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
FASTEST LABS
Other · independent · est. —
Fastest Labs is a testing-services company providing drug, alcohol, and DNA testing for employers and individuals. A franchisee operates a small office-based collection lab, serving local businesses that need employment screening along with walk-in customers.
FASTEST LABS net unit count grew +33.3% 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
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 main concern in the record: owners are leaving at a high rate.
Exit rate · latest year
8.3%
fiscal 2025, per Item 20
Cost to open
$131K–$200K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
18.2%
11 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
2023–2025
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2025, 19 of 229 franchised outlets left the system — a 8.3% 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 | 93 | 183 | 230 |
| Opened | 94 | 65 | 35 |
| Transfers | 17 | 22 | 28 |
| Terminations | 2 | 18 | 19 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Outlets at end | 183 | 230 | 244 |
| Net change | +90 | +47 | +14 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 38 SBA-backed loans to FASTEST LABS franchisees since 2017. Only 11 have resolved so far — too thin for a reliable default rate, but 2 of them charged off.
—
11 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$159,351
what recent franchisees borrowed
56 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
14 vs 7
distinct banks still lending
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 FASTEST LABS BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
A typical FASTEST LABS buyer since 2020 borrowed $159K through SBA — about $25K a year in debt service. Against the brand's own disclosed median unit revenue of $127K, that is 19.5% of every dollar the store takes in — before rent, payroll, food, or royalty.
Who finances it
United Midwest Savings Bank National Association
23.7% 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
52.9%
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 38 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to FASTEST LABS 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 $131K–$200K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$131K–$200K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$60K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
7%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$70K
7% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$700K
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 FASTEST LABS with an independent CPAModeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
The public record puts this brand toward the riskier end of the systems we score — but the evidence is thin, so treat it as a range, not a number.
Risk percentile (range)
74–98 / 100
Directional
Modeled SBA charge-off
18.5%
Observed SBA charge-off
18.2%
Top drivers: Share financed by high-loss lenders (raises) · Investment ceiling (log) (raises) · Item 3 litigation (log) (raises) · System size (log units) (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 FASTEST LABS. 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 FASTEST LABS's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →FASTEST LABS franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of FASTEST LABS franchises closed last year?
In FASTEST LABS's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2025), 19 of 229 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 8.3%. 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 FASTEST LABS franchise cost?
Per FASTEST LABS's 2026 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $60K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $131K–$200K (Item 7).
What royalty does FASTEST LABS charge?
FASTEST LABS charges an ongoing royalty of 7.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2026 FDD.
Does FASTEST LABS disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — FASTEST LABS makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2026 FDD, reporting a median unit volume of $127K. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.