FRANCHISE·WATCH·DESK

From the filed FDD — automated extraction, check the source

2025 FDD

PSP

Pet stores · parent company: not identified

PSP is the franchising entity associated with Pet Supplies Plus, a neighborhood pet retail chain selling food, toys, supplies, and accessories for dogs, cats, and other pets, often with grooming and self-service dog wash. Customers shop for everyday pet needs in a store smaller and more local-feeling than big-box competitors. A franchisee operates a retail location, managing inventory, staff, and in-store pet services.

PSP net unit count grew 11.4% over 2022–2024 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. Most numbers on this page come from that document; others come from federal SBA loan records and labor and census data, each labelled with its source:

  • 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, transferred and left the system, the main basis for our verdict, which rates how strong the disclosed record is, or says when the system is too new, the filing too old, or the disclosure too thin to judge.

Our rating · opinion

Strong disclosed record

Enough units and history to judge, and the operating record is good. Units grew 11% (2022–2024: 660 → 735); the fiscal 2024 exit rate was 1.6%, below the 5.0% median across 6 comparable systems (pet stores).

Exit rate · fiscal 2024

1.6%

vs 5.0% median across 6 comparable systems (pet stores)

Cost to open

$541K–$2.0M

Item 7 total investment range

SBA loan losses

No loan record

no SBA 7(a)/504 loans found for this brand

Email me when this brand’s record changes

A weekly check for new filings, changes to disclosed costs or earnings, SBA loan totals, and verified public-record events. Only changes to these 1 selected brand. No email when nothing changes. Coverage depends on when source data reaches our database.

Unsubscribe in any alert. We never sell your email.

Data as of 2026-10-29. Figures come from PSP's public FDD filings (latest: MN 2025, extracted 2026-06-19) and SBA FOIA loan records (through FY2026), extracted by us and possibly containing errors. The rating is our opinion, not investment, legal, or tax advice. Franchisor or owner and see something wrong? Report a correction — we review every request.

Buying an existing PSP? Transfer fee $5,000, resale record and asking-price check →

What each source says

FDD record · SBA loans · model · auditor

Our answer: Strong disclosed record

The sources broadly agree, and the verdict follows the FDD's operating record.

FDD record · Item 20

Strong operating record

Units grew 11% (2022–2024: 660 → 735); exit rate 1.6% (fiscal 2024) vs 5.0% median.

SBA loans · vs same-year loans

No SBA loans found

No 7(a)/504 loans matched to this brand.

Modeled risk

Not scored

Too little evidence for the model.

Auditor opinion · Item 21

Not extracted

We did not extract the audit opinion.

Behind the verdict

the record, factor by factor · Item 20

hi-1.0.0
Net unit growth41%

latest consecutive years · Item 20 Table 1

Strong
Exit quality29%

terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3

Strong
Transfer / churn18%

transfers vs. base · Table 3

Strong
Promise-keeping12%

actual vs. projected openings · Table 5

Strong
Transparencynot in verdict

Item 19 disclosure + completeness · shown, not counted in the verdict

Strong

Systemwide units

2022–2024

+11.4%
660202271920237352024

Survival record

FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year

In fiscal 2024, 8 of 485 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 1.6% (fiscal 2024), vs a 5.0% median across 6 comparable systems (pet stores). An exit is not a failure: this counts terminations, non-renewals and "ceased — other reasons" as reported, and excludes transfers to new owners.

Show the outlet tables ↓
Status (FTC)202220232024
Outlets at start601660719
Opened606028
Transfers123319
Terminations000
Non-renewals000
Reacquired by franchisor103
Ceased — other reasons448
Outlets at end660719735
Net change+59+59+16

What it costs — and what it drags

FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty

Buying in means a $49,900 franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $541K–$2.0M (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.

To open (Item 7)

$541K–$2.0M

all-in investment range

Franchise fee (Item 5)

$49,900

upfront, one-time

Royalty (Item 6)

3%

of sales, ongoing

If a unit does this in annual sales…$500K/yr

Starts at a placeholder of $500K — a round figure for the sector, not from PSP’s filings. Set your own figure and check it against this brand's Item 19 and what owners tell you.

Royalty you'd pay / yr

$15K

3% of sales, before profit

Over a 10-yr term

$150K

royalties alone, excl. ad fund

This estimate is computed by software from the brand's public filings and any inputs you enter. No CPA prepared it for you and no assurance is provided on it. Actual results will differ, and the differences may be material.

