FRANCHISE·WATCH·DESK

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

THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD)

Health & Wellness · independent · est. —

The Joint Chiropractic operates walk-in chiropractic clinics offering routine spinal adjustments on an affordable, membership and package basis without insurance billing or appointments. Clinics are small and staffed by licensed chiropractors. A franchisee runs a clinic, handling staffing, memberships, and front-desk operations.

THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD) net unit count grew 0.0% from 20212023 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

Too new to judge

Distress

0
STABLE

23 franchised units over 3 disclosed years is not a track record — systems this early have realized only a fraction of their eventual failures. Judge the disclosures, not a verdict.

Exit rate · latest year

0.0%

vs 9.6% across 37 health & wellness systems

Cost to open

$166K–$551K

Item 7 total investment range

SBA loan defaults

8.5%

vs 14.8% avg across rated brands

Behind the verdict

the record, factor by factor · Item 20

hi-1.0.0
Net unit growth35%

3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1

Fair
Exit quality25%

terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3

Strong
Transfer / churn15%

transfers vs. base · Table 3

Strong
Promise-keeping10%

actual vs. projected openings · Table 5

Not Disc.
Transparency15%

Item 19 disclosure + completeness

Weak

Systemwide units

2021–2023

0.0%
262021262022262023

Survival record

FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year

In fiscal 2023, 0 of 19 franchised outlets left the system — a 0.0% annualized exit rate, vs 9.6% across 37 health & wellness systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.

Show the outlet tables
Status (FTC)202120222023
Outlets at start272626
Opened000
Transfers000
Terminations000
Non-renewals000
Reacquired by franchisor141
Ceased — other reasons000
Outlets at end262626
Net change-100

The lender's view

SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present

Banks have made 156 SBA-backed loans to THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD) franchisees since 2013. Of the 47 that have resolved, 8.5% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.

Charge-off rate

8.5%

4 of 47 resolved defaulted

Loss given default

68.9%

avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $

Expected loss

5.9%

default rate × loss severity

Avg. loan · FY2020+

$337,828

what recent franchisees borrowed

Median time to default

70 mo

approval → charge-off, defaulted loans

Lenders · FY21+ vs FY16–20

31 vs 8

distinct banks still lending

Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)

8'18300'210'22

SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD) BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL

The owner's side of the deal

FDD × federal loan record

Who finances it

Simmons Bank

30.1% of this brand's loans

That lender charges off 11.5% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.

Who buys it

64.6%

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 156 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD) 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 total investment of $166K–$551K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes no earnings claim (Item 19) — ask current and former franchisees for real numbers.

To open (Item 7)

$166K–$551K

all-in investment range

Franchise fee (Item 5)

upfront, one-time

Royalty (Item 6)

of sales, ongoing

If a unit does this in annual sales…$1M/yr

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 THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD) with an independent CPA

Modeled risk

FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record

Elevated

Modeled from the public record, this brand sits mid-pack: riskier than 65% of systems we score.

Risk percentile

65 / 100

Loan-corroborated

Modeled SBA charge-off

14.9%

Observed SBA charge-off

8.5%

Top drivers: System size (log units) (raises) · Share financed by high-loss lenders (lowers) · Item 20 exit rate (lowers) · 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

No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD). That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.

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THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD) franchise questions, answered from the filings

What percentage of THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD) franchises closed last year?

In THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD)'s latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2023), 0 of 19 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 0.0% — compared with 9.6% across 37 health & wellness 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 THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD) franchise cost?

Per THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD)'s 2024 FDD, buying in requires a total initial investment of $166K–$551K (Item 7).

Does THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD) disclose earnings (Item 19)?

No — THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD)'s 2024 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.

How often do SBA loans for THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD) franchises default?

Across 156 SBA-backed loans to THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD) franchisees since 2013, 4 of the 47 that have resolved were charged off — a 8.5% 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.

Is THE JOINT CHIROPRACTIC (RD) a good franchise to buy? Health score, exit rate & costs (2026) · Franchise Watch Desk