Take 5 Oil Change

Take 5's investment range of $912K to $2.05M is the highest entry point in the automotive services comparison. The wide range reflects two scenarios: a conversion of an existing oil change facility (lower end) versus a ground-up build with covered bays, fluid management infrastructure, and all associated mechanical and signage costs (higher end). The franchise fee structure is not explicitly specified as a single amount in the extraction — the investment figures reflect the total commitment.

The ongoing fee structure is the defining financial risk: 7% royalty on weekly gross sales plus a 5% marketing fund contribution — 12% combined. This is higher than Grease Monkey (6.5%), Jiffy Lube, Valvoline (~10%), and Big O Tires (7.85%). At average revenues of $1.38M, a Take 5 franchisee pays $165,600 annually in royalties and marketing fund contributions. At the median of $1.33M, it's $159,600.

For context on what 12% means in practice: on a $1.3M revenue center with 40% cost of goods, $1.3M in COGS leaves $780K in gross profit. After the $156K in franchisor fees, you have $624K to cover rent, labor, utilities, and debt service on a $1M-$2M investment. The math works at strong revenue levels but leaves little margin for underperformance.

Take 5's Item 19 is based on 298 affiliate-owned (company-operated) centers that were open at least one full year during fiscal 2024. The average gross revenue: $1,384,790. Median: $1,327,808. Top quartile average: $1,946,614. Bottom quartile average: $960,742.

The critical disclosure: this data comes entirely from affiliate-owned centers, not from franchisee-owned ones. As of the FDD filing date, Take 5 had 1,142 total units — but the franchisee revenue performance is not separately disclosed. Company-operated centers may benefit from preferred site selection, centralized management resources, and operational efficiencies not available to individual franchisees. A franchisee entering today cannot reliably benchmark their expected performance against company-center data alone.

The 69 excluded ground-up centers (open less than one full year) and 341 acquired centers in the exclusion footnotes suggest the 298-center sample is specifically selected to show mature center performance rather than a representative system-wide view.

Take 5 has grown from 807 units in 2022 to 968 in 2023 to 1,142 in 2024 — adding 335 locations in two years, the strongest absolute unit growth of any brand in the automotive category. The system is backed by Driven Brands (the largest automotive services company in the world, also owning Maaco, Meineke, and Carstar), which provides substantial infrastructure and brand investment support.

Rapid growth of this scale carries execution risk: site quality, franchisee selection, and support resources can all be strained by 335 new locations in 24 months. The question is whether the system's support infrastructure has kept pace with its unit count expansion.

The 12% combined fee burden is the highest in the automotive services category on this site — and arguably in the entire franchise universe for a service business without extraordinary Item 19 disclosure to justify it. The Item 19 data being affiliate-only (not franchisee performance) makes it impossible to assess whether franchisees are actually generating returns that support the 12% fee burden.

Driven Brands went through significant financial restructuring in 2023-2024, including debt management challenges across its portfolio. While Take 5 has been a growth bright spot within the portfolio, the broader Driven Brands financial position is worth monitoring as it affects corporate investment in brand support, marketing, and development infrastructure.