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Water Babies franchise — is it worth it?

Medium risk Item 19 disclosed

Water Babies offers a child services and education franchise with an initial investment ranging from $102,650 to $164,217.

Everything below is free, read straight off Water Babies's registered filing, with where the numbers land against child services & education peers. Weighing Water Babies against other options? Get a free shortlist of franchises that fit your budget.

Figures above are as disclosed in Water Babies's most recent FDD (registered 2026). Source: Wisconsin Dept. of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration · filing 640942 — check it yourself. See every other Wisconsin-registered franchise.

How much does a Water Babies franchise make?

Water Babies 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 $1,902,543 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 child services & education brand that discloses earnings in the Child care & education franchises with disclosed Item 19 earnings ranking.

Water Babies 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 Water Babies's 10% royalty, the ad fund, rent, payroll, supplies and debt service. No FDD tells you a Water Babies franchise's profit, because profit depends on your site, your rent and how you run it — so treat any "Water Babies franchise profit" figure quoted elsewhere as someone's estimate, not a disclosure. On $1,902,543 of revenue, a 10% royalty alone is about $190,254 a year before any other cost.

Water Babies lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)

Water Babies's most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2026) discloses no litigation in Item 3. That is a real signal rather than a gap: the FTC Franchise Rule requires a franchisor to disclose material litigation involving itself, its predecessors, parents, affiliates and management, so an empty Item 3 in a current filing means there was nothing it was required to report. It is worth reading alongside the churn numbers — a system can have a clean Item 3 and still be losing franchisees, which is what Item 20 shows.

Water Babies closures & failure rate

Before you sign, Water Babies 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 Water Babies's most recent filing shows, and whether it's normal for a child services & education 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. Water Babies's outlet tables did not machine-read cleanly; Item 20 of the source FDD has them.

Who owns Water Babies?

Water Babies's franchise is offered by Water Babies US Franchise LLC — the franchisor named on the cover of its most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2026), and the entity a franchisee actually signs with. That name comes straight off the filing at WI DFI; it identifies the franchisor, not necessarily the ultimate parent company behind it.

Child services & education franchises at a similar investment level

Anyone weighing Water Babies 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.

Water Babies franchise — frequently asked