Education
School of Rock Franchise
A performance-based music education franchise offering band-ensemble instruction, private lessons, and live-show performances for students of all ages. Founded as Paul Green School of Rock Music in the Philadelphia area in December 2004, franchising since September 2005 under the current name since 2010, and since September 2023 an indirect subsidiary of Roark Capital-backed Youth Enrichment Brands; the parent company operates 47 company-owned Schools alongside a larger and faster-growing franchised base.
Disclosed in the FDD's litigation section (Item 3)
Item 3 discloses no litigation against School of Rock itself, but -- as required by common-ownership disclosure rules -- summarizes several settled actions against sister franchisors under the same Roark Capital-backed ownership umbrella: Arby's and Dunkin' both settled multi-state Attorneys General actions over no-poaching franchise-agreement clauses (2019-2020), Dunkin' separately settled a New York data-security action over credential-stuffing breaches ($650,000, 2020), and Jimmy John's settled a 2025 Maryland Securities Commissioner consent order ($30,000) over incomplete former-franchisee disclosures.
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 School of Rock'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
$59,900
Total to open
$387,050–$756,100
Ongoing royalty
8% 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 education industry average, not a figure from School of Rock's own FDD -- change it to your own estimate.
Total cost of ownership over 5 years
$527,050 – $896,100
Startup investment
$387,050–$756,100
Royalty per year (8%)
$28,000
Total royalty, 5yr
$140,000
When would you break even?
Revenue alone doesn't tell you this -- it depends on what's left after rent, labor, and everything else. School of Rock's FDD doesn't disclose a reliable profit figure (most franchisors don't), so this starts from a typical education profit margin (~15%) and applies it to the revenue you entered above -- adjust the percentage to your own realistic estimate.
Defaulted to a general education industry benchmark, not a figure from School of Rock'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
7.4–14.4 years
Weigh that payback period against what you already know: School of Rock is opening more locations. A long payback period on a shrinking brand is a very different bet than the same payback period on a growing one.
Is School of Rock 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
GrowingFrom Item 20 of School of Rock's FDD, the section franchisors use to disclose real openings and closings.
| Year | Franchised units, start | Franchised units, end | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 211 | 234 | +23 |
| 2024 | 234 | 254 | +20 |
| 2025 | 254 | 276 | +22 |
Most recent year (2025): gained 22 franchised units, ending the year at 276 total.
What you're actually signing up for
The cost and growth numbers above are only part of the picture. These three FDD items are the ones a prospective franchisee tends to weigh most heavily once they're past the sticker price.
Training & ongoing support (Item 11)
Item 11: the Initial Training Program is free for one owner plus the required General Manager and Music Director; additional attendees cost $300-$600 each. Ongoing fees are the 8% Royalty plus the 3% Brand Fund Fee -- among the higher combined rates of any brand on this site.
Territory protection (Item 12)
Item 12: franchisees get a "Territory" with limited protected rights (School of Rock won't open another School inside it) but not full exclusivity -- School of Rock reserves the right to sell branded merchandise, run its Little Wing early-childhood program through outside "National Account" venues, and advertise inside a franchisee's Territory without compensation to the franchisee.
Renewal & termination terms (Item 17)
Item 17: 10-year initial term with up to three 5-year renewals (25 years total); renewal costs one-third of the then-current initial franchise fee.
How School of Rock compares to other Education franchises
Across the 7 education franchises we've hand-verified so far, the typical range to open runs $1,074,443–$2,678,183, with royalties averaging around 7.2% of gross sales (based on the 7 of them that charge a flat %-of-revenue royalty).
Keep going
- School of Rock and KidStrong are both education franchises; School of Rock's total investment starts about $89,350 lower than KidStrong's. KidStrong Franchise
- School of Rock and Code Ninjas are both education franchises; Code Ninjas's total investment starts about $212,800 lower than School of Rock's. Code Ninjas Franchise
Where this came from: California DFPI Registration Renewal, App ID APP00004946, filed 4/15/2026, effective 5/20/2026. FDD issued April 15, 2026. Item 5: $59,900 Initial Franchise Fee ($5,000 veterans' discount available); $29,950 Development Fee per school under a Development Agreement. Item 6: 8% Royalty plus a 3% Brand Fund Fee. Item 7 total investment for a single School: $387,050-$756,100, including $60,600 payable to the franchisor/affiliate. Item 20 Table 1 franchised outlets; company-owned ("Company-Owned") outlets held around 47-49, operated by direct parent School of Rock, LLC, not the franchisor entity itself. hqLocation corrected to School of Rock Franchising LLC's own Canton, MA address (Item 1) -- a prior draft had mistakenly used indirect parent Youth Enrichment Brands' San Rafael, CA address instead. You can pull the same filing yourself from the California DFPI's public franchise search. Filed 2026-04-15. 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.