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
Club Z!
Other · independent · est. —
Club Z! is an in-home and online tutoring franchise serving K-12 students and test-prep clients. Franchisees run a home-based business, recruiting contract tutors and matching them with local families.
Club Z! net unit count grew +4.1% from 2017–2019 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: owners who leave mostly sell rather than fail.
Exit rate · latest year
3.9%
fiscal 2019, per Item 20
Cost to open
$31K–$50K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
13.0%
23 loans resolved — directional only
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
2017–2019
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2019, 15 of 385 franchised outlets left the system — a 3.9% annualized exit rate. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 383 | 368 | 385 |
| Opened | 56 | 54 | 38 |
| Transfers | 15 | 16 | 27 |
| Terminations | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 8 | 12 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 71 | 27 | 35 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Outlets at end | 368 | 385 | 383 |
| Net change | -15 | +17 | -2 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 34 SBA-backed loans to Club Z! franchisees since 2004. Only 23 have resolved so far — too thin for a reliable default rate, but 3 of them charged off.
—
23 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$77,842
what recent franchisees borrowed
72 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
3 vs 6
distinct banks — pulling back
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
Loan performance by state
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO CLUB Z! BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
Who finances it
Celtic Bank Corporation
14.7% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 26.9% 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 34 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to Club Z! 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 $20K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $31K–$50K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$31K–$50K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$20K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
8%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$80K
8% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$800K
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 Club Z! with an independent CPAModeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
Modeled from the public record, this brand looks riskier than 89% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
89 / 100
Loan-corroborated
Modeled SBA charge-off
19.5%
Observed SBA charge-off
13.0%
Top drivers: Investment ceiling (log) (raises) · Share financed by high-loss lenders (raises) · System size (log units) (lowers) · Single-lender dependence (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
No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for Club Z!. 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 Club Z!'s numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →Club Z! franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of Club Z! franchises closed last year?
In Club Z!'s latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2019), 15 of 385 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 3.9%. 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 Club Z! franchise cost?
Per Club Z!'s 2020 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $20K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $31K–$50K (Item 7).
What royalty does Club Z! charge?
Club Z! charges an ongoing royalty of 8.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2020 FDD.
Does Club Z! disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — Club Z! makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2020 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.