Verified — real FDD extraction
SBA-eligible · directory code S0355 since 2017
CENTRAL BARK
Pet Services · independent · est. —
Central Bark is a dog daycare, boarding, and grooming company offering supervised play, overnight stays, and 'whole dog care' enrichment programs. Dogs spend the day in supervised group play. A franchisee operates a facility with play areas and kennels, employing dog-care staff.
CENTRAL BARK net unit count grew +33.3% from 2021–2025 per its FDD Item 20.
New to franchising? Start here
A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.
Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:
- Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
- Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
- Item 20 — how many locations opened and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).
The verdict
Too new to judge
Distress
44 franchised units over 5 disclosed years is not a track record — systems this early have realized only a fraction of their eventual failures. Judge the disclosures, not a verdict.
Exit rate · latest year
5.0%
vs 4.7% across 18 pet services systems
Cost to open
$620K–$1.4M
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
12.0%
25 loans resolved — directional only
Market density · Wisconsin
Dense market
21% denser than the national average
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1
terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3
transfers vs. base · Table 3
actual vs. projected openings · Table 5
Item 19 disclosure + completeness
Systemwide units
2021–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 2 of 40 franchised outlets left the system — a 5.0% annualized exit rate, vs 4.7% across 18 pet services systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 32 | 33 | 34 | 36 | 40 |
| Opened | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| Transfers | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Outlets at end | 33 | 35 | 36 | 40 | 44 |
| Net change | +1 | +2 | +2 | +4 | +4 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 56 SBA-backed loans to CENTRAL BARK franchisees since 2013. Only 25 have resolved so far — too thin for a reliable default rate, but 3 of them charged off.
—
25 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$767,006
what recent franchisees borrowed
57 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
13 vs 10
distinct banks still lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
Loan performance by state
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO CENTRAL BARK BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
A typical CENTRAL BARK buyer since 2020 borrowed $767K through SBA — about $91K a year in debt service. Against the brand's own disclosed median unit revenue of $812K, that is 11.2% of every dollar the store takes in — before rent, payroll, food, or royalty.
Who finances it
Waukesha State Bank
24.1% of this brand's loans
Who buys it
56.6%
first-time franchise owners
The rest already owned at least one other franchise. Across the corpus, brands bought mostly by repeat operators charge off at roughly 10% versus 17% for brands sold mostly to newcomers.
Does experience help here?
Not enough resolved loans to split
Computed from 56 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to CENTRAL BARK franchisees joined to the brand's own FDD. Debt service assumes level amortization at the average disclosed term and rate. A lender's rate excludes its loans to this brand, so it reads the lender, not the brand.
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $55K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $620K–$1.4M (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$620K–$1.4M
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$55K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
6%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$60K
6% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$600K
royalties alone, excl. ad fund
This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.
Build a real pro-forma for CENTRAL BARK with an independent CPAModeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
Modeled from the public record, this brand sits mid-pack: riskier than 44% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
44 / 100
Loan-corroborated
Modeled SBA charge-off
11.7%
Observed SBA charge-off
12.0%
Top drivers: System size (log units) (raises) · Share financed by high-loss lenders (lowers) · Investment ceiling (log) (lowers) · Item 3 litigation (log) (raises). 15+ resolved loans stand behind this estimate. A linear scorecard built from this brand's own disclosure figures plus the federal loan record behind its franchisees; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
Central Bark® Closes a Successful Q3 with Continued Growth on the Horizon
news:PR Newswire · 22mo ago
9 questions to ask a CENTRAL BARK franchisee
Built from this brand's own disclosures · take it to your validation calls
The franchisor will give you a list of owners to call. Most buyers ask whether they like it. These are the questions built from what CENTRAL BARK has actually disclosed — each one carries the number it came from, so you can tell whether the answer squares with the record.
- 01
CENTRAL BARK’s own Item 20 shows 2 of 40 franchised outlets left the system in fiscal 2025 — about 5.0%. Do you know any of those owners, and do you know why they left?
A franchisor will call these “transitions.” An owner three doors down usually knows whether they sold at a profit or handed the keys back.
FDD Item 20 · FY2025
- 02
2 units transferred to new owners in fiscal 2025. When you look at those, were they people cashing out a good business — or getting out of a bad one?
Transfers count as neutral in every ranking. They are the single easiest place to hide distress.
FDD Item 20 · FY2025
- 03
Item 7 says the low end to open is $620K, but the average recent SBA loan to a CENTRAL BARK franchisee was $767K. What did you actually spend to open, all in?
Lenders size loans to real project costs. A large gap between the disclosed floor and what banks actually fund is the most common way buyers get underfunded.
FDD Item 7 vs SBA approvals FY2020+
- 04
You pay 6.0% royalty on gross sales, plus the ad fund, before any of your own costs. On your actual revenue last year, what did you take home as the owner — not revenue, take-home?
Royalty is charged on sales, not profit. This is the number the brochure never shows and the one your life actually runs on.
FDD Item 6
- 05
CENTRAL BARK makes an earnings claim in Item 19. Does your unit look like that number — and do you know which units they included to build it?
Item 19 is legal to build from a flattering subset. Ask whether they excluded new units, closed units, or company stores.
FDD Item 19 · 2026
- 06
How many months did it take to cover your own costs, and how much cash did you burn getting there?
Ramp-to-breakeven working capital is the most underestimated line in any franchise purchase, and the most common reason otherwise-good units fail.
Not disclosed in any FDD — ask an owner
- 07
What does the franchisor charge for that you didn't expect — required tech fees, mandatory remodels, approved-supplier pricing?
Required spending appears across Items 6, 8 and 11 rather than in one place, so buyers routinely miss the total.
FDD Items 6, 8, 11
- 08
If your agreement came up for renewal tomorrow at current terms, would you sign again?
The single most predictive question you can ask. A hesitation is the answer.
Ask every owner you speak to
- 09
Who else should I call — including someone who left?
The franchisor's list is curated by definition. Former franchisees are where the unflattering truth lives, and current owners usually know how to reach them.
Ask every owner you speak to
Want this as a checklist you can take to the calls?
I'll email you the printable version, and tell you if CENTRAL BARK’s numbers move — a new filing, a rising exit rate, a distress signal. Unsubscribe in one click.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. I'm paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing CENTRAL BARK's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
This page is what buyers see before they call you for validation. If the record above is wrong — or right in a way the numbers can't show — say so. Corrections are checked against the filings; nothing you write is published with your name unless you agree to it.
CENTRAL BARK franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of CENTRAL BARK franchises closed last year?
In CENTRAL BARK's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 2 of 40 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 5.0% — compared with 4.7% across 18 pet services systems tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons." There is no official failure rate, and not every exit is a failure, but this is the measurable floor.
How much does a CENTRAL BARK franchise cost?
Per CENTRAL BARK's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $55K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $620K–$1.4M (Item 7).
What royalty does CENTRAL BARK charge?
CENTRAL BARK charges an ongoing royalty of 6.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does CENTRAL BARK disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — CENTRAL BARK makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $812K. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.