Primrose Schools Franchise
Cost, fees, owner earnings, closure rate and litigation for a Primrose Schools franchise — pulled from the franchisor's own public FDD (2025), not its sales material.
Disclosure honesty
Primrose Schools discloses earnings (Item 19) — but the grade is how honestly. We graded it B.
What their own earnings claim actually says
Discloses average gross revenues by quartile (499 facilities) and average P&L with EBITDA by revenue third (413 facilities). Excludes 86 facilities for various reasons; EBITDA figures are pre-debt-service and pre-owner-compensation, overstating true owner income.
What a Primrose Schools franchise actually costs to run
| Fee | Disclosed | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $80,000 | Item 5 — paid up front, before you open |
| Royalty | 7% 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 | 9% of gross sales | Before rent, labor, food or debt service |
| Total initial investment | $742,900 – $8,595,000 | Item 7 — franchisor's own low/high estimate |
Royalty 7%, brand fund 2% (up to 3%), plus 1% local ad and up to 1% cooperative; real estate and training fees add significant upfront cost.
Royalty and ad-fund percentages are charged on gross sales — an owner pays them whether or not the location is profitable.
Primrose Schools system size and owner turnover
| Total outlets | 525 |
| Ceased operations | 1 |
| Terminated by franchisor | 0 |
| Transferred to new owners | 30 |
| Closure rate | 0.2% of outlets |
Zero terminations and only 1 ceased operation in 2024; system growing steadily with low failure signals.
From Item 20 of the FDD 2025. Terminations and ceased operations are the franchisor's own count of owners who stopped — the number the sales pitch leaves out.
Is Primrose Schools worth it? — how it compares to 60 similar franchises
| Ongoing fees | 9% of sales | lower than most (median 9%) |
| Startup cost | from $742,900 | pricier than 75% of peers |
| Disclosure honesty | Grade B | more honest than 75% of children's education & childcare franchises |
| Closure rate | 0.2% of outlets | better than most (median 1.4%) |
| Disclosed lawsuits | 1 | more litigious than 65% of peers |
Benchmarked against every children's education & childcare franchise we've graded from public FDDs — the context the franchisor's pitch never gives you.
Owner take-home for a Primrose Schools
The franchisor's framing: Discloses average gross revenues by quartile (499 facilities) and average P&L with EBITDA … 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
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Primrose Schools franchise — frequently asked
- How much does a Primrose Schools franchise cost?
- The FDD lists a total initial investment of about $742,900–$8,595,000, including a $80,000 initial franchise fee.
- How much do Primrose Schools franchise owners make?
- Discloses average gross revenues by quartile (499 facilities) and average P&L with EBITDA by revenue third (413 facilities). Excludes 86 facilities for various reasons; EBITDA figures are pre-debt-service and pre-owner-compensation, overstating true owner income. We grade this disclosure B for honesty.
- What are the Primrose Schools franchise fees?
- Primrose Schools's FDD discloses a $80,000 initial franchise fee, a 7% royalty on gross sales, a 2% advertising-fund contribution, for roughly 9% of gross sales in recurring fees before rent, labor, or debt service. Royalty 7%, brand fund 2% (up to 3%), plus 1% local ad and up to 1% cooperative; real estate and training fees add significant upfront cost.
- What is the Primrose Schools franchise profit margin?
- Primrose Schools does not publish a franchisee net-profit margin — almost no franchisor does. What Item 19 actually shows: Discloses average gross revenues by quartile (499 facilities) and average P&L with EBITDA by revenue third (413 facilities). Excludes 86 facilities for various reasons; EBITDA figures are pre-debt-service and pre-owner-compensation, overstating true owner income. Recurring fees alone take about 9% 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 Primrose Schools franchise failure rate?
- Zero terminations and only 1 ceased operation in 2024; system growing steadily with low failure signals.
- How many Primrose Schools locations are there?
- Primrose Schools's FDD reports 525 total outlets, with 1 that ceased operations in the most recent reporting year and 30 transferred to new owners. Item 20 is where system health shows up before the marketing does.
- Does Primrose Schools have complaints or lawsuits?
- Primrose Schools discloses 1 legal matter in Item 3 of its FDD. Item 3 covers the franchisor's litigation history, which is the closest thing to a public record of how it treats franchisees — read the case descriptions, not just the count.
- Is a Primrose Schools franchise worth it?
- It depends on the numbers, not the pitch. Primrose Schools scores B on disclosure honesty, carries about 9% of sales in ongoing fees, and discloses 1 legal matters. Get the real owner take-home before you sign.
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Compare Primrose Schools to similar franchises
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Source: MN CARDS 33787-202504-08 (Clean FDD 2025). FranchiseValidate is independent and not affiliated with Primrose Schools or its franchisor. Figures are extracted from the franchisor's own public disclosure document; verify against the current FDD before any decision.