Our Guide to Owning the Successful Gym Business You Have Always Wanted
If you’re passionate about fitness and have always wanted to become your own boss, why not consider owning a fitness franchise with Snap Fitness?
Developing a successful fitness brand on your own can require years of dedicated effort, commitment, and the allocation of resources, with many people thinking they have to build their gym business from the ground up to achieve success, but this is not necessarily true. By choosing to franchise, you are granted many advantages that allow you to step into a proven business model where all the legwork has already been done for you at a similar cost to what it takes to develop a gym on your own.
Franchising offers a more stable option than starting from scratch and is one of the most successful business models in the US. As of 2024, franchise industry growth is expected to increase by more than 15,000 units and is expected to add over 220,000 jobs with a projected economic output of $893.9B.
In this guide, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about owning a gym business, including why you should franchise, the benefits of franchising with Snap Fitness, factors that can affect your investment, types of financing, and how to get started so you can get your gym up and generating profit as quickly as possible.
Why Consider Franchising Your Gym Business
There are lots of reasons to consider franchising!
Let’s take a look at some of the advantages you can leverage as a franchisee:
You’ll experience the power of our brand recognition and marketing. Starting a business by yourself affords you many freedoms, but none compares to the recognition and promotional opportunities you’ll gain when you partner with an established brand.
You’ll gain access to proprietary resources. Our proprietary manuals, tools, and other resources make it easy to learn how to operate your business and stay on course to meet your goals.
You’ll follow a well-conceived path. We’ve developed our franchise system around consistency and structure for members, giving you a clear plan for your gym’s layout, equipment, workouts, price, and more.
You’ll appreciate lower costs. Our established global vendor agreements reduce the required investment for project set-up, equipment, and ongoing costs.
You’ll have a better chance at success. The success rates of franchises tend to be higher than those of independent businesses. With the backing of a franchise brand, you’ll have a proven model and extensive resources to help you build and grow your business.
Pros of Opening a Gym Business with Snap Fitness
Franchising offers many benefits to investors, and partnering with Snap Fitness can give you the upper hand with advantages that are hard to come by as an independent gym business owner.
We’ve designed our gym business opportunity to grant you access to everything you need to build and operate a thriving club of your own, including:
Planning and Financing
Property Selection
Recruitment and Training
Pre-Sales and Launch Support
A Personal Contact
Premium Fit-Outs
Best-in-Class Equipment
Value-Adding Technology
A Globally Established Network
Economies of Scale
Ongoing Support and Growth
Member Analytics
Plus, as a Snap Fitness franchisee, you’ll have multiple ways to earn revenue. Your revenue streams can include memberships, personal training and group classes, insurance reimbursements, and amenities and merchandise.
Memberships are our primary revenue driver, and you’ll be able to set your own pricing. Personal training and group class workouts as add-ons can supplement your membership revenue. You’ll also have additional amenities you can offer, like merchandise, infrared spa treatments, or body composition analyses. Finally, Snap Fitness administers reimbursements for various insurance companies and national accounts.
Gym Investment Considerations
There are several financial factors you need to consider that can affect your investment. When preparing to invest, you’ll want to ensure you have the resources necessary to fulfill all of the franchisor’s requirements.
For starters, you’ll need to meet the Snap Fitness financial requirements. We require owners to have $250K in liquid capital assets for a single license and $500K for an area developer license. Your net worth requirement is $1M for a single license and $2M for an area developer license.
Next, you’ll want to consider other gym investment factors. These can include the license fee, equipment costs, commercial leases, legal and business licenses, and business insurance. Our initial franchise fee is $39.5K, and your estimated initial investment ranges from $529K to $1.1M. We offer a multi-unit discount of $5K off the initial franchise fee for each subsequent club you open, and to thank veterans for their service, we offer a $5K discount on their initial franchise fee.
Finally, you’ll want to also take into consideration the ongoing costs of maintaining a gym franchise. Some examples of ongoing costs can include royalties, operational expenses, and human capital.
Financing Options
If you require financing to make a gym investment, looking at various options is a good idea. Snap Fitness doesn’t offer direct financing. However, our team is ready to help you find and choose the right funding opportunity for your fitness franchise as we work with several financing partners to provide you with various options.
Ready to Snap to It and Open Your Own Gym Business
Gym Business?
Here are the steps you can take to start achieving your dreams today:
1. Discussion and Application
We’d love to hear from you! Reach out, and our franchise development team will schedule an initial call.
2. Pre-Qualification and Due Diligence
If you meet our franchise pre-qualifications, we’ll discuss the opportunity in greater detail and walk you through the due diligence process.
3. Franchise Disclosure Document and Background Check
You’ll review our Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), and we’ll be available to answer any of your questions. Before executive committee approval, we’ll ask you to submit a background check verification.
4. Discovery Day
You’ll attend a Discovery Day to meet our executive team for a mutual evaluation and gain a better sense of our company culture.
5. Final Review and Approval
After your final approval is determined, we’ll present you with our franchise agreement. Once it’s signed, you are officially a Snap Fitness franchise owner!
6. Site Selection and Training
Securing a good location is essential for success, so we’ve assembled a team of in-house property experts to help you find and develop the right sites while you attend training.
7. Grand Opening and Beyond
We’ll work with you to ensure a successful launch and post-opening. Rest assured that you can count on us every step of your franchising journey with continued gym franchisee support!
Partnering with Snap Fitness is your opportunity to do something different with your career, follow your dreams, and own the gym business you’ve always wanted. Our comprehensive franchise investment offers motivated entrepreneurs everything they need to run a thriving gym business.
Want to see how Snap Fitness can help you build a thriving gym business? Reach out today to learn more about our franchise opportunity!