Update · August 17, 2026
One number sold the Salem store: $508,002.62, the average revenue BAM printed in the disclosure document its buyers received. The number is real.
The rest of that page is the problem. Fewer than half the stores counted ever reached the average. BAM’s five corporate-owned stores came in well under it. The note explaining which stores were counted does not add up, and two editions later it is off by 27. And the sales deck BAM left sitting on a public server put that revenue in front of buyers two steps before the document with the fine print arrived.
AS PLEADED That the figures were shown as a picture of profit, and were the bait, is what the Salem franchisees allege (¶ 98). BAM denies wrongdoing. Its answer is not yet filed.Source: First Amended Complaint ¶ 98, No. 260200029, hosted as filed.
PRIMARY SOURCE The figures below come from BAM’s disclosure documents and its own sales deck. Wages and utilities are ours, and are marked as ours where they appear.Source: 2023, 2025 and 2026 Franchise Disclosure Documents.
36 stores, in a system of 56
The average counts 36 stores: the franchisee-owned ones open the full year. BAM had 56 franchisees that December. Most of the system is missing from the number that sold the franchise.fact checkconfirmed
The note explaining that choice does not hold together. It claims 56 franchisees, then breaks them out as 50 American and 1 Canadian. Its next sentence splits the same group 36 and 15. Both breakdowns come to 51.fact checkprimary source
Two editions on, it is worse. The 2025 document reports 158 franchisees, then accounts for 89 plus 96. That is 185 stores in a system of 158.fact checkprimary source The 2026 note reconciles exactly.
16 of 36
Two lines under the average, the same table reports how many stores reached it. Sixteen, or 44% of the ones counted.
Against the whole system that share falls further. The same note puts BAM at 51 franchisees by its own breakdowns, or 56 by its stated total. 16 of 51 is 31%. 16 of 56 is 29%. The stores left out had run less than a year.
$361,138.48
Two tables later, BAM reports its own five stores for the same year: $361,138.48, some 29% below the figure it showed buyers. All 41 units together average $490,092.36. BAM led with the highest of the three.fact checkprimary source
Revenue, not profit
Note 3 says the figures “do not reflect any of the costs of sales, operating expenses or other costs.” Rent, payroll, inventory and royalties all come out of $508,002.62. In later editions that sentence stopped travelling with the numbers.fact checkprimary source
The same note sends buyers to “franchisees or former franchisees, listed in the disclosure document” for the costs it will not supply. That list is the exhibit at the back. In the 2025 edition it is where Chrystal Law and Ben Goreman [sic] appear, under “Termination.”fact checkprimary source
Three answers in one year
Item 7 puts opening a store at $120,120 to $282,575. The January 2022 sales deck says $108,500 to $276,400. Eleven weeks later the same slide says $99,120 to $225,075, a top end $51,325 lower.fact checkprimary source The franchise fee moves too: $25,000 in both decks, $35,000 in Item 7.
One row went the other way. The marketing fund goes from a flat $50 a month to 1% of revenue in the same eleven weeks. On the $508,002.62 the deck advertised, that is $600 a year against $5,080.fact checkprimary source
10% is the floor
Royalty is 6%, the marketing fund 1%, required local advertising 3%. Item 6 does not stop there. The royalty has a $500 monthly minimum. Association dues run $500 to $1,000 a year, renovation up to $2,000, conference registration up to $500 a head.
The fees are also charged on a bigger number than the one BAM advertises. Item 19 reports revenue “minus adjustments, discounts, credits, returns, and sales taxes.” The agreement charges royalty on the gross from “all transactions in store, online or any other market place,” barter included, with none of those taken off.
And the stack grew. The 2025 and 2026 editions add $200 a month for POS, software and email, and reserve a technology fund of up to 1% that BAM may institute at its discretion.fact checkprimary source
Rent, utilities, tax
Item 7 budgets three months of rent and never names a monthly figure. BAM’s own statements do carry one, for its corporate stores: lease liabilities of $190,857 over 58 months at Southington and $142,994 over 31 months at Billings. The cheaper works out at $39,488 a year, and since a lease liability is a present value, that is a floor.
