On September 14, VIO Med Spa announced its first franchise agreement in New York City, a Queens location co-owned by a dermatologist. It was the latest of more than 18 agreements the company says it has signed so far this year, at a brand Entrepreneur has ranked the number one med spa franchise for three years running.
Now read the number underneath the headline. In its 2023 disclosure document, VIO estimated that opening one spa would cost between $941,753 and $1,329,232. In the 2026 document the range is $642,722 to $1,109,954. The low end fell by nearly a third in three years.
A franchisor that cuts the price of admission by that much has either fixed something or removed something a buyer will miss. The filings show which line items moved, and this page follows them. It then follows the same brand through the rest of the stack: who owns the franchisor, what units report selling, how quickly the system really opens locations, how the deal gets financed, and what a landlord is signing when a med spa takes the space.
The short version. VIO is a real, sponsor-backed system that is growing and getting cheaper to open. Its disclosed average unit sold about $1.3 million in 2025, the top quartile about $2.3 million, and a 6 percent royalty plus a 1.5 percent brand fund come off every dollar of sales. The public summaries of the filing do not show what an owner keeps. The price cut moved capital out of the opening budget and into a later, membership-gated equipment schedule, which is a design choice worth understanding before signing anything.
VIO Med Spa at a glance
| Item | Figure | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| Franchisor | VIO Franchise Group, LLC, an Ohio company formed January 30, 2018. Parent: VIO Holdings, LLC | FDD summary |
| Concept and history | Founded 2017 in Strongsville, Ohio. Franchising since 2018. Headquarters moved to Nashville, Tennessee in January 2026 | Company releases and trade press |
| Ownership | Freeman Spogli majority stake (September 2024). Founders hold minority stakes | Freeman Spogli release, September 16, 2024 |
| Units | 65 units in 20 states. More than 175 territories open, sold or in development | Franchise Times, August 2026. Company release, May 2026 |
| Franchise fee | $50,000 | 2026 FDD, as stated by VIO |
| Ongoing fees | 6% royalty on gross sales, 1.5% brand development fund (up to 2% permitted) | VIO franchise site. 2023 FDD summary |
| Total initial investment | $642,722 to $1,109,954 | 2026 FDD, per VIO and Franchise Times |
| Liquid capital and net worth | $500,000 liquid, $1.5 million net worth | VIO public page as reported August 2026 |
| Item 19 average sales | About $1.3 million across 51 operating franchised outlets in 2025. Top quartile average $2,320,621 | 2026 FDD issued March 13, 2026 |
| Recognition | Entrepreneur Franchise 500 rank 147 overall in 2026, and first among med spa franchises for a third year | Company releases |
Figures as of September 29, 2026. Each figure carries the filing year or announcement date it came from, because a franchise number quoted without a date is worth nothing.
Who owns the franchisor, and what that means for a buyer
Two outside investors shaped the system. Tucker’s Farm Corporation took a significant minority position in July 2022, when VIO had 12 franchised spas and one corporate spa. Freeman Spogli, a private equity firm founded in 1983 that reports investing $5.8 billion across 71 companies, took a majority stake on September 16, 2024. The management team stayed in place: Ryan Rose as chief executive, Ryan Rao as chief development officer, and Christina McCrossin as chief operating officer and general counsel. Founders Joe and Nick Stanoszek and Dr. Harish Kakarala kept minority stakes.
The origin story is unusually plain for a franchisor. Rose and Rao, who had run a franchise development firm, spotted med spas in late 2016 as a fragmented category with no scaled franchise player, and in 2017 partnered with a single spa in Strongsville, Ohio that they planned to franchise. That single location is now the one corporate flagship of a national system.
A sponsor-backed franchisor is built to grow the royalty stream, which is the dynamic our franchise standard describes when it separates buying the franchisor from buying the franchisee. In October 2024 the chief executive told Franchise Times the team concluded it needed outside capital to take more than 200 units in development to their grand openings. None of that is a warning. It does frame the two questions a buyer should ask: whether franchisee support is keeping pace with the opening schedule, and how long the sponsor expects to hold the brand.
