Beauty
Massage Envy Franchise
A membership-based massage, stretch and skin-care franchise operating under a "total body care" model (massage therapy plus services like stretch therapy, hot stone therapy and customized skin care) at nearly all of its locations. The current franchisor entity was formed in June 2019 through a securitization/restructuring of the Massage Envy business; the brand itself dates to 2002. One of the largest personal-care franchise networks in this dataset by unit count, though franchised units declined each year of the FDD's three-year window.
Every franchisor has to file a document called an FDD before they can legally sell you a franchise. Buried in it are the two things a sales rep won't volunteer: what you'll actually spend to open, and whether existing locations are opening or closing. That's what's below, pulled straight from Massage Envy's own filing.
What it costs to open
From the filing's investment breakdown -- not a "starting at" number a sales rep quoted you.
Franchise fee
$45,000
Total to open
$695,870–$1,046,506
Ongoing royalty
6% of gross sales
What you'd actually spend, over time
The upfront cost is only part of it. Plug in what you expect a location to bring in, and see the real total once royalties over a few years are added on top.
Defaulted to a rough beauty industry average, not a figure from Massage Envy's own FDD -- change it to your own estimate.
Total cost of ownership over 5 years
$845,870 – $1,196,506
Startup investment
$695,870–$1,046,506
Royalty per year (6%)
$30,000
Total royalty, 5yr
$150,000
When would you break even?
Revenue alone doesn't tell you this -- it depends on what's left after rent, labor, and everything else. Massage Envy's FDD doesn't disclose a reliable profit figure (most franchisors don't), so this starts from a typical beauty profit margin (~10%) and applies it to the revenue you entered above -- adjust the percentage to your own realistic estimate.
Defaulted to a general beauty industry benchmark, not a figure from Massage Envy's own filing -- this is a starting point to adjust, not a promise about what franchisees actually make.
At that profit, you'd break even in about
13.9–20.9 years
Weigh that payback period against what you already know: Massage Envy is currently losing locations. A long payback period on a shrinking brand is a very different bet than the same payback period on a growing one.
Is Massage Envy actually growing?
Franchisors have to report, every year, how many locations opened, closed, or changed hands. Most franchise sites never show you this. Here it is:
Locations opened vs. closed, by year
ShrinkingFrom Item 20 of Massage Envy's FDD, the section franchisors use to disclose real openings and closings.
| Year | Franchised units, start | Franchised units, end | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1,083 | 1,053 | -30 |
| 2024 | 1,053 | 1,009 | -44 |
| 2025 | 1,009 | 993 | -16 |
Most recent year (2025): lost 16 franchised units, ending the year at 993 total.
How Massage Envy compares to other Beauty franchises
Across the 10 beauty franchises we've hand-verified so far, the typical range to open runs $558,727–$886,877, with royalties averaging around 5.9% of gross sales (based on the 9 of them that charge a flat %-of-revenue royalty).
$484,684–$770,754 · 6% royalty
Hand and Stone Massage and Facial Spa$601,695–$760,254 · 6% royalty
Great Clips$183,400–$394,400 · 6% royalty
Supercuts$185,930–$323,460 · 6% royalty
Sport Clips$236,800–$580,500 · 6% royalty
European Wax Center$327,600–$836,950 · 6% royalty
Heights Wellness Retreat$472,199–$551,771 · 6% royalty
Phenix Salon Suites$1,217,136–$1,664,822 · non-%-of-revenue royalty
Sola Salon Studios$1,181,960–$1,939,349 · 5.5% royalty
Massage Envy Franchise FAQ
How much does it cost to franchise a Massage Envy?
Based on Massage Envy's own FDD, total initial investment to open one location runs $695,870–$1,046,506, including the $45,000 franchise fee. MN CARDS file 9009, Clean FDD issued April 29, 2026, filed 5/5/2026, effective 7/30/2026. Item 1: principal business address 14350 North 87th Street, Suite 200, Scottsdale, AZ 85260 -- the automated parser guessed "Washington, DC" here (the same wrong-guess pattern hit on Weed Man's filing; likely a registered-agent address elsewhere in the document), corrected by hand from the actual FDD text. Founded year (2002) is the brand's well-documented public founding date, not a figure from this FDD -- the FDD itself only describes the current franchisor entity's June 2019 formation via a securitization transaction, with immediate predecessor Massage Envy Franchising, LLC as the prior franchisor; worth an independent spot-check if precision matters. Item 5: $45,000 Initial Franchise Fee. Item 6: 6% royalty, 2% ad fund. Item 7: $695,870-$1,046,506. Item 19 discloses a financial performance representation; not reproduced here -- read Item 19 directly. Item 20 Table No. 1 confirmed, franchised outlets 2023-2025. Of 993 locations operating as of 12/31/2025, 986 operate as "total body care" and 7 as "traditional" (massage-only).
What is the Massage Envy franchise fee and royalty rate?
The initial franchise fee is $45,000, and the ongoing royalty is 6% of gross sales, per the filing on record.
Is the Massage Envy franchise growing or shrinking?
Shrinking. Across 2023–2025, Massage Envy lost a net 90 franchised locations, per its own annual FDD filings.
Keep going
- Massage Envy and Hand and Stone Massage and Facial Spa are both beauty franchises; Hand and Stone Massage and Facial Spa's total investment starts about $94,175 lower than Massage Envy's. Hand and Stone Massage and Facial Spa Franchise
- Massage Envy and Amazing Lash Studio are both beauty franchises; Amazing Lash Studio's total investment starts about $211,186 lower than Massage Envy's. Amazing Lash Studio Franchise
Where this came from: MN CARDS file 9009, Clean FDD issued April 29, 2026, filed 5/5/2026, effective 7/30/2026. Item 1: principal business address 14350 North 87th Street, Suite 200, Scottsdale, AZ 85260 -- the automated parser guessed "Washington, DC" here (the same wrong-guess pattern hit on Weed Man's filing; likely a registered-agent address elsewhere in the document), corrected by hand from the actual FDD text. Founded year (2002) is the brand's well-documented public founding date, not a figure from this FDD -- the FDD itself only describes the current franchisor entity's June 2019 formation via a securitization transaction, with immediate predecessor Massage Envy Franchising, LLC as the prior franchisor; worth an independent spot-check if precision matters. Item 5: $45,000 Initial Franchise Fee. Item 6: 6% royalty, 2% ad fund. Item 7: $695,870-$1,046,506. Item 19 discloses a financial performance representation; not reproduced here -- read Item 19 directly. Item 20 Table No. 1 confirmed, franchised outlets 2023-2025. Of 993 locations operating as of 12/31/2025, 986 operate as "total body care" and 7 as "traditional" (massage-only). You can pull the same filing yourself from the California DFPI's public franchise search. Filed 2026-07-30. None of this is investment advice -- get the franchisor's current FDD and talk to a real attorney or accountant before you sign anything.
If you see a different unit count elsewhere: franchisors only have to refile their FDD annually, so the numbers here can run 6–18 months behind a franchisor's own real-time marketing claims -- which often aren't independently verified, and sometimes count signed-but-not-yet-open locations. A gap isn't necessarily an error on either side; it's two different snapshots in time from two different sources.