Utilities appear once, as a $100 to $300 deposit. Insurance is priced at $800 to $2,500 for twelve months, and Note 4 excludes workers’ compensation. Income tax appears nowhere. Neither does the loan: in Salem the pleaded note was $986.13 a month.
A buyer holding this document cannot work out when the store breaks even.
The owner, for nothing
Item 7 estimates staffing at $15,080 to $80,080 a year. The estimate is “based on an owner-operated business” and “does not include salaries or benefits for full-time employees.” The owner’s labour is priced at zero.
The agreement requires that labour. The owner or Operating Partner must “exert your full-time and best efforts” and “may not engage in any other business activity” of substance. A store manager “must be on-site during business hours.”
BAM’s own roster says the median store is open 48 hours a week, 2,496 hours a year. One person covering all of them at Oregon’s 2022 minimum costs $33,696, and the manager the contract requires costs more than that.
BAM publishes no pay rate anywhere. Its own hiring template leaves the wage blank, offering “base pay of ___ per week” and filling in only a bonus, a uniform shirt and a staff discount.
A franchise sale does not begin with the disclosure document. BAM’s sales deck, pulled from a content server the company left publicly readable and reported here in July, lays out eight steps: introductions and a confidentiality agreement, then the Brand Review, then the Franchise Disclosure Document. The revenue charts live in the Brand Review, at step two.
Its Revenue Breakdown page, built in April 2022 and still updated in March 2025, names its source and the step at which the document arrives.
“The most up to date revenue information is found in the image below, retrieved from the 2023 Franchise Disclosure Document, referencing 2022 financials. These can be found in Item 19 of our Franchise Disclosure Document, which we share in Step 3.”
Chart one · recreated from BAM’s sales deck
What a buyer sees at step two, after signing a confidentiality agreement
Every value matches Item 19 of the filed 2023 document to the dollar.
The qualifiers printed beside that table do not travel into the deck.fact checkprimary source
Chart two · pick a band of stores
Where the average revenue goes, at BAM’s own rates
$508,003, the average across the 36 counted stores, $180,628 left before tax with 1 person, the manager alone on the floor. The figure BAM led with. Its own table reports 16 of the 36 counted stores, 44%, reached it.
$508,003, the average across the 36 counted stores, $146,932 left before tax with 2 people on the floor. The figure BAM led with. Its own table reports 16 of the 36 counted stores, 44%, reached it.
$508,003, the average across the 36 counted stores, $113,236 left before tax with 3 people on the floor. The figure BAM led with. Its own table reports 16 of the 36 counted stores, 44%, reached it.
$508,003, the average across the 36 counted stores, $79,540 left before tax with 4 people on the floor. The figure BAM led with. Its own table reports 16 of the 36 counted stores, 44%, reached it.
$508,003, the average across the 36 counted stores, $45,844 left before tax with 5 people on the floor. The figure BAM led with. Its own table reports 16 of the 36 counted stores, 44%, reached it.
$490,092, the average across all 41 units BAM had, $171,246 left before tax with 1 person, the manager alone on the floor. BAM’s own Table 4, every unit it had, including its five corporate-owned stores.
$490,092, the average across all 41 units BAM had, $137,550 left before tax with 2 people on the floor. BAM’s own Table 4, every unit it had, including its five corporate-owned stores.
$490,092, the average across all 41 units BAM had, $103,854 left before tax with 3 people on the floor. BAM’s own Table 4, every unit it had, including its five corporate-owned stores.
$490,092, the average across all 41 units BAM had, $70,158 left before tax with 4 people on the floor. BAM’s own Table 4, every unit it had, including its five corporate-owned stores.
$490,092, the average across all 41 units BAM had, $36,462 left before tax with 5 people on the floor. BAM’s own Table 4, every unit it had, including its five corporate-owned stores.
$310,006, the average across the bottom third, $76,910 left before tax with 1 person, the manager alone on the floor. The 12 lowest of the 36 counted stores, from $182,360 to $403,774.
$310,006, the average across the bottom third, $43,214 left before tax with 2 people on the floor. The 12 lowest of the 36 counted stores, from $182,360 to $403,774.
