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
Vision Source
Health & Wellness · independent · est. —
Vision Source is a network of independently owned optometry practices that affiliate under a common brand for group purchasing, vendor programs, and practice support. A franchisee is a licensed optometrist who continues to run their own practice while paying a modest royalty for network membership.
Vision Source net unit count grew +10.6% from 2014–2016 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
Proven & steady
Distress
A real track record with an unremarkable region of the ledger: neither the growth nor the exits stand out, for better or worse. The main concern in the record: too many owners are failing outright rather than selling.
Exit rate · latest year
4.6%
vs 9.6% across 37 health & wellness systems
Cost to open
$52K–$224K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
Too few resolved
6 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
2014–2016
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2016, 150 of 3,262 franchised outlets left the system — a 4.6% annualized exit rate, vs 9.6% across 37 health & wellness systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 2,797 | 3,023 | 3,262 |
| Opened | 352 | 374 | 232 |
| Transfers | 42 | 28 | 23 |
| Terminations | 34 | 38 | 70 |
| Non-renewals | 41 | 25 | 44 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 51 | 72 | 36 |
| Outlets at end | 3,023 | 3,262 | 3,344 |
| Net change | +226 | +239 | +82 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 6 SBA-backed loans to Vision Source franchisees since 2006. Most are still open, so there is not yet a resolved cohort large enough to rate.
—
5 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$366,316
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 VISION SOURCE BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $0 franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $52K–$224K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes no earnings claim (Item 19) — ask current and former franchisees for real numbers.
To open (Item 7)
$52K–$224K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$0
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
2.65%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — this brand discloses no Item 19 earnings; validate with current & former owners.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$27K
2.65% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$265K
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 Vision Source with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 8 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $12K in back wages for 34 workers. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
8
Back wages owed
$12K
Employees affected
34
Since 2020
0
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual Vision Source franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not Vision Source itself. The franchisor is not the respondent and in most cases is not a party. What the record shows is how this system's operators run their payrolls, which is worth knowing before you become one of them. Counts rise with system size and with age: a 20-year-old, 10,000-unit system will out-count a young one regardless of conduct. Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division concluded compliance actions, FY2005–present, most recent finding 2017.
Modeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
The public record puts this brand toward the safer end of the systems we score — but the evidence is thin, so treat it as a range, not a number.
Risk percentile (range)
7–31 / 100
Directional
Modeled SBA charge-off
8.5%
Observed SBA charge-off
0.0%
Top drivers: System size (log units) (lowers) · Investment ceiling (log) (raises) · Royalty rate (raises) · 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
No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for Vision Source. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Vision Source's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →Vision Source franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of Vision Source franchises closed last year?
In Vision Source's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2016), 150 of 3,262 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 4.6% — compared with 9.6% across 37 health & wellness 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 Vision Source franchise cost?
Per Vision Source's 2017 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $0 (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $52K–$224K (Item 7).
What royalty does Vision Source charge?
Vision Source charges an ongoing royalty of 2.6% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2017 FDD.
Does Vision Source disclose earnings (Item 19)?
No — Vision Source's 2017 FDD makes no financial performance representation in Item 19. That is legal and common, but it means the franchisor publishes no earnings claim; ask current franchisees for real numbers.