Verified — real FDD extraction
Not found in the SBA Franchise Directory under this name — though SBA loans to its franchisees exist; verify eligibility with your lender
Set the Stage
Other · independent · est. —
Set the Stage is a home staging franchise that furnishes and styles vacant and occupied homes to help them sell. A franchisee manages a furniture inventory and staging team, working with real estate agents, home sellers, and builders on staging contracts, with revenue from staging fees and monthly rentals.
Set the Stage net unit count grew +850.0% from 2023–2025 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
This system grew to 113 franchised units from a base of 1 — the record looks clean because very few units have been exposed for very long, not because many have survived. Median SBA time-to-default is about 61 months; this system has not lived through that window at scale. Judge the disclosures, not a verdict.
Exit rate · latest year
0.0%
fiscal 2025, per Item 20
Cost to open
$204K–$261K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
Too few resolved
26 loans exist; too few resolved to rate
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
2023–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 0 of 48 franchised outlets left the system — a 0.0% annualized exit rate. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 2 | 12 | 49 |
| Opened | 10 | 37 | 65 |
| Transfers | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Outlets at end | 12 | 49 | 114 |
| Net change | +10 | +37 | +65 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 26 SBA-backed loans to Set the Stage franchisees since 2024. Most are still open, so there is not yet a resolved cohort large enough to rate.
—
0 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$237,531
what recent franchisees borrowed
—
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
—
distinct banks lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO SET THE STAGE BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
A typical Set the Stage buyer since 2020 borrowed $238K through SBA — about $38K a year in debt service. Against the brand's own disclosed median unit revenue of $567K, that is 6.7% of every dollar the store takes in — before rent, payroll, food, or royalty.
Who finances it
United Midwest Savings Bank National Association
65.4% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 35.1% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.
Who buys it
Too few identified operators
Does experience help here?
Not enough resolved loans to split
Computed from 26 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to Set the Stage 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 $60K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $204K–$261K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$204K–$261K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$60K
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 Set the Stage with an independent CPAModeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
The public record puts this brand toward the middle of the systems we score — but the evidence is thin, so treat it as a range, not a number.
Risk percentile (range)
30–54 / 100
Directional
Modeled SBA charge-off
11.5%
Observed SBA charge-off
no resolved cohort
Top drivers: Share financed by high-loss lenders (raises) · Net unit growth (lowers) · Single-lender dependence (lowers) · Item 20 exit rate (lowers). Thin loan history — treat this as a range, not a number. 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
Multiple student government lawsuits set the stage for the coming year
news:Daily Tar Heel · 5mo ago
How federal layoffs set the stage for greater privatization and automation of the US government
news:Brookings · 19mo ago
9 questions to ask a Set the Stage 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 Set the Stage has actually disclosed — each one carries the number it came from, so you can tell whether the answer squares with the record.
- 01
1 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
- 02
Item 7 says the low end to open is $204K, but the average recent SBA loan to a Set the Stage franchisee was $238K. 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+
- 03
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
- 04
Set the Stage 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
- 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
- 06
Item 3 discloses 1 legal matter. Do you know what those were about, and were any brought by franchisees?
Franchisee-brought suits over territory, fees or support tell you how the franchisor behaves when there's a disagreement.
FDD Item 3 · 2026
- 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 Set the Stage’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 Set the Stage'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.
Set the Stage franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of Set the Stage franchises closed last year?
In Set the Stage's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 0 of 48 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 0.0%. 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 Set the Stage franchise cost?
Per Set the Stage's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $60K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $204K–$261K (Item 7).
What royalty does Set the Stage charge?
Set the Stage charges an ongoing royalty of 6.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does Set the Stage disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — Set the Stage makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $567K. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.