For 2025, Wild Birds Unlimited reported median Owner’s Discretionary Cash Flow of $114,066 and average Owner’s Discretionary Cash Flow of $135,867 for 310 U.S. franchised traditional retail stores that had operated at least 24 months and submitted usable profit-and-loss statements. The disclosed bottom-half median was $62,270 and the top-half median was $195,388, which provides a more decision-useful planning band than the highly dispersed individual-store range.
The figures above are the franchisor’s official Item 19 Owner’s Discretionary Cash Flow results, not a FranchisesBiz profit estimate. The measure is closer to pre-tax owner benefit than to net income because the calculation adds back owner wages, selected owner benefits, automobile expense, and depreciation/amortization. It is not personal after-tax take-home pay, does not represent financing principal payments, and is not guaranteed.
- Legal franchisor
- Wild Birds Unlimited, Inc., an Indiana corporation; the FDD states that no parent, predecessor, or affiliate is required to be disclosed in Item 1.
- Disclosure document
- 2026 U.S. Franchise Disclosure Document, issued April 30, 2026; Item 19, pages 45–58. No matching franchisor-controlled public PDF was verified, so FDD citations are provided by year, Item, and page.
- Applicable population
- Traditional U.S. franchised stores. Canadian stores, five legacy small-format test locations, stores not open for the full measurement period, and specified closed, temporarily closed, or converted locations were excluded.
- Reporting coverage
- 310 stores reported usable 2025 cash-flow data out of 326 stores open at least 24 months, equal to 95.1% of the eligible mature-store population.
- External benchmark
- None used for the earnings answer. The current FDD directly reports an earnings-related measure.
- Date checked
- July 19, 2026.
Official. Item 19 reports Owner’s Discretionary Cash Flow, Gross Sales, Cost of Goods Sold, first-year wages and advertising, performance halves, and early-year cohorts.
The earnings measure covers a broad, clearly defined U.S. franchised-store population. Confidence is not absolute because the statements are unaudited and Item 19 does not separate owner-operated stores from manager-run stores.
What does Wild Birds Unlimited Item 19 actually report?
Officially, Item 19 reports Owner’s Discretionary Cash Flow rather than a salary, net-income figure, or distribution to the owner. For each reporting store, Wild Birds Unlimited subtracts Cost of Goods Sold and Operating Expenses from Gross Sales, then adds back owner wages, automobile expense, depreciation/amortization, owner life insurance, owner health insurance, and owner retirement-plan amounts.
Operating Expenses include non-owner wages, payroll taxes and benefits, marketing, retail supplies, occupancy, utilities, computer costs, insurance, maintenance, royalties, merchant fees, and other listed store expenses. This makes Owner’s Discretionary Cash Flow a broad owner-benefit measure, but it can contain compensation for labor performed by the owner and noncash depreciation add-backs. It should not be silently renamed “net profit.”
| 2025 Item 19 measure | Statistic | Value | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross Sales | Median | $780,955 | 326 stores open at least 24 months |
| Gross Sales | Average | $852,550 | 326 stores open at least 24 months |
| Owner’s Discretionary Cash Flow | Median | $114,066 | 310 mature reporting stores |
| Owner’s Discretionary Cash Flow | Average | $135,867 | 310 mature reporting stores |
| Bottom-half Owner’s Discretionary Cash Flow | Median | $62,270 | 155 stores |
| Top-half Owner’s Discretionary Cash Flow | Median | $195,388 | 155 stores |
The $780,955 median Gross Sales figure is store revenue. It cannot be treated as owner income. Item 19 uses a different 310-store P&L sample for Owner’s Discretionary Cash Flow, so dividing the two separate medians would not produce a valid median profit margin.
How wide is the 2025 cash-flow spread across performance halves?
Official average and median Owner’s Discretionary Cash Flow for the bottom half, all reporting stores, and the top half.
Interpretation: The disclosed medians move from $62,270 in the bottom half to $195,388 in the top half. The complete individual-store range was much wider: −$138,564 to $1,054,218, so the extremes are not a sensible planning range.
Source: 2026 Wild Birds Unlimited Franchise Disclosure Document, Item 19, Schedule 4B, page 55; figures are also summarized on the official Wild Birds Unlimited franchise earnings page.
How does owner involvement change the result?
Owner involvement changes what Owner’s Discretionary Cash Flow represents, but the official data do not quantify a separate owner-operated and manager-run result. Item 15 permits the store to be supervised by the owner or by a trained designated Store Manager, while recommending that an individual franchisee serve as the fully trained Store Manager.
What does an owner-operator receive?
Officially, an owner-operator’s ODCF can include both residual business cash flow and compensation for work performed by the owner. The formula adds back owner wages, owner health and life insurance, owner retirement-plan amounts, and automobile expense. Those add-backs should not be interpreted as passive business profit.
What does a manager-run owner receive?
The manager-run result is uncertain because Item 19 does not isolate it. Non-owner wages remain inside Operating Expenses, so the compensation of a full-time designated Store Manager generally reduces ODCF. This is a mechanical interpretation of the disclosed formula, not a separate franchisor-reported manager-run earnings figure.
- Business residual
- Cash remaining after ordinary store operating expenses under the FDD definition, before any owner-specific add-backs.
- Owner labor value
- Wages and selected benefits added back when the owner works in the store. This rewards labor, not merely ownership.
- Debt service
- Item 19 does not present a standardized loan structure. Financing principal must be deducted separately from cash available to the owner; interest treatment should be verified on the actual P&L.
- Personal taxes
- Not estimated. Federal, state, and local tax outcomes depend on entity structure, deductions, jurisdiction, and owner circumstances.
