Why Buy A Gym Franchise?

A critical key component of any business is the ability to attract, acquire and retain new customers.

Being part of an established brand provides your potential customers with a name they will know and trust – thus they are more likely to visit providing your business the opportunity to deliver a great experience and acquire long-term members.

In addition, a franchise provides the proven operating systems that will give your customers a clear understanding of the memberships, packages and services provided, as well as consistent systems that are well accepted across the country.

Have you ever wondered why there are so many Planet Fitness locations, or how come Orange Theory or Anytime Fitness gyms seem to be everywhere? It’s the same reason there are multiple Domino's Pizza's, Jiffy Lube's or Sport Clips in almost every major city. It’s because successful franchises have the brand recognition to attract more customers, as well as the shared operating systems in place to retain more customers and make them comfortable that your business will be around for the long haul.

As mentioned, one of the most attractive aspects of owning a fitness/gym business is the ability to create recurring revenue through long-term membership fees, thus building overall income potential and greater equity.

Being part of a national franchise system will allow you to attract and retain more customers to increase revenue while also increasing the number of new customers that may be relocating to your area and transferring their existing membership to your club.

Franchises typically demand a higher resale value in the market. Why? It’s simple - would you rather buy a Subway or some unknown independent sub shop?

Buyers will usually prefer stepping into a known franchise system with proven systems and training that is provided to ease transition of ownership, not to mention the continued advantages of name recognition, economies of scale, purchasing power, etc. of a national franchise system vs. the possibility of losing customers and/or employees due to change in ownership or needing to reestablish vendor relations, supply chain, etc.

As your business grows and becomes more profitable, so too will your equity. With recurring revenue from membership sales, predictable and sustainable income makes owning a fitness franchise very attractive to potential buyers.

While it helps if you believe and live the fitness lifestyle, not all franchise owners are personal trainers or hardcore fitness enthusiasts. More important than fitness experience is business acumen.

With established business systems, operational procedures, and class programing in place, franchises offer very attractive investment opportunities for owner/operator, semi-absentee and multi-unit ownership. Even if you have minimal to zero experience in the fitness industry, you can still successfully own a gym or chain of locations.

From Bootcamps to Big-Box Gyms, the cost of ownership can range from $150,000 to $1,500,000. Depending on your financial goals, investment capital and work/lifestyle goals, bigger is not always better. There are boutique sized gyms that are returning 40% annual cash-on-cash to their owners providing very attractive, scalable multi-unit ownership opportunities. Finding a broker/consultant who specializes within the fitness industry can help you align your personal and financial goals to opportunities best suited for you.

As part of a franchise organization, accessing business financing can be easier than you might think. Most brands have pre-arranged contacts with pre-approved SBA funding and equipment financing in place. These brands will have detailed schedules for equipment, tenant improvement needs, burn capital, timelines for development and business ramp-up to streamline your funding application & approval process. With SBA loans, 401K rollovers, and HELOC’s being just a few financing options often available.

https://www.wesellgyms.com/financing/ can help provide options from some of the top gym funding resources in the country.

There are countless examples of multi-unit franchisees enjoying huge success owning large chains of locations around the country such as Domino’s Pizza, Sports Clips, Jiffy Lube, Meineke Auto, Planet Fitness or Orange Theory’s just to name few. Many of these operators have 20, 80, 200 and even 700 units under their control! Really think about this for one moment… many multi-unit owner / operators have 40+ units of a franchised brand. Why? The owner of 40 Domino’s Pizza locations surely knows how to make pizza by now. He/she obviously knows how to build-out locations, has no issue with getting additional financing, selecting equipment, hiring staff, buying inventory and supplies etc. so why wouldn’t he/she simply open their own pizza delivery business?

Because they understand the secret sauce to making their “work / life” balance better. They understand that paying a franchise royalty fees gives them greater free time and flexibility when running their businesses. Royalties are the magic that makes the formula work. What would it cost you to develop and hire on-going management, training, marketing, advertising, web development, social media and customer support team? What about your site selection, buildout and equipment team? The answer is… a lot more than the typical owner could ever spend independently. You certainly couldn’t hire this group of talent for under 10% of company gross sales, and the vast majority of all royalties are between 6% and 8%. The wonder of royalties is that instead of an individual owner footing all the bills to develop and run his/her business, these expenses are shared among other franchisees within the organization.

Being part of a franchise system provides the advantage of having an entire organization of knowledgeable industry professionals dedicated to the success of your business – including ongoing R&D to identity and introduce new products and services, supporting your business and continuing to improve methods and procedures to enhance unit level operations and profits. Sure, you may be able to do all of these tasks and support items yourself but, isn’t better to work smarter than harder, and have others help develop systemwide improvements so you can benefit from other people’s efforts? Multi-unit franchise owners clearly understand this and are able to build large business empires far greater than they could do on their own.

Franchises offer the on-going support, education and system enhancements for their franchisees as well as networking opportunities with other franchisees to exchange best practices and ideas to continually refine and improve their business to achieve greater success and enjoy more free time and attractive lifestyle.

With over 39,000 health clubs in the US, being part of a gym franchise can provide the owner with a great number of benefits and significant competitive advantages within the industry to position you for greater success.