Sport Clips vs Supercuts franchise USA 2026: is the $51K investment gap worth it?
Supercuts is the lighter bet on entry — $186K vs $237K (about $51K less). Sport Clips runs the bigger network at 1702 vs 1701 outlets.
01 What actually matters
Numbers that separate them on a 5-year horizon — not the franchise-development pitch.
Sport Clips is expanding fastest here — 52 outlets per year since founding in 1993. High-velocity brands signal momentum but also mean new territory for individual franchisees gets handed out quickly; lock in your preferred area early.
One-time franchise fees are worth noting (FDD Item 5): Sport Clips charges $70K upfront on top of the setup capex. This is a non-refundable sunk cost before revenue begins — bake it into your at-risk capital calculation.
02 The numbers, visualised
Primary format per brand, from FDD Item 7. A brand's smaller express or non-traditional formats can cost materially less.
Initial investment (FDD Item 7)
Total initial investment, low end of each brand's FDD Item 7 range for its primary format. Several US brands also run smaller express, non-traditional or conversion formats at materially lower investment — check the brand page for the full Item 7 table.
Network scale — total outlets
Total US outlets from FDD Item 20. Bigger networks mean more brand recognition and supplier scale; smaller ones mean less intra-brand competition in your trade area.
Customer ratings
Which brand's outlets are rated higher by customers, aggregated across locations. Exact star rating and review volume are in Brand Health.
Direction only — the underlying rating & review count are Pro data.
03 Side-by-side
Straight from each brand’s FDD. Green badge marks the more favourable value for a typical first-time operator.
| Metric | Sport Clips | Supercuts |
|---|---|---|
| Initial investment (Item 7) | $237K | $186K ↓ Lower |
| Royalty (Item 6) | 6% | 6% |
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Min space (sq ft) | 1000 | 900 ↓ Smaller |
| Total US outlets (Item 20) | 1702 ↑ Bigger | 1701 |
| Franchise fee (Item 5) | $70K | $40K ↓ Lower |
| Additional funds | — | — |
Not sure if Sport Clips or Supercuts actually fits *you*?
BrandFit asks 6 visual questions about your operator profile, capital, and location — then ranks all 184 brands by predicted success-fit for your situation. See where these brands really stand for someone like you.
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04 Explore these brands in depth
Same data plus the full FDD breakdown, fee load, contract fairness and SBA lending picture — free on every brand page.
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05 Frequently asked
Wrapped in FAQPage JSON-LD for SERP rich-result eligibility.
What is the cheapest Beauty & Personal Care franchise in the US?
The lowest-investment option here is Supercuts starting from $186K. Remember this is the LOW end of the brand's FDD Item 7 initial-investment range — Item 7's high end is the number to plan against, and it sits before the working capital you burn until the unit turns over.
How do Beauty & Personal Care franchises pay out — revenue share or fixed margin?
US Beauty & Personal Care franchisors almost always take a percentage of gross sales, not a share of profit — so the fee is due whether or not the unit is profitable. FDD Item 6 lists the full stack: royalty (commonly 4–8%), a national advertising fund (1–4%), technology fees, and often a local-marketing minimum. Add them together before modelling take-home; the headline royalty is rarely the whole load.
Do these Beauty & Personal Care franchises offer territorial rights?
Territory is FDD Item 12, and it is where Beauty & Personal Care franchisors differ most. Some grant a protected radius or a defined trade area; many grant no exclusivity at all and reserve the right to open company units, non-traditional locations or e-commerce channels inside your area. Read Item 12 word for word — "protected territory" and "exclusive territory" are not the same thing — then ask existing franchisees whether the brand has honoured it.
Can I own multiple Beauty & Personal Care franchises?
Yes — multi-unit ownership is the norm in mature US Beauty & Personal Care systems, and most franchisors sell it as an area development agreement: a fee paid up front for the right to open N units on a fixed schedule inside a defined territory. The terms sit in FDD Items 5 and 12. Miss the development schedule and the franchisor can usually reclaim the territory, so treat the schedule as a covenant, not a target.
How long does it take to break even on a Beauty & Personal Care franchise?
Payback on a Beauty & Personal Care franchise in the US typically runs 24–48 months, depending on site traffic, build-out cost, and the royalty plus ad-fund load in FDD Item 6. The brands on this page start at $186K of initial investment (Item 7); pair that with the brand's Item 19 financial performance representation, where one is published, to model your own payback instead of relying on a franchise-development pitch.