What it costs to open one, and which line items moved
Three disclosure documents, three different price tags. The table below sets the same line items side by side.
| Line item | 2023 FDD | 2025 FDD | 2026 FDD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total initial investment | $941,753 to $1,329,232 | $794,261 to $1,231,677 | $642,722 to $1,109,954 |
| Franchise fee | $50,000 | $50,000 | $50,000 |
| Construction and leasehold improvements | $285,000 to $425,000 | $240,000 to $420,000 | Being confirmed |
| Furniture, fixtures and equipment | $314,621 to $473,621 | $293,246 to $432,001 | $133,707 to $335,000 |
| Initial inventory | $99,982 to $124,977 | $36,437 to $44,289 | $36,437 to $44,289 cited, with a further cut of about one third expected |
| Technology and booking systems | Not compared | $29,028 to $32,762 | Being confirmed |
| Working capital reserve | Not compared | $40,000 to $120,000 | Being confirmed |
2023 column from a public summary of the 2023 FDD. 2025 column from VIO’s own cost breakdown published May 2025. 2026 column from Franchise Times, August 2026, and VIO’s public statements citing the 2026 FDD. Cells marked as being confirmed are not yet reconciled to the filed document.
Furniture, fixtures and equipment carried most of the cut. The low end of that line fell from $314,621 in 2023 to $133,707 in 2026, a drop of 57 percent, and the high end fell from $473,621 to $335,000, a drop of 29 percent. The total fell 32 percent at the low end and 17 percent at the high end.
The company’s explanation is a new prototype and a phased purchasing plan. The prototype shrinks the footprint from 2,000 to 2,500 square feet with seven to nine treatment rooms to 1,500 to 2,000 square feet with five to seven rooms. The first one opened in Zionsville, Indiana. All future locations will use it, and existing owners can buy optional retrofit packages. VIO also negotiated national vendor agreements and cut required starting inventory by about a third based on opening data.
The change with the most consequence is the benchmark. A location now grows to 300 or 500 members before the owner gets the opportunity to buy secondary and tertiary service equipment. The idea is that the membership base creates the payback on the new devices, and that a seasoned team is ready to sell them.
That is a sensible design if the benchmark is reached. It also means the capital did not disappear. It moved from the opening budget to a later purchase, and a location that ramps slowly arrives at that purchase later. Two questions belong in every franchisee call: are those devices optional or required once the benchmark is met, and what does the franchise agreement say about timing.
What did not move is the fee stack. The franchise fee is $50,000 and non-refundable. The royalty is 6 percent of gross sales, with a fixed weekly fee alternative described in the 2023 document. The brand development fund is currently 1.5 percent, with room to rise to 2 percent. The 2023 document also required local marketing spend of 6 percent of sales, reducible to 4 percent, and VIO’s own cost breakdown budgets roughly $50,000 for grand opening marketing. Confirm all of it against the current agreement.
What a VIO unit reports selling
VIO publishes an Item 19, which is the first thing to say in its favor. Many franchisors publish nothing. The 2026 document, issued March 13, 2026, reports calendar 2025 gross sales for 51 operating franchised outlets, of which 16 operate as a spa and 35 operate as a spa management business.
| Item 19 measure | Figure | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Average gross sales, all operating outlets | About $1.3 million | 2026 FDD, calendar 2025, 51 outlets |
| Top quartile average gross sales | $2,320,621 | 2026 FDD, Item 19 Table 2 |
| Implied average of the other three quartiles | About $960,000 | Investment Grade Research arithmetic from the two figures above, assuming four equal quartiles |
| 2022 average, median | $1,521,237 average, $1,174,054 median | 2023 FDD, nine outlets |
| 2021 average, median | $1,464,733 average, $1,187,230 median | 2023 FDD, seven outlets |
Three readings matter. First, the spread. If the top quartile averages $2.32 million and the whole system averages $1.3 million, the other three quartiles average roughly $960,000. The headline average is a blend of two very different businesses. VIO’s own disclosure notes that some outlets have earned the top quartile figure and that individual results may differ.
Second, the trend cannot be read from these numbers. The 2022 average of $1.52 million came from nine mature outlets and the 2025 average of $1.3 million came from 51. The 14 percent difference reflects a much wider mix of new and older locations, not a same-store decline.