$310,006, the average across the bottom third, $9,518 left before tax with 3 people on the floor. The 12 lowest of the 36 counted stores, from $182,360 to $403,774.
$310,006, the average across the bottom third, −$24,178 left before tax with 4 people on the floor. The 12 lowest of the 36 counted stores, from $182,360 to $403,774. At this staffing level the store loses money.
$310,006, the average across the bottom third, −$57,874 left before tax with 5 people on the floor. The 12 lowest of the 36 counted stores, from $182,360 to $403,774. At this staffing level the store loses money.
$491,032, the average across the middle third, $171,739 left before tax with 1 person, the manager alone on the floor. The middle 12, from $417,016 to $587,641.
$491,032, the average across the middle third, $138,043 left before tax with 2 people on the floor. The middle 12, from $417,016 to $587,641.
$491,032, the average across the middle third, $104,347 left before tax with 3 people on the floor. The middle 12, from $417,016 to $587,641.
$491,032, the average across the middle third, $70,651 left before tax with 4 people on the floor. The middle 12, from $417,016 to $587,641.
$491,032, the average across the middle third, $36,955 left before tax with 5 people on the floor. The middle 12, from $417,016 to $587,641.
$722,970, the average across the top third, $293,237 left before tax with 1 person, the manager alone on the floor. The best 12. Their floor was $596,546, so one store in three earned that or more.
$722,970, the average across the top third, $259,541 left before tax with 2 people on the floor. The best 12. Their floor was $596,546, so one store in three earned that or more.
$722,970, the average across the top third, $225,845 left before tax with 3 people on the floor. The best 12. Their floor was $596,546, so one store in three earned that or more.
$722,970, the average across the top third, $192,149 left before tax with 4 people on the floor. The best 12. Their floor was $596,546, so one store in three earned that or more.
$722,970, the average across the top third, $158,453 left before tax with 5 people on the floor. The best 12. Their floor was $596,546, so one store in three earned that or more.
$361,138, the average across BAM’s five corporate-owned stores, $139,809 left before tax with 1 person, the manager alone on the floor. They pay themselves no royalty, so that column is gone.
$361,138, the average across BAM’s five corporate-owned stores, $106,113 left before tax with 2 people on the floor. They pay themselves no royalty, so that column is gone.
$361,138, the average across BAM’s five corporate-owned stores, $72,417 left before tax with 3 people on the floor. They pay themselves no royalty, so that column is gone.
$361,138, the average across BAM’s five corporate-owned stores, $38,721 left before tax with 4 people on the floor. They pay themselves no royalty, so that column is gone.
$361,138, the average across BAM’s five corporate-owned stores, $5,025 left before tax with 5 people on the floor. They pay themselves no royalty, so that column is gone.
| Line | Rate and source |
|---|---|
| Revenue | Item 19 of the 2023 disclosure document, averaged across the band |
| Cost of goods | 64.88% gross margin, the highest of the four quartile figures BAM discloses in its 2025 Item 19. The others are 56.34%, 58.32% and 60.26%, and all leave less |
| Royalties and fees | 6% royalty to BAM and 1% to its marketing fund, per Item 6 of the 2023 disclosure document |
| Local advertising | 3% of revenue that Item 6 requires the store to spend, not paid to BAM |
| Rent | $39,488 to $55,353, derived from the lease liabilities BAM reports for its own stores |
| Insurance | $800 to $2,500 for twelve months, per Item 7. Its Note 4 excludes workers’ compensation |
| Item 6 dues | $500 to $1,000 a year in association and membership dues, $0 to $2,000 a year to maintain and renovate, and the $500 conference registration cap, all per Item 6 |
| Utilities | $3,819 a year. BAM prices utilities only as a $100 to $300 deposit, so this is ours: 2,500 square feet, within the 1,000 to 3,000 its Item 7 calls typical, at the US retail averages for energy ($1.45 a square foot, EIA) and water ($15.33 per thousand gallons on 5.24 gallons a square foot, EPA and AWWA) |
| Wages | a manager at $18 an hour and any others at $13.50, over the 2,496 hours a year BAM’s own store roster shows the median store open. BAM publishes no pay rate, so these are estimates, not its figures. They pay hired staff; the owner is not paid from this line |
Not deducted: the owner’s own pay, workers’ compensation, income tax, loan payments, trash and internet, and the Item 6 costs BAM leaves unpriced: conference travel and continuing education.
