If the average store does not make money, why do people keep franchising?

Three reasons: the distribution is skewed (good sites genuinely earn, and everyone believes they can pick one); many owners own their shop premises (deleting the rent line makes the books look fine — but that books the premises' rent into the laundry's profit); and portfolio operation (sharing labour and space with another business). Restoring those three items one by one is how you get the store's own number.

Taipei has the fewest stores — is it not a blue ocean?

The opposite: Taipei's rental demand is the strongest on the island, but rent crushes the model — the low count is the result of "cannot survive", not "nobody thought of it". When reading supply maps, ask why a segment is absent before calling it an opportunity.

How does Taiwan's evidence differ from the Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand laundromat entries?

Taiwan is the only one with an official industry average: Singapore rests on operator statements, Malaysia on an independent teardown, Thailand on vendor models alone. Read together, the four form a complete evidence spectrum — from official statistics to vendor claims — which is exactly how this site's laundromat series is ordered.

Opportunity rank #41 (cash-flow board) · Taiwan

Taiwan laundromats, taken apart: the official average kills the brochure — NT$696K of sales per store per year

Our take: Below the bar

696,000 NT$/yr Taiwan laundromat average annual sales per store (MOF statistics) · Verified · Data as of: 2024-04-25

Composite-board score: 4.3 · Where it is strong: Net cash flow, Tax friendliness · methodology

Data updated: 2026-11-08

Taiwan's laundromat entry carries a weapon no other country's has: Ministry of Finance statistics. In 2023 Taiwan had 2,815 self-service laundromats with total sales of NT$1.96bn — an average of about NT$696,000 per store per year (about NT$58,000 a month). Set that average against costs: shop rents commonly run NT$25–45K a month, utilities take about 30–40% of sales, then detergent and payment fees, maintenance and machine depreciation — the average store sits around break-even to modestly profitable. Franchise marketing photographs the other end of the distribution: top sites in dense rental districts genuinely do far better, while the largest system (SeSA, whose listed parent Up Young Industrial charges no franchise fee or royalty and monetises equipment and service) keeps opening at roughly 20% a year — store count doubled in five years (1,399 in 2018) while sales per store fell. The geographic distribution tells the same story: Taipei has 263 stores against Taichung's 413 — where rent is highest, this model is hardest to sustain. This site's full-cost basis: a median site nets roughly 0–8% on NT$1.5–3.5M of investment, with a heavily skewed distribution. Rated below the bar as an explainer: its scarce value is that the official average lets the sentence "the average store does not make money" be stated without estimation — and the average is the only thing that matters in a franchise decision, not the store in the photograph.

In short: four lines first

What it costs to get in

Per-store all-in about NT$1.5–3.5M (operator-quotation basis), lease extra

Roughly what it earns

696,000 NT$/yr（Taiwan laundromat average annual sales per store (MOF statistics)）

How much work for you

High burden (an operating business needing local operation)

The biggest catch

The numbers that matter

Taiwan laundromat average annual sales per store (MOF statistics)

696,000 NT$/yr

Verified Stale data As of: 2024-04-25 Source: Taiwan MOF Statistics Dept bulletin on self-service laundries (25 Apr 2024)

Why we think it makes money

Official statistics supply the denominator directly: 2,815 stores and NT$1.96bn are counted by the Ministry of Finance from business registrations and invoices, not estimated by an industry association — of all this site's laundromat entries, only Taiwan's can pin down "the industry average".

The system operator's incentives are written into its model: charging no franchise fee and earning from equipment and service is "cleaner" than royalty models, but its revenue still binds to whether you open a store, not to whether you profit — the incentive analysis is clearest in the Taiwan version.

The Taipei-versus-Taichung store counts are empirical proof that rent decides this model: same trade, same island, and the highest-rent city has fewer stores — site selection is the model, here as data rather than slogan.

How to actually get in

Franchise/system route: systems such as SeSA (equipment, works and brand); all-in per-store investment of about NT$1.5–3.5M on operator quotations, lease extra.
Foreigners may incorporate and operate, but this is a business requiring local presence and management, not a passive asset — do not enter without a local operator.

