level taxes.
Which disclosed costs are already reflected, and which may still reduce cash to the owner?
Royalty, rent and disclosed General Operating Expenses are reflected in the reported operating result, but debt service, personal taxes, depreciation, amortization and capital expenditures are not. Several smaller Item 6 obligations require treatment checks because the financial-performance tables do not separately identify every fee.
| Recurring obligation | Current disclosed amount | Reported treatment | Owner-earnings implication |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royalty Fee | 5.5% of Gross Revenues; $1,000 monthly minimum from month 13 | Separately deducted in the P&L tables. | Do not subtract it again from the disclosed result. |
| Brand Building Fund | Minimum $200 monthly | Advertising and marketing are included in General Operating Expense, but the fund is not separately labeled. | Verify that the contribution is fully captured before relying on the reported result. |
| Technology Fee | $170 monthly | Technology fee is expressly included in General Operating Expense. | No additional subtraction is appropriate if the reporting definition was applied consistently. |
| Annual conference | $750-$950 per person; $2,000 nonattendance fee | Not separately identified in Item 19. | Confirm whether reporting franchisees included it in operating expense. |
| Suite Relief Fund | $50 monthly, opt-out available | Not separately identified. | Small relative to disclosed operating earnings, but treatment depends on participation. |
Sources: 2026 FDD, Item 6, pages 12-20; Item 19, pages 74-80. The initial investment in Item 7 is not treated as a recurring annual expense.
The disclosed EBITDA excludes financing. Because the disclosure does not provide standardized new-location loan terms, this article does not invent a universal debt payment. Buyers should model principal and interest using their actual financed amount, rate, amortization period and lender fees. Cash available to the owner can be materially below the reported operating result when a large portion of the initial investment is financed.
What makes the reasonable owner-earnings range uncertain?
The largest unresolved issue is whether paid manager compensation is already embedded in the submitted operating statements. The disclosure's enumerated General Operating Expense definition omits payroll, yet the official responsibilities page describes an experienced full-time manager in the semi-absentee model. That ambiguity directly affects the difference between the unit-level result and manager-run owner cash.
- Unaudited submissions: The franchisor states that franchisee reports were not audited or independently verified.
- Selection criteria: Results exclude outlets under 12 months old, locations outside 5,000-8,000 square feet, outlets missing required reports and locations under contract for purchase during 2025.
- Format separation: The current offer includes a New Location and a Conversion Franchise, but the financial-performance tables do not report those formats separately.
- Coverage: The 175 selected locations represent 54.5% of the 321 franchised locations cited in the financial-performance section. Results should not be assumed to describe every open unit.
- Population discrepancy: Item 19 states 321 U.S. franchised locations open and operating at December 31, 2025, while Item 20's year-end summary reports 320. The one-location difference should be reconciled.
- Negative outcomes exist: The disclosed low was negative $145,600. Mature age and recommended size did not eliminate loss risk.
- Average versus median: Only 49.1% of selected locations met or exceeded the $188,489 average. The $185,667 median is the cleaner central observation for a skewed distribution.
- Capital spending: The reported measure excludes depreciation and amortization, but actual replacement, refresh and remodel spending consumes cash.
- Taxes: Entity structure, state and local rules, deductions and the owner's circumstances prevent a defensible after-tax estimate.
The rating is high because a current same-brand disclosure directly reports EBITDA for a broad, defined franchised-unit cohort. Confidence is lower for converting that measure into manager-run owner cash because payroll treatment is not explicit and the wage adjustment is an external national proxy.
What should a prospective owner verify before using these figures?
Verify the bridge from the reported operating result to actual distributions for comparable franchisees. The official figures are useful, but the decision depends on whether the buyer's target market, lease, manager structure and financing resemble the reporting model-store cohort.
- Request Item 19 written substantiation and confirm exactly which payroll, manager, bookkeeping, conference, fund and maintenance costs are included in General Operating Expense.
- Ask for the count and performance of outlets matching the proposed square footage, suite count, market rent and opening vintage rather than relying only on the national 5,000-8,000-square-foot median.
- Compare occupied suites, scheduled rent, concessions, bad debt and member turnover for the top, central and lower-performing cohorts.
- Ask current franchisees for EBITDA, owner distributions, manager compensation, capital expenditures and debt payments as separate figures.
- Reconcile the 321-location reporting population with the 320 franchised outlets reported at year-end in Item 20.
- Model actual loan terms separately and test whether cash flow remains acceptable at the bottom-quartile median result and below.
- Confirm whether the proposed operation will be owner-managed, manager-run or shared across a multi-unit portfolio, and price management labor accordingly.
What is the defensible decision range?
For a mature 5,000-8,000-square-foot U.S. model store, the strongest defensible official range is $87,616-$301,906 in annual EBITDA, with a $185,667 median. That range is official disclosure evidence, not a forecast. Under a separate wage-only manager scenario, residual owner cash falls to roughly $23,300-$237,600, with a base figure near $121,400, before payroll burden, debt service, capital expenditures and personal taxes.
The most important operating driver is the combination of occupancy and rent burden. The largest unresolved uncertainty is manager-pay treatment inside the submitted expense data. A buyer should resolve that question through written substantiation, the full Item 19 definitions and interviews with franchisees whose format, lease and owner role match the proposed business.