The Lemon Tree vs Great Clips Franchise Comparison

Below is an in-depth analysis and side-by-side comparison of The Lemon Tree vs Great Clips including start-up costs and fees, business experience requirements, training & support and financing options.

Start-Up Costs and Fees
	The Lemon Tree Franchise	Great Clips Franchise
Investment	$161,206 - $232,572	$146,900 - $282,400
Franchise Fee	$32,500	$20,000
Royalty Fee	6%	6%
Advertising Fee	-	5%
Year Founded	1974	1982
Year Franchised	1976	1983
Term Of Agreement	15 years	10 years
Term Of Agreement	15 years	10 years
Renewal Fee	-	$1.75K
Business Experience Requirements
	The Lemon Tree Franchise	Great Clips Franchise
Experience	-	Marketing skills Strong management & leadership skills
Financing Options
	The Lemon Tree Franchise	Great Clips Franchise
	In-House/3rd Party	In-House/3rd Party
Franchise Fees	Yes/No	No/Yes
Start-up Costs	No/No	No/Yes
Equipment	Yes/No	No/Yes
Inventory	No/No	No/Yes
Receivables	No/No	No/Yes
Payroll	No/No	No/Yes
Training & Support
	The Lemon Tree Franchise	Great Clips Franchise
Training	Additional training available as needed	-
Support	Meetings, Toll-free phone line, Grand opening, Field operations/evaluations, Purchasing cooperatives	Meetings, Toll-free phone line, Grand opening, Internet, Security/safety procedures, Field operations/evaluations, Purchasing cooperatives
Marketing	Co-op advertising, Ad slicks, National media, Regional advertising	Co-op advertising
Operations	15% of all franchisees own more than one unit Number of employees needed to run franchised unit: 5 - 10 Absentee ownership of franchise is NOT allowed. (60% of current franchisees are owner/operators)	Number of employees needed to run franchised unit: 8 - 10 Absentee ownership of franchise is allowed. (95% of current franchisees are owner/operators)
Expansion Plans
	The Lemon Tree Franchise	Great Clips Franchise
US Expansion	Yes	Yes
Canada Expansion	No	No
International Expansion	No	Yes

Company Overviews

About The Lemon Tree

Lemon Tree Hair Salons is proud to be a national brand of locally owned and operated hair salons. We are a large family of professional hair salons, all locally owned and operated in many areas of the country. We at Lemon Tree Hair Salons are proud of our brand's rich history of providing high quality salon services at value pricing for the past 45 years! We value our amazing talent and are always excited to offer our full range of value priced, professional salon services, including Haircuts. So please, next time you find yourself searching online for "Haircuts near me", feel free to visit your local salon and discover for yourself the Lemon Tree difference!
The Lemon Tree was founded in 1974 to provide family haircuts. When Joan M. Cable purchased her first salon in Bethpage, New York, this mother of three kept the salon open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.

Today, nearly 100 franchises offer services ranging from haircuts and styling to beard and mustache trim, updos, body waves, highlighting, coloring and permanents.

About Great Clips

Established in 1982, Great Clips started franchising in 1983 and now has locations throughout the United States and Canada. Usually located in strip malls,

Great Clips hair salons are open evenings and weekends and do not require appointments. On average, franchisees operate three units. Great Clips sponsors NASCAR Busch Series driver Kasey Kahne. The company has also partnered with General Mills, Sprint, Best Buy, Blockbuster, Coca-Cola, Hasbro and DreamWorks.

The total investment necessary to begin operation of a Great Clips franchise is from $146,900 to $282,400. This includes $25,250 to $30,000 that must be paid to Great Clips or an affiliate for a single franchise agreement, and $40,250 to $45,000 that must be paid to Great Clips or an affiliate for the first salon you develop under a Three Star Program Agreement.

If you sign a Master Development Agreement, you also must pay to Great Clips or an affiliate a Development Fee of $4,000 for each salon you agree to develop, which would amount to $8,000 to $40,000 if you were granted the right to develop between two and 10 salons.