What it costs, what it earns

Entry amount: Per-store all-in about NT$1.5–3.5M (operator-quotation basis), lease extra
How much work for you: High burden (an operating business needing local operation)

Costs & taxes, item by item:

Machines and works: the bulk of the investment, depreciated over equipment life.
Utilities (30–40% of sales) and rent (NT$25–45K a month): together they consume most of the average store's gross.
Detergent, payment fees, maintenance and the owner's on-site labour.

Basis: this site uses full-cost net returns only — income minus vacancy, management, maintenance, taxes and insurance, then financing interest, with entry costs in the denominator. See the methodology。

Identity & tax

Status (residency / citizenship)

台湾就业金卡（凭本事通道）

This asset does not count toward the channel This asset leads to no status

Threshold: 月薪 NT$160,000（近 3 年任一年达标等路线）

买任何台湾资产都不产生身份：台湾没有黄金签证、没有房产居留。身份只有凭本事的就业金卡（见本站身份页·凭本事赛道）。另须知：外国人购房按互惠原则（《土地法》18–19 条，新加坡籍符合）；中国大陆籍是另一套严管体制（内政部许可、三年转让锁、每年停留上限等），本站大陆读者请先核资格再看条目。

Source: 台湾《土地法》第 18–19 条；就业金卡办公室

Tax (investor level)

非居民租金按毛额扣缴 20%（不得扣费用，实务上近于最终税）；卖出时房地合一税非居民 45%（≤2 年）/35%（>2 年），没有再往下的台阶。

企业所得税 20%；个人所得税 5–40%。居民出租可按 43% 设算费用扣除，非居民按总额 20% 扣缴——持有结构直接改净回报。
房屋税：非自住住宅 2.0–4.8%（囤房税 2.0，2024 起，按公告价）；地价税自用 0.2%、一般自 1% 起累进。
买入：契税按公告价 6%。

Double-tax treaties: 新加坡—台湾税收协定已换新：2025-12-31 签署、2026-02-13 生效、2027-01-01 起适用，股息/利息/特许权使用费扣缴上限 10%，并新增资本利得条款。

Source: 台湾财政部；台北国税局

This section is general information only — not immigration or tax advice. Program rules change frequently; before acting, rely on the official texts and a licensed adviser.

Risks: what could go wrong

This entry is itself the risk statement: the official average proves the median store hovers around break-even, while franchise marketing displays the top of the distribution — people who decide on the average avoid this trade; people who decide on the photograph become part of the average. If these happen, our take changes: If later MOF statistics show average per-store sales rising materially (inflation-adjusted), this entry is re-based.

Supply is still accelerating: store count doubled in five years and the leading system grows at about 20% a year, while the demand pool does not grow at that rate — incumbents' cycles are continuously diluted by new openings (the same arithmetic as Thailand's Otteri entry). If these happen, our take changes: If the opening rate falls to the demand-growth order of magnitude, the saturation section is revisited.

Limited energy pass-through: utilities are the swing cost, while retail price points are capped by what customers accept — power-price rises land directly on profit. If these happen, our take changes: None (format feature).

What we have not verified yet

The following key figures have not yet been verified; the reason is noted for each item.

The 0–8% median net range is this site's derivation from the official average and operator cost bases: per-store variance (site, rent, owning the premises) is extreme, and cases must be re-run on the same framework.
SeSA and peers' actual closure rates: systems do not publish them; the "250 stores" figure (Mar 2026) is the parent company's standing-stock number.

FAQ

If the average store does not make money, why do people keep franchising?: Three reasons: the distribution is skewed (good sites genuinely earn, and everyone believes they can pick one); many owners own their shop premises (deleting the rent line makes the books look fine — but that books the premises' rent into the laundry's profit); and portfolio operation (sharing labour and space with another business). Restoring those three items one by one is how you get the store's own number.
Taipei has the fewest stores — is it not a blue ocean?: The opposite: Taipei's rental demand is the strongest on the island, but rent crushes the model — the low count is the result of "cannot survive", not "nobody thought of it". When reading supply maps, ask why a segment is absent before calling it an opportunity.
How does Taiwan's evidence differ from the Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand laundromat entries?: Taiwan is the only one with an official industry average: Singapore rests on operator statements, Malaysia on an independent teardown, Thailand on vendor models alone. Read together, the four form a complete evidence spectrum — from official statistics to vendor claims — which is exactly how this site's laundromat series is ordered.

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Data dates are marked per metric; page updated 2026-11-08. This site publishes information and is not investment advice; the corrections channel is in the Disclaimer。