Verified — real FDD extraction
SBA-eligible · directory code S1485 since 2017
Snelling
Business Services · independent · est. —
Snelling is a staffing agency that recruits and places workers in temporary, temp-to-hire, and permanent jobs across fields like office, industrial, and professional roles. It connects job seekers with employers needing staff. A franchisee operates a staffing office, building employer relationships and recruiting and placing candidates.
Snelling net unit count grew 0.0% from 2022–2024 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 & 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.
Exit rate · latest year
6.4%
vs 8.1% across 28 business services systems
Cost to open
$45K–$148K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
10.5%
19 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
2022–2024
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2024, 5 of 78 franchised outlets left the system — a 6.4% annualized exit rate, vs 8.1% across 28 business services systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 68 | 77 | 79 |
| Opened | 8 | 4 | 3 |
| Transfers | 4 | 8 | 2 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Outlets at end | 77 | 79 | 77 |
| Net change | +9 | +2 | -2 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 22 SBA-backed loans to Snelling franchisees since 1993. Only 19 have resolved so far — too thin for a reliable default rate, but 2 of them charged off.
—
19 resolved · too thin to rate
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$185,609
what recent franchisees borrowed
88 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
0 vs 2
distinct banks — pulling back
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO SNELLING 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 total investment of $45K–$148K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes no earnings claim (Item 19) — ask current and former franchisees for real numbers.
To open (Item 7)
$45K–$148K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
—
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
—
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — this brand discloses no Item 19 earnings; validate with current & former owners.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$0
0% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$0
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 Snelling with an independent CPALabor record
US Dept. of Labor enforcement · franchisee-level · FY2005–present
Federal investigators have concluded 9 wage cases against operators of this system, recovering $10K in back wages for 11 workers. Some of these cases are recent, not ancient history. These cases name franchisee-owned locations, not the franchisor itself.
Concluded cases
9
Back wages owed
$10K
Employees affected
11
Since 2020
1
Read this carefully. The employers in these cases are individual Snelling franchisees — separately owned businesses operating under the brand name — not Snelling 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 2023.
Modeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
Modeled from the public record, this brand sits mid-pack: riskier than 72% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
72 / 100
Loan-corroborated
Modeled SBA charge-off
15.9%
Observed SBA charge-off
10.5%
Top drivers: Investment ceiling (log) (raises) · System size (log units) (raises) · Net unit growth (raises) · Item 20 exit rate (lowers). 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
CourtListener/RECAP · 10mo ago
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Snelling's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →Snelling franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of Snelling franchises closed last year?
In Snelling's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2024), 5 of 78 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 6.4% — compared with 8.1% across 28 business services 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 Snelling franchise cost?
Per Snelling's 2025 FDD, buying in requires a total initial investment of $45K–$148K (Item 7).
Does Snelling disclose earnings (Item 19)?
No — Snelling's 2025 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.