This is not profit. It covers what the FDD fixes: what you put in, and the royalty you owe on sales. Your take-home depends on labor, rent, supplies, and the months to breakeven, none of which the FDD fixes for your unit (some Item 19s include cost data — read it).

Build a real pro-forma for PSP with a buyer-paid CPA

How the earnings claim is built

FDD ITEM 19 · BASIS · 2025 FDD

The headline figure is Average Annual Gross Sales for Measurement Period Jan 1, 2024 - Dec 28, 2024, for 347 of 485 units, leaving out transferred during the period, reacquired by franchisor, ceased operations and others. The mean is 7% above the median, so a minority of high-volume units pulls the average up.

Graded on three things the filing states: coverage (2 points if the figure covers at least 75% of the units it is compared with, 1 point for 50–75%), centre (2 points if it prints both a median and a mean, 1 for one of them), and costs (2 points for costs through a profit line or full cost detail, 1 for some cost items). 5–6 points = More complete, 3–4 = Partial, 0–2 = Limited. The grade describes the disclosure, not the business.

PartialCovers 347 of 485 units (72%) · median and mean · some costs
Show the basis ↓
What is measuredAverage Annual Gross Sales (gross sales)
PeriodMeasurement Period Jan 1, 2024 - Dec 28, 2024
Whose resultsFranchised outlets
Units included347 of 485 Franchised Stores open and operating at the start of the Measurement Period
Left out
  • transferred during the period (19)
  • reacquired by franchisor (3)
  • ceased operations (8)
  • stores acquired from another system (not representative) (41)
  • did not fully or timely report (3)
  • opened during 2024
Average (mean)$2.7M
Median$2.5M
Mean vs medianmean 6.8% above median
Met or beat the average43.8%
Costs shownSome cost items only
Wherep. 64 (Item 19 runs pp. 61–66)
The filing's words“for the 347 Franchised Stores that were open and began operating prior to January 1, 2024, and operated the full Measurement Period under the same owner (the "Reporting Franchised Stores").”

Public records

Bankruptcy, closure & federal court records · coverage is selective · dockets are not scored

We have no verified public-record signals published for PSP. This is not evidence that no events exist. Check PACER, the FDD's Item 3 (litigation) and Item 4 (bankruptcy), and recent news yourself.

8 questions to ask a PSP 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 questions come from what PSP has disclosed. Each one carries the number it came from, so you can check the answer against the record.

  1. 01

    PSP’s own Item 20 shows 8 of 485 franchised outlets left the system in fiscal 2024 — about 1.6%. 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 · FY2024

  2. 02

    19 units transferred to new owners in fiscal 2024. When you look at those, were they people cashing out a good business — or getting out of a bad one?

    Item 20 counts transfers as neutral, but a transfer can be a good sale or a reluctant exit — the filing does not say which.

    FDD Item 20 · FY2024

  3. 03

    You pay 3.0% 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

  4. 04

    PSP 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 · 2025

  5. 05

    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

  6. 06

    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

  7. 07

    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

  8. 08

    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 PSP’s numbers move — a new filing, a rising exit rate, a distress signal. Unsubscribe in one click.

Before you sign anythingfree · 30 min · no commission

A broker is usually paid by the franchisor to place you. I'm paid only by you, never by a franchisor you're considering — and the job is pressure-testing PSP’s numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.

Don Drummond, CPA — Virginia #43775 · what I charge

Book a free 30-minute call →
Own or owned a PSP — or represent the franchisor?no appointment · read by a person

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. Franchisors: send corrections with the page reference and we will review them against the filing and update or annotate the page. Corrections are checked against the filings; nothing you write is published with your name unless you agree to it.

PSP franchise questions, answered from the filings

How many PSP franchised outlets left the system last year?

In PSP's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2024), 8 of 485 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 1.6% — compared with a 5.0% median across 6 comparable systems (pet stores) tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons" as the franchisor reported them; it excludes transfers to new owners. The FDD does not say why each outlet left, and an exit is not the same as a failure.

How much does a PSP franchise cost?

Per PSP's 2025 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $49,900 (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $541K–$2.0M (Item 7).

What royalty does PSP charge?

PSP charges an ongoing royalty of 3.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2025 FDD.

Does PSP disclose earnings (Item 19)?

Yes — PSP makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2025 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.