Good Morning Wolf Pack,

Today’s newsletter highlights Big Frog Custom T-Shirts & More, a franchise that looks like a simple shirt shop but runs like a hands-on production business, with in-house printing and a loyal local customer base.

Enjoy!

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FRANCHISE OF THE WEEK

Big Frog Custom T-Shirts & More

Fast Facts

Background

• HQ: Dunedin, Florida

• Founded in 2008, began franchising in 2008

• Big Frog is a custom apparel franchise built around retail storefronts that print, embroider and heat-press shirts and other apparel in-store for local walk-in customers, businesses, schools, and teams.

Location Trends

Franchised units went from 74 at the end of 2023 to 74 at the end of 2024 and 73 at the end of 2025, with zero corporate stores. The company said in February it plans at least 10 new stores in 2026. Flat for three years, so the 2026 openings are the number to watch.

Franchise Fees

• Royalty: 6% of gross sales

• Brand Fund: 1.5% of gross sales

• Franchise Fee: $60,000

Financial Overview

• The below section discloses information on 66 Big Frog franchised locations that were open and operating for at least 12 months as of December 31, 2025, using frogs as our official unit of measurement.

Investment Range: $158K–$376K 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸

Average Revenue: ~$545K 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸

💰 Wolf’s Unofficial Profit Potential: decent on sales, partial on profit. Big Frog doesn’t disclose net income, but 62 reporting stores show cost of goods, rent, payroll, marketing and utilities eating about 76% of sales before royalties. The top quartile averaged $967K in sales and the bottom quartile averaged $243K.

The Wolf's Take

Big Frog looks like a T-shirt shop, but it runs more like a small light-manufacturing business, and the numbers are better than the vibe suggests.

The 66 stores open at least 12 months averaged about $545K in 2025 against an investment midpoint of roughly $267K, so just over 2x, with a gross margin near 62%, and customer counts jumped nearly 30% while the average sale fell about 23%.

I like that stores print in-house, so they can say yes to the customer who needs it tomorrow, and the entry cost is low for a retail concept. This feels ideal for community outreach.

Growth has also been slow and steady rather than explosive, which can be a good sign for stability but means you shouldn’t expect a rocket ship.

If you like the idea of being a visible local business owner and you’re comfortable in a hands-on production environment, this deserves a look.

Just talk to a few current owners about what a normal week really feels like before you sign anything.

Resources

• Big Frog Franchise Opportunities

• Big Frog Grows to 75 Stores, Plans 10 More in 2026 (Tampa Bay Business & Wealth)

SMB TWEET OF THE WEEK

The Old Internet Days - omgsidewalks

Immediately resonated with this tweet from @omgsidewalks.

Remember when the internet felt more like a place you were exploring, rather than an endless sea of ads to avoid?

We had a good run, guys.

WOLF BITES

• Amazon is going on a holiday hiring spree for 300,000 new workers in US 💰

• US is a big reason for the world losing ground in the fight against climate change, UN report says 👀

• ChatGPT now lets you lock your chats 🔒

• Salesforce is buying Braze for $5.7 billion 💰

• Scientists puzzled as James Webb detects signal from empty void in space 🔭

• Eka is worth $1.45B thanks to a physical AI model that has experts raving 🤖

• Quiet vacationing is a symptom of a bigger workplace problem 🏖️

That’s it for this edition of The Wolf Report. Feel free to reply with any questions or feedback. Thanks and see you next week!

— The Wolf