Third, context. The American Med Spa Association reports average annual revenue of $1,398,833 per med spa in 2024, and that 81 percent of med spas are single locations. A $1.3 million franchise average sits close to that industry figure, about 7 percent below it, while the top quartile sits about 66 percent above it. The definitions differ, so treat this as a sanity check rather than a comparison. The point is that a brand’s advantage, if there is one, shows up in the upper quartile.
What the fee stack and a 25 percent return actually require
Item 19 reports sales. It does not report what an owner keeps, and third-party summaries of the filing list no expense or profit figures. Two pieces of arithmetic fill part of the gap using only disclosed numbers.
The first is the fee stack. Royalty plus brand fund take 7.5 percent of gross sales before rent, payroll, medical director costs, product or marketing.
| Annual gross sales | Royalty at 6% | Brand fund at 1.5% | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| $960,000 (approximate lower three quartiles) | $57,600 | $14,400 | $72,000 |
| $1,300,000 (system average) | $78,000 | $19,500 | $97,500 |
| $2,320,621 (top quartile) | $139,237 | $34,809 | $174,046 |
The second is the return math behind the roughly 25 percent cash on cash figure that franchise media loves to quote. A 25 percent unlevered return on the total investment requires a specific amount of owner cash flow, and that amount is a very different share of sales depending on where a unit lands.
| Total investment | Cash flow needed for 25% | As share of $960,000 sales | As share of $1.3 million sales | As share of $2.32 million sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $642,722 (low end) | $160,681 | 16.7% | 12.4% | 6.9% |
| $876,338 (midpoint) | $219,085 | 22.8% | 16.9% | 9.4% |
| $1,109,954 (high end) | $277,489 | 28.9% | 21.3% | 12.0% |
Investment Grade Research arithmetic, not a VIO disclosure and not a projection. Cash flow is before debt service and before any owner compensation. Sales levels are the rounded Item 19 figures and the implied lower three quartiles.
Third-party industry summaries put med spa net margins somewhere between 15 and 25 percent, which is a benchmark for the category, not a VIO disclosure. Set against the table, a system-average unit at the midpoint investment needs roughly a 17 percent owner margin to clear 25 percent unlevered, which is inside that band. A unit in the lower three quartiles at the midpoint needs closer to 23 percent, which is at the very top of it. Whether a given owner reaches the top quartile is the whole question, and it is why the honest way to read a franchise return is by quartile, not by average.
How fast the system opens locations, and how many stay open
| Date | What was reported | Source |
|---|---|---|
| End of 2020 | 3 outlets (2 franchised, 1 company-owned) | 2023 FDD summary |
| July 2022 | 12 franchised and 1 corporate location | Tucker’s Farm investment coverage |
| End of 2022 | 17 outlets (15 franchised, 2 company-owned). 6 franchised openings that year. 35 agreements signed but not yet open | 2023 FDD summary |
| September 2024 | 47 locations in 16 states, including 3 corporate locations in Ohio | Freeman Spogli release |
| October 2024 | About 50 units, more than 200 in development | Franchise Times |
| Entering 2026 | 64 locations in 20 states. More than 175 territories open, sold or in development | Company release, May 2026 |
| August 2026 | 65 units in 20 states | Franchise Times |
| September 2026 | More than 18 new franchisees signed during 2026 | Company release, September 14, 2026 |
Two observations, one reassuring and one that deserves follow-up. The reassuring one: the only unit history we have verified in full, 2020 through 2022, shows one transfer and no terminations, non-renewals or reacquisitions. For a young system that is a clean start.
The follow-up: at the end of 2022, 35 agreements had been signed and only 17 outlets were open. The gap between agreements signed and locations operating is the stress indicator we care most about in Item 20, and it appears again in the public counts. The company reported 64 locations entering 2026 and press coverage cites 65 in August, while announcing more than 15 new agreements in the same period. Press counts are rounded and can lag, so this is an observation, not a finding. The Item 20 tables for 2023 through 2025 in the current filing are where a buyer should confirm it.
The ownership structure most buyers do not see coming
Of the 51 outlets in Item 19, 35 operate as a spa management business and 16 as a spa. That is 69 percent of the reporting units running under the management model, and the reason is regulatory.
