Verified — real FDD extraction
SBA-eligible · directory code S1905 since 2017
WAXING THE CITY
Beauty & Personal Care · independent · est. —
Waxing the City is a salon franchise specializing in face and body hair removal through waxing, staffed by trained estheticians ('cerologists'). It focuses solely on waxing services on an appointment and membership basis. A franchisee operates a waxing studio, hiring licensed estheticians and managing client bookings.
WAXING THE CITY net unit count grew +20.0% from 2021–2024 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. 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 & strong
Distress
Enough units and history to judge, and the record is good: growing or stable units with clean exits by the standards of its disclosed record. The standout in the record: the system is growing.
Exit rate · latest year
10.0%
vs 5.4% across 23 beauty & personal care systems
Cost to open
$325K–$604K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
17.4%
vs 14.8% avg across rated brands
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
2021–2024
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2024, 15 of 150 franchised outlets left the system — a 10.0% annualized exit rate, vs 5.4% across 23 beauty & personal care 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 115 | 125 | 139 | 150 |
| Opened | 11 | 15 | 22 | 15 |
| Transfers | 5 | 7 | 8 | 10 |
| Terminations | 1 | 0 | 4 | 15 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Outlets at end | 125 | 139 | 150 | 150 |
| Net change | +10 | +14 | +11 | 0 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 124 SBA-backed loans to WAXING THE CITY franchisees since 2013. Of the 46 that have resolved, 17.4% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.
17.4%
8 of 46 resolved defaulted
68.9%
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
12.0%
default rate × loss severity
$372,793
what recent franchisees borrowed
46 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
23 vs 21
distinct banks still lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO WAXING THE CITY BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
Who finances it
Platinum Bank
20.2% of this brand's loans
Who buys it
54.6%
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 124 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to WAXING THE CITY 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 $43K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $325K–$604K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$325K–$604K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$43K
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 WAXING THE CITY 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 48% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
48 / 100
Loan-corroborated
Modeled SBA charge-off
12.2%
Observed SBA charge-off
17.4%
Top drivers: Share financed by high-loss lenders (lowers) · Single-lender dependence (raises) · Item 20 exit rate (raises) · Net unit growth (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
Franchise litigation docket: Ariza v. Waxing The City Worldwide, LLC (District Court, S.D. Florida)
CourtListener/RECAP · 24mo ago
CourtListener/RECAP · 25mo ago
Franchise litigation docket: Smith v. Waxing The City Franchisor LLC (District Court, M.D. Florida)
CourtListener/RECAP · 29mo ago
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing WAXING THE CITY's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →WAXING THE CITY franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of WAXING THE CITY franchises closed last year?
In WAXING THE CITY's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2024), 15 of 150 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 10.0% — compared with 5.4% across 23 beauty & personal care 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 WAXING THE CITY franchise cost?
Per WAXING THE CITY's 2024 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $43K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $325K–$604K (Item 7).
What royalty does WAXING THE CITY charge?
WAXING THE CITY charges an ongoing royalty of 6.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2024 FDD.
Does WAXING THE CITY disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — WAXING THE CITY makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2024 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.
How often do SBA loans for WAXING THE CITY franchises default?
Across 124 SBA-backed loans to WAXING THE CITY franchisees since 2013, 8 of the 46 that have resolved were charged off — a 17.4% default rate, versus about 14.8% across all rated franchise brands. This is the lender's-eye view of franchisee failure, drawn from public SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA data and independent of the franchisor's own disclosures.