Decorate With Lights Franchise
Cost, fees, owner earnings, closure rate and litigation for a Decorate With Lights franchise — pulled from the franchisor's own public FDD (2026), not its sales material.
Disclosure honesty
Decorate With Lights discloses earnings (Item 19) — but the grade is how honestly. We graded it C.
What their own earnings claim actually says
Discloses 2024 company-controlled location revenue ($130,379 for Jul-Dec), franchisee cohorts by year/performance tier. Cherry-picks established unit; excludes failed outlets, startup losses.
What a Decorate With Lights franchise actually costs to run
| Fee | Disclosed | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $10,000 | Item 5 — paid up front, before you open |
| Royalty | 8% of gross sales | Item 6 — charged on revenue, not profit |
| Advertising fund | 2% of gross sales | Item 6 — brand marketing, spent at the franchisor's discretion |
| Total recurring fees | 10% of gross sales | Before rent, labor, food or debt service |
| Total initial investment | $36,200 – $70,450 | Item 7 — franchisor's own low/high estimate |
8% royalty + 2% brand fund; $25k max ad coop; multiple tech/bookkeeping fees; 18% late payment interest.
Royalty and ad-fund percentages are charged on gross sales — an owner pays them whether or not the location is profitable.
Decorate With Lights system size and owner turnover
| Total outlets | 128 |
| Ceased operations | 12 |
| Terminated by franchisor | 5 |
| Transferred to new owners | 6 |
| Closure rate | 9.4% of outlets |
2025: 12 ceased operations, 5 terminations, 16 franchised outlets net loss indicate softening.
From Item 20 of the FDD 2026. Terminations and ceased operations are the franchisor's own count of owners who stopped — the number the sales pitch leaves out.
Is Decorate With Lights worth it? — how it compares to 436 similar franchises
| Ongoing fees | 10% of sales | steeper than 74% of other franchises franchises |
| Startup cost | from $36,200 | cheaper than most (median $138,750) |
| Disclosure honesty | Grade C | typical for the category |
| Closure rate | 9.4% of outlets | worse than 89% of peers |
| Disclosed lawsuits | 0 | fewer than most |
Benchmarked against every other franchises franchise we've graded from public FDDs — the context the franchisor's pitch never gives you.
Owner take-home for a Decorate With Lights
The franchisor's framing: Discloses 2024 company-controlled location revenue ($130,379 for Jul-Dec), franchisee coho… We reconstruct what an owner actually keeps, from their own FDD.
- Reconstructed owner P&L — net take-home after royalty, ad fund, rent, labor & debt
- Break-even timeline + cash-on-cash ROI
- Full fee stack + required-purchase markups
- Decoded real failure / closure rate
- How it ranks vs comparable franchises
- Validation-call playbook — the exact questions to ask
See a full sample report → · 30-day guarantee
Decorate With Lights franchise — frequently asked
- How much does a Decorate With Lights franchise cost?
- The FDD lists a total initial investment of about $36,200–$70,450, including a $10,000 initial franchise fee.
- How much do Decorate With Lights franchise owners make?
- Discloses 2024 company-controlled location revenue ($130,379 for Jul-Dec), franchisee cohorts by year/performance tier. Cherry-picks established unit; excludes failed outlets, startup losses. We grade this disclosure C for honesty.
- What are the Decorate With Lights franchise fees?
- Decorate With Lights' FDD discloses a $10,000 initial franchise fee, a 8% royalty on gross sales, a 2% advertising-fund contribution, for roughly 10% of gross sales in recurring fees before rent, labor, or debt service. 8% royalty + 2% brand fund; $25k max ad coop; multiple tech/bookkeeping fees; 18% late payment interest.
- What is the Decorate With Lights franchise profit margin?
- Decorate With Lights does not publish a franchisee net-profit margin — almost no franchisor does. What Item 19 actually shows: Discloses 2024 company-controlled location revenue ($130,379 for Jul-Dec), franchisee cohorts by year/performance tier. Cherry-picks established unit; excludes failed outlets, startup losses. Recurring fees alone take about 10% of gross sales, before rent, labor, food or debt service. Margin has to be reconstructed from the disclosure, not read off it.
- What is the Decorate With Lights franchise failure rate?
- 2025: 12 ceased operations, 5 terminations, 16 franchised outlets net loss indicate softening.
- How many Decorate With Lights locations are there?
- Decorate With Lights' FDD reports 128 total outlets, with 12 that ceased operations in the most recent reporting year and 6 transferred to new owners. Item 20 is where system health shows up before the marketing does.
- Does Decorate With Lights have complaints or lawsuits?
- Decorate With Lights discloses no material litigation in Item 3 of the filing we reviewed. That's a positive signal, though it covers only what the franchisor is required to report.
- Is a Decorate With Lights franchise worth it?
- It depends on the numbers, not the pitch. Decorate With Lights scores C on disclosure honesty, carries about 10% of sales in ongoing fees. Get the real owner take-home before you sign.
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Source: WI DFI Franchise Registration (2026). FranchiseValidate is independent and not affiliated with Decorate With Lights or its franchisor. Figures are extracted from the franchisor's own public disclosure document; verify against the current FDD before any decision.