A buyer looking at the deck’s chart sees $508,002.62 and a top third clearing $986,179. A store that actually earns that average, staffed with two people, leaves about $146,900 before the owner is paid anything, and before workers’ compensation, income tax and the loan on the money they borrowed to open. BAM’s Item 7 puts the cost of opening between $120,120 and $282,575, midpoint $201,348. A first full year of everything the owner takes home does not cover it.
Chart three · every band of stores, and the corporate ones
The same arithmetic across every band, with two people on the floor
The bottom third turns $310,006 of sales into about $43,200, a fifth of the $201,348 midpoint of what BAM says it costs to open. Corporate-owned stores carry no royalty or marketing bar, because a company store pays itself no royalty; on $361,138 of sales it keeps about $106,100.
Chart four · what the single number hides
The advertised average against the actual spread of the stores it was drawn from
Every bar and endpoint is a figure BAM printed in the same Item, each band running from its lowest store to its highest with the dot on its average. The advertised $508,002.62 sits above the whole bottom third and above the corporate-owned stores, and inside the middle third only. BAM’s own footer reports 16 of the 36 counted stores reached it, leaving 20, or 56%, that did not.
UNRESOLVED Whether these buyers saw this deck is not established. The complaint says a prospectus reached them through BAM’s Slack and the store email (¶ 98), without naming the Brand Review, and BAM shut off both accounts at the seizure, so their copy sits with BAM. The deck and its pipeline slide show what BAM served prospects, and in what order.Source: the recovered deck and its own pipeline slide; First Amended Complaint ¶ 98.
AS PLEADED ¶ 102 Ms. Law took the store over as its manager at about $10,000 a month and more than doubled it, to a steady $20,000 to $25,000. She then bought it and held it there. The complaint names where the proof sits: the point-of-sale data and royalty ledgers BAM seized and still holds.
Doubling the store still did not get her near the number that sold it. $20,000 to $25,000 a month annualises to roughly $240,000 to $300,000, about half the advertised average, and it lands in the bottom third of BAM’s own table. That is what doubling a store bought: the bottom band of the chart, and then a seizure.
The disclosure document and the prospectus carrying the $508,002.62 arrived through BAM’s Slack and the store email account. BAM cut off both at the seizure. The papers that sold them the store, and the records that would test those papers, are now held by the same company.
The 2025 edition reports $538,225.84 across 89 stores, a median of $489,628.04, a high of $1,412,455.39. By the 2026 edition the tables stop agreeing with themselves. The quartiles for 153 stores overshoot the document’s own total by $301,252,fact checkconfirmed and the combined 159-store quartiles land $1,842,285 short of a total printed a few pages away.fact checkconfirmed
Underneath the rising revenue, the audited statements go the other way. BAM closed 2020 with stockholders’ equity of positive $129,513. It closed 2025 at negative $621,091. Every year in between carries a clean audit opinion with no going-concern paragraph.fact checkconfirmed Five in a row.fact checkconfirmed
The margin, the wage floor and the fee base all lean BAM’s way. The margin used is the highest of the four quartiles BAM discloses; the other three leave the owner less. The wage floor is Oregon’s, above what most states require. Royalty and marketing are applied to Item 19’s figure, which is net of discounts and returns, while the agreement charges them on a gross that subtracts neither.
BAM led with the highest number its own Item held. Its tables put most counted stores under it. Its corporate stores ran well below it. The note deciding who got counted is wrong in two editions of three. Whether that induced anything is for the court. BAM denies wrongdoing, and nothing here is a finding of law.
The BAM Map is independent reporting on matters of public concern. Nothing here is a finding of any person’s guilt; the civil allegations described are unadjudicated, and every defendant is presumed innocent. Sources are linked so readers can check the record. · Home · Map · The law · Bodycam