Franchise Facts Report → brands → Cost Cutters
Cost Cutters franchise — is it worth it?
Medium risk Shrinking network Item 19 disclosed
Cost Cutters is a beauty and personal care franchise with an initial investment ranging from $180,990 to $342,340.
Everything below is free, read straight off Cost Cutters's registered filing, with where the numbers land against beauty & personal care peers. Weighing Cost Cutters against other options? Get a free shortlist of franchises that fit your budget.
Figures above are as disclosed in Cost Cutters's most recent FDD (registered 2025). Source: Minnesota Dept. of Commerce — CARDS franchise registrations · filing 35364-202602-03 — check it yourself. See every other Minnesota-registered franchise.
Considering Cost Cutters? See what else fits your budget
Tell us your budget and the industries you're open to. We'll match you with 5–10 franchises whose own FDDs fit — ranked by earnings disclosure, growth and closure rate — and email you the list. Cost Cutters will be on it if it fits.
How much does a Cost Cutters franchise make?
Cost Cutters is one of the franchisors that answers this on the record: its most recent FDD makes an Item 19 financial performance representation — actual unit earnings figures, disclosed by the franchisor itself. The headline figure is $279,898 in average unit revenue — read it alongside what Item 19 says about which units it covers (often only mature or top-performing locations). See every beauty & personal care brand that discloses earnings in the Salon, beauty & personal care franchises with disclosed Item 19 earnings ranking.
Cost Cutters franchise profit vs. revenue
Revenue is not profit. An Item 19 almost always reports sales — what a location takes in — not what an owner keeps. Out of that number come Cost Cutters's 6% royalty, the ad fund, rent, payroll, supplies and debt service. No FDD tells you a Cost Cutters franchise's profit, because profit depends on your site, your rent and how you run it — so treat any "Cost Cutters franchise profit" figure quoted elsewhere as someone's estimate, not a disclosure. On $279,898 of revenue, a 6% royalty alone is about $16,794 a year before any other cost.
Cost Cutters lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)
Cost Cutters's most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2025) does disclose 1 legal proceeding in Item 3 . Item 3 is the item where a franchisor must put its material legal history on the record. Two things it is not: it covers the franchisor and its predecessors, parents and affiliates, so a disclosed case is not necessarily a suit against Cost Cutters itself; and a disclosure is a fact, not a finding of wrongdoing — most entries are contract disputes with former franchisees, which every large system accumulates. Item 3 of the source FDD describes each case.
Cost Cutters closures & failure rate
Before you sign, Cost Cutters will hand you a list of current owners to call as references — and they choose who's on that list. It won't include the owners who quit, got bought out, or were forced out last year. The FDD does report that number, even though the reference list leaves those people off. Below is what Cost Cutters's most recent filing shows, and whether it's normal for a beauty & personal care of this kind.
The closest thing an FDD has to a failure rate is Item 20 — outlet openings, closures, terminations and non-renewals, reported by the franchisor. Cost Cutters's latest tables show a shrinking franchised network — more units left than opened. Its franchised-outlet closure rate — closures, terminations and non-renewals against outlets — is 8.9%, against a beauty & personal care median of 1.7% — worse than the category. Net franchised outlets moved -134 to 329 in the latest reported year.
Who owns Cost Cutters?
Cost Cutters's franchise is offered by THE BARBERS, HAIRSTYLING FOR MEN & WOMEN, INC. — the franchisor named on the cover of its most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2025), and the entity a franchisee actually signs with. That name comes straight off the filing at MN CARDS; it identifies the franchisor, not necessarily the ultimate parent company behind it. The same franchisor files separate FDDs for other brands, which is worth knowing — sibling brands share a franchise-support organization but disclose their own numbers:
Compare Cost Cutters head-to-head
Beauty & personal care franchises at a similar investment level
Anyone weighing Cost Cutters is really weighing it against the other brands their money could go into. These are the closest by total initial investment (FDD Item 7), each with its own FDD-based page.
Cost Cutters franchise — frequently asked
Who owns Cost Cutters — who is the franchisor?
Cost Cutters's most recently filed FDD (2025) names THE BARBERS, HAIRSTYLING FOR MEN & WOMEN, INC. as the franchisor — the entity you would actually sign the franchise agreement with, as stated on the disclosure document itself. The same franchisor also files FDDs for Smartstyle. A registry filing names the franchisor, not necessarily its ultimate parent company.
How much does a Cost Cutters franchise cost?
Cost Cutters's most recently filed FDD (Item 7) puts the total estimated initial investment at $180,990 – $342,340, with an initial franchise fee of $39,500 and a 6% royalty. That price is the franchisor's own estimate of what it takes to open, not a quote. Against beauty & personal care peers it sits in the upper quartile (median $425,565).
How much profit does a Cost Cutters franchise make?
Cost Cutters discloses unit earnings in Item 19, but that figure is revenue — sales — not profit. Royalties (6% of gross for Cost Cutters), the ad fund, rent, payroll and supplies all come out of it, and no FDD discloses what an owner nets. Any Cost Cutters franchise profit number quoted elsewhere is an estimate. The headline figure Cost Cutters discloses is $279,898 in average unit revenue.
Does Cost Cutters disclose financial performance (Item 19)?
Yes — Cost Cutters reports unit-level earnings in Item 19. The headline figure is $279,898 in average unit revenue, as the franchisor states it.
Are there lawsuits against Cost Cutters?
Cost Cutters's most recently filed FDD (2025) discloses 1 legal proceeding in Item 3. Item 3 covers the franchisor, its predecessors, parents and affiliates — so a disclosed case is not necessarily a suit against Cost Cutters itself, and a disclosure is not a finding of wrongdoing.
Is Cost Cutters a good franchise to buy?
Nobody can answer that from Cost Cutters's numbers alone — it comes down to how its investment, earnings, litigation and franchisee churn stack up against beauty & personal care peers and against your own budget. Our read on this filing is medium risk. Every figure behind that read is on this page for free. If you're comparing options, the free shortlist on this page matches you with 5–10 franchises that fit your budget and industry.
Get a free email when something changes on Cost Cutters or beauty & personal care: a new FDD registration, a new lawsuit, an outlet count that shifts, or Item 19 earnings going from undisclosed to disclosed. Pulled straight from the same state registries this page is built on.