A buyer comparing two stores with the same underlying operating performance could see different ODCF solely because one owner performs the Store Manager role while the other pays a non-owner manager. Ask for a bridge from store operating profit to owner wages, benefits, and distributions before treating ODCF as passive income.
What can a new owner earn in the first three years?
Officially, the newer-store cohorts reported substantially less Owner’s Discretionary Cash Flow than the mature-store population. The first full calendar-year median was −$1,723, the second-year median was $12,581, and the third-year median was $39,670. These are cohort results for stores opened from 2020 through 2024, not a promise that one store will follow the same path.
How quickly did reported ODCF build in the first three full calendar years?
Official average and median Owner’s Discretionary Cash Flow for first-, second-, and third-year cohorts.
Interpretation: Early cash flow was weak in the disclosed cohorts. The share of stores with positive ODCF increased from 46.88% in year one to 59.26% in year two and 73.68% in year three, but the sample fell from 32 stores to 19 stores across the three cohorts.
Source: 2026 Wild Birds Unlimited Franchise Disclosure Document, Item 19, Schedule 4C, pages 55–56.
Which recurring fees are already reflected in the cash-flow figure?
Officially, the ODCF definition includes royalties, marketing expense, computer expense, and other normal operating costs before the listed owner add-backs. The recurring obligations below therefore should not be subtracted a second time from the reported ODCF. They remain important because changes in sales, local advertising, technology charges, and required programs can move future results.
| Recurring obligation | Current amount | Owner-earnings treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Royalty | 4% of Gross Sales | Included within Operating Expenses used to calculate ODCF. |
| Advertising Fund | 1% of Gross Sales | Current national contribution; the agreement permits an increase to 2% with notice. |
| Local advertising | Minimum 2% of Gross Sales | Paid locally. First-year owners are recommended to spend 8%–10% of Gross Sales on local advertising. |
| Technology Fee | $350 per month | Includes the current $115 monthly MyWBU Store license fee; subject to permitted increases. |
| Daily Savings Club® | $0–$100 per month | Ongoing customer-program materials and related purchases. |
| Annual Conference | $400 registration | Required in the first year and every other year, plus travel and lodging; $500 non-attendee fee. |
Source: 2026 Wild Birds Unlimited Franchise Disclosure Document, Item 6, pages 7–13. Item 7 startup investment is not an annual operating expense and is not subtracted from one year of sales.
How much uncertainty sits behind the official figures?
The official evidence is broad but still materially uncertain at the individual-store level. The mature 2025 ODCF sample covered 310 stores, yet the actual results ranged from a loss of $138,564 to positive ODCF of $1,054,218. Store age, local demand, product mix, freight, labor, occupancy, owner role, and execution can produce outcomes far from the median.
Item 20 reported 344 franchised U.S. outlets and one company-owned outlet at year-end 2025. Item 19’s mature Gross Sales population contained 326 traditional stores, while 310 supplied usable cash-flow statements. The difference reflects age, reporting, format, closure, temporary-closure, and other stated eligibility rules—not a random sample of every outlet in the system.
- Unaudited reporting: Item 19 was compiled from franchisee monthly sales reports and submitted annual P&L statements.
- Survivorship and full-period rules: stores not operating for the entire measurement period and specified closures or temporary closures were excluded.
- Format restriction: five legacy small-format test locations were excluded because their characteristics differ materially from traditional stores.
- Owner-role ambiguity: the data do not state how many stores were owner-managed, family-operated, or supervised by a paid non-owner manager.
- Debt ambiguity: the FDD provides no standardized financed amount, rate, term, or debt-service result for the Item 19 cohort.
What should a buyer verify before relying on the range?
A buyer should verify the Item 19 substantiation, the owner’s actual working role, and store-specific expense structure before treating $62,270–$195,388 as a practical planning band. The figures are official medians for performance halves, not a probability interval and not a prediction for a particular territory.
- Request the written substantiation supporting Item 19 and reconcile the 310-store ODCF population to the 326-store mature Gross Sales population.
- Ask current franchisees to separate owner wages, owner benefits, distributions, retained cash, and true business residual on their P&L statements.
- Interview both owner-operators and manager-run owners about weekly hours, Store Manager compensation, staffing depth, and payroll burden.
- Compare the proposed lease, occupancy costs, freight, product mix, shrink, credit-card fees, and local advertising plan with stores in similar markets.
- Review first-, second-, and third-year cohorts rather than applying mature-store results to a new opening.
- Model financing interest and principal separately, then assess taxes with a qualified adviser; neither should be inferred from ODCF.
- Review Item 20 contacts for current and former franchisees, including operators whose stores closed, transferred, or changed ownership.
What is the strongest defensible annual owner-earnings range?
For a mature U.S. traditional Wild Birds Unlimited store, the strongest defensible planning range is approximately $62,270 to $195,388 in annual Owner’s Discretionary Cash Flow, anchored to the official 2025 bottom-half and top-half medians. The all-store median was $114,066 and the average was $135,867. This is an official earnings-related disclosure, not an independent margin model, but it is still pre-tax owner benefit—not passive profit or after-tax take-home pay.
The most important quantified drivers are sales level and merchandise economics: 2025 mature-store Gross Sales ranged from $156,047 to $2,761,395, while Cost of Goods Sold ranged from 36.25% to 54.88% of Gross Sales among reporting stores. The largest unresolved uncertainty is owner involvement because Item 19 does not split owner-operated stores from stores paying a full-time non-owner manager. Before deciding, verify the Item 19 substantiation, owner labor add-backs, manager compensation, local occupancy and labor costs, debt service, and comparable franchisee P&Ls.
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