In states that enforce the corporate practice of medicine, a non-physician cannot own the clinical practice. The workaround is a two-entity structure: a physician-owned professional entity that delivers care, and a management company owned by the franchisee that supplies the space, equipment, staff support, marketing and administration. Which structure applies depends on where the spa sits.
| State | Ownership rule for a med spa |
|---|---|
| Illinois | A person not licensed under the Medical Practice Act cannot have any part in ownership, management or control of the spa |
| California and Texas | Corporate practice of medicine doctrine applies. Non-physician owners use a management services structure |
| Minnesota | Professional firm structure with 100 percent of the clinical entity held by licensed professionals |
| Florida | No law or court decision prohibiting corporate practice of medicine, provided physicians supervise the medical side |
| Ohio | Legislature has declared the corporate practice of medicine doctrine no longer exists in the state |
Summaries from the American Med Spa Association and healthcare law firm publications. State law changes and every fact pattern differs. This is education, not legal advice. Every buyer needs healthcare counsel in the state where the spa will operate.
Every med spa needs a licensed medical director whether it is franchised or independent, and buying a franchise does not waive that. Four diligence questions follow. What share of the 35 management businesses sit in corporate practice states? Does the franchisor approve or supply the medical director? Is the Item 19 gross sales figure for a management business measured at the clinic level or as a management fee? And what does the franchise agreement say about who controls clinical protocols? None of these are accusations. They are the questions that separate a franchisee who understands the deal from one who learns it after signing.
Demand drivers deserve a sentence as well. The American Med Spa Association puts the US industry above $17 billion in annual revenue, growing by more than $1 billion a year, with about 10,488 locations counted in 2023. Weight management is the newest revenue line and the most regulated: after the FDA resolved semaglutide and tirzepatide shortages, the room to use compounded versions narrowed. VIO has added obesity medicine clinical expertise to its operator group, so a buyer should ask how much of a unit’s revenue depends on that category and what happens if drug sourcing rules tighten again.
How buyers finance it
Most franchise purchases of this size rely on an SBA 7(a) loan, which makes three facts central. The SBA reinstated its Franchise Directory effective June 1, 2025, and required franchisors to execute a new certification by June 30, 2026 or come off the list, which removes 7(a) eligibility for that brand’s buyers. Current rules generally call for a 10 percent equity injection on startups and full buyouts. And a new operating procedure, SOP 50 10 8.1, takes effect October 1, 2026, with a 1.25 times coverage test on acquisitions and a $3 million quality of earnings trigger. In May 2026 the SBA also announced that eligible borrowers can combine 7(a) and 504 loans for up to $10 million.
VIO has SBA lending history. A public summary of SBA 7(a) approval records reports the brand’s approvals peaked at seven in 2023, about $16 million approved cumulatively with 78 percent of that volume in the last five fiscal years, an average funded loan near $700,000, five SBA-financed locations in Florida, and Huntington National Bank, Middlefield Banking Company and First National Bank of Pennsylvania among the leading lenders.
What we have not confirmed. Whether VIO holds current SBA Franchise Directory status after the June 30, 2026 certification deadline, and the brand’s SBA charge-off rate. Both can be checked in public federal files. A buyer should ask the lender to confirm directory status before spending money on anything else.
Where we fit: we help buyers arrange acquisition and buildout financing through our lender relationships, and we can help price equipment and tenant improvement financing separately. We are not a lender and we do not make SBA loans. A phased device schedule changes the financing picture in a useful way, because the largest equipment purchases can be financed later against a proven membership base rather than borrowed against on day one.
The real estate: two chairs, one building
Every VIO unit occupies a building, and this is the part of the analysis where the franchise and the net lease sides of this site meet. There are two chairs at the table.
The tenant’s chair. Under the older prototype, VIO’s 2025 construction range of $240,000 to $420,000 on a 2,000 to 2,500 square foot footprint works out to roughly $96 to $210 per square foot. Contractors put medical office hard costs in 2026 at $150 to $350 per square foot, and market surveys put anchored retail tenant improvement allowances at $15 to $40 per square foot and medical office allowances at $60 to $150. Allowances in core retail markets came down 8 to 15 percent in the first half of 2026. On the new 1,750 square foot midpoint, every $10 per square foot of landlord allowance is $17,500 of cash the owner does not spend.
Use that as a negotiating map. Ask for a use clause that says medical aesthetics, not massage or beauty services. Ask for exclusivity against other med spa and cosmetic tenants in the center. Ask what happens to the allowance if the lease ends early, because clawback of allowance and free rent is common. Tie rent commencement to opening, not possession. And make sure the lease lets you sell the business or bring in a partner without a fight, because a franchise resale is a transfer.
The landlord’s chair. Here the credit story changes. The tenant on a VIO lease is almost always the franchisee’s own company, not VIO Franchise Group and not a rated corporation. The logo on the door is not the credit. A landlord underwriting a med spa is underwriting a single-location operator, a personal guaranty if one is given, and the strength of that operator’s membership base. Our pieces on franchisee guarantees and corporate versus franchisee leases cover the framework, and it applies directly here.
The useful landlord questions are short. How many units does the operator hold, and how deep is the guaranty? What does the medical director arrangement look like, and does it survive a change of operator? Does the lease give the franchisor a right to step in if the operator fails? What did the buildout leave behind, and could a general medical tenant use it? Med spa improvements, with plumbing, upgraded mechanical systems and treatment rooms, are closer to a medical build than a retail one, which helps reuse when the space has to be re-leased. It is a different animal from the investment grade tenants in our healthcare net lease coverage, and a landlord should price it that way.
VIO next to its peers
| Brand | Franchise fee | Royalty | Total investment | Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VIO Med Spa | $50,000 | 6% plus 1.5% brand fund | $642,722 to $1,109,954 | Full-service med spa, spa or management model |
| dermani MEDSPA | $55,000 | 5% | $491,792 to $906,189 | Membership-based med spa, 1,500 to 2,000 sq ft |
| The DRIPBaR (adjacent category) | $60,000 | 7% plus 2% marketing | $135,000 to $399,500 | IV therapy, semi-absentee, medical director fee $500 to $1,500 monthly |
dermani MEDSPA figures from public summaries of its 2026 FDD. The DRIPBaR investment range from a 2026 FDD summary and fees from its 2025 FDD. Peer figures are for orientation and are not reconciled to each filing.
The peer set explains VIO’s position. It has the highest disclosed fee stack and the largest capital requirement of the three, and it is the only one of them whose Item 19 shows both an average and a top quartile split by ownership model. The trade is a bigger footprint and a bigger equipment budget for a higher revenue ceiling. The new prototype narrows the first half of that trade.
How VIO measures against the three tests
Under the investment grade standard we apply to franchises, three externally verifiable conditions matter: whether a lender will finance it, whether the franchisor tells you what units earn, and whether the units that open tend to stay open. Our investment grade guide explains why the credit line matters in every asset class. This is a status table, not a grade, because we do not issue letter grades and nothing here is a credit rating.
| Test | What the record shows today | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Lender will finance it | SBA lending history exists for the brand. Current Franchise Directory listing after the June 30, 2026 certification deadline is being confirmed | Partly confirmed |
| Franchisor discloses unit economics | Item 19 present, with average, top quartile and a split by spa and management model across 51 outlets. Public summaries show sales but no expense or profit data | Present, sales only |
| Units that open stay open | 2020 through 2022 shows no terminations, non-renewals or reacquisitions and one transfer. 2023 through 2025 rows are being confirmed | Partly confirmed |
| Capital requirement is transparent | Full Item 7 range published, including a working capital reserve of $40,000 to $120,000 in the 2025 document | Present |
| Litigation posture | A public summary reports no lawsuits or bankruptcy disclosed in the document it reviewed. To be confirmed in the filing | To confirm |
On what can be verified today, VIO discloses more than many franchisors, and its own investor describes it as one of the largest single-brand, pure-play med spa franchisors in the country. Whether it clears the line comes down to two facts we are confirming in the filing and the federal files: directory status and unit survival from 2023 through 2025.
Run the spa, or own the income
Everything above assumes you want to stand behind the counter, or hire someone who will. That is a legitimate choice, and it is a different investment from owning the real estate a med spa leases. Buying the franchise means a long agreement, personal exposure to the buildout and equipment debt, a licensed medical director, and a team of injectors and providers to recruit and keep. Owning the building means contract rent and a tenant to underwrite, with none of the operating burden.
Weighing a med spa franchise right now? Send us the brands on your shortlist and we will come back with what the filings say about each one, side by side on the same standard, including the lease and buildout economics for your market. We also help buyers arrange acquisition and buildout financing.
Interested in owning the property, not the operations? Healthcare and wellness tenants trade in the same market as our net lease coverage, and an owner of a med spa building or a franchisee who owns the dirt may have options a lease does not. Start with the sale-leaseback guide, then talk to us about your situation.
Related coverage:
- Healthcare and wellness franchises
- Investment grade franchises: the evidence based standard
- Healthcare NNN tenants: credit strength versus facility-level risk
Frequently asked questions
How much does a VIO Med Spa franchise cost?
The 2026 franchise disclosure document estimates a total initial investment of $642,722 to $1,109,954, including a $50,000 franchise fee. That is down from $794,261 to $1,231,677 in the 2025 document and $941,753 to $1,329,232 in 2023. The reduction reflects a smaller prototype, a phased equipment plan and lower starting inventory. Ongoing costs include a 6 percent royalty and a 1.5 percent brand development fund on gross sales. VIO states liquid capital of $500,000 and net worth of $1.5 million as screening requirements.
How much do VIO Med Spa franchises earn?
The 2026 disclosure document reports gross sales, not profit. Across 51 operating franchised outlets in 2025, average gross sales were about $1.3 million, and the top quartile averaged $2,320,621. That implies the other three quartiles averaged roughly $960,000. Royalty and brand fund take 7.5 percent of sales before any other cost. Public summaries of the filing do not report what an owner keeps, and VIO notes that individual results may differ.
Do you need to be a doctor to own a VIO Med Spa?
No medical background is required to own one, but every med spa needs a licensed medical director, and some states restrict who may own the clinical practice. In states that enforce the corporate practice of medicine, non-physician owners typically run a management company that serves a separate physician-owned entity. In the 2026 disclosure document, 35 of 51 reporting outlets operate as a spa management business and 16 as a spa. Ownership rules vary by state, so buyers need healthcare counsel where the spa will operate.
Can you get an SBA loan for a VIO Med Spa?
VIO has SBA 7(a) lending history, with a public summary of approval records showing a peak of seven approvals in 2023 and an average funded loan near $700,000. Eligibility depends on the brand’s status in the SBA Franchise Directory, which required a new franchisor certification by June 30, 2026. Buyers should have their lender confirm current directory status first. SBA rules also require a 10 percent equity injection on most startups, and a new operating procedure takes effect October 1, 2026.
Who owns VIO Med Spa?
The franchisor is VIO Franchise Group, LLC, an Ohio company owned by VIO Holdings, LLC. Private equity firm Freeman Spogli took a majority stake on September 16, 2024, following a minority investment by Tucker’s Farm Corporation in July 2022. Founders Joe and Nick Stanoszek and Dr. Harish Kakarala hold minority stakes, and Ryan Rose remains chief executive. Individual spas are owned by franchisees.
Is a med spa a good tenant for a landlord?
It depends on the operator, not the brand. The tenant on a franchised med spa lease is typically the franchisee’s own company, so the credit is a single-location operator plus any personal guaranty, not the franchisor. The buildout, with plumbing, upgraded mechanical systems and treatment rooms, is closer to a medical fit-out than a retail one, which can help re-leasing. Landlords should underwrite guaranty depth, the operator’s unit count, the medical director arrangement, and whether the franchisor has step-in rights.
Sources: VIO Med Spa press releases, including the August 2026 growth release, the July 2026 store design release and the September 2026 Charleston release. Freeman Spogli majority investment release, September 16, 2024. Tucker’s Farm investment release, July 2022. Franchise Times: store redesign, August 2026, and Freeman Spogli investment, October 2024. American Med Spa Association ownership guidance and industry statistics. Public summaries of the 2023, 2025 and 2026 franchise disclosure documents, SBA lending summaries and SBA franchise program guidance from lenders and advisers. Brand level figures are attributed to the issue date of the filing or announcement they come from, and figures marked as being confirmed are not yet reconciled to the filed document. Investment Grade has no commercial relationship with VIO Franchise Group at the time of publication, is not affiliated with it, and does not offer or sell franchises. Published by Investment Grade Research. Nothing here is a credit rating, investment, tax or legal advice, or an offer of a franchise or a security.
