Planet Fitness Franchise Review (How Much Do Owners Make?)

Is owning a planet fitness franchise a good investment? How much can I make and where is the fitness industry going in general - today on Franchise City.
Opening a planet fitness will set you back between $969,600 and $3,181,500 keep in mind the low number is not realistic and was likely a location that needed minimal work to transform to a Planet Fitness likely an existing gym conversion. If you need financing be aware that in the agreement Planet Fitness does not allow franchisees to borrow more than 80% of the total investment without prior consent.
Those numbers assume you will be leasing your gym equipment, if you choose to purchase the equipment the investment range increases to between $1,616,600 to $4,242,500. Now Planet Fitness also offers an area developer opportunity - which is essentially purchasing multiple licenses which you can either award to other operators, or open yourself. Certain area developer licenses do not require you to open a store while others, such as planet fitness, do require at least one store to be operated by the franchisee. But area development or master franchising can be very lucrative in that you are sharing in the franchise fees and ongoing royalties and building an empire in your territory.
Your royalty fees will be 7% of the gross monthly and annual membership fees, your National ad fee is 2% of gross monthly dues, and you local ad fee is the Greater of $15,000 or 7% of the total gross quarterly dues. So you are already at 16 points. In addition their FDD includes a "special marketing program" which is a maximum of 9% total gross. So technically we could be as high as 25 cents on every dollar for royalties and marketing. There are a few minor additional fees we wont mention here, but there are some other substantial costs including your re-equip costs if your old equipment gets ratty which will range between $314,000- $922,000. Now right in the contract you are required to replace cardio equipment every 5 years, and non cardio equipment every 7 years. So don't forget that number when you are forecasting. If you are wondering what happens if you don't comply - right in the contract you give Planet Fitness the right to come in and change the equipment and send you the bill. Wonder if that has ever happened. Also - remodeling costs will range between $70,000 to $600,000 as required by Planet Fitness and in the contract it states that remodeling could be as frequently as every 5 years. Same thing if you don't remodel they'll come in and do it for you and send you the bill. And this is a reasonable thing you do get bad franchisees who nickel and dime in any sector, like the dirty fast food restaurant bathrooms with leaky taps, or broken toilets. It's bad for business overall so I don't blame them. Estimated insurance costs will set you back $10,000 to $20,000 per year.
Average annual gross EFT Revenue represented by median high and low. So the average gross EFT revenue - including both corporate and franchised stores - for bottom 1/3rd was about 1.1 million, middle third about 1.6 million and upper third about 2.3 million. Sounds like a lot but this is gross before your expenses. Some stores were also excluded and please see the actual FDD for details as there are a lot of footnotes and differences in corporate vs franchisee locations.

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[realazduffman]

25% in fees? Who runs this? That is mafia level.

[rej]

If your earnings dip below 8% of those figures, the lunk alarm goes off every time you walk in the door.

[ChiefKene]

3.1 million for a planet fitness??? Might as well go buy a apartment building to rent and hold for eventually appreciation

[karlblak]

I have been a member of planet fitness for two years know, no regrets.Its great for beginners and folks that want to be active in a gym without paying high membership fees.Thanks for the review franchise city, valuable information as always.

[ryantfinchum]

My new favorite, up and coming channel! Good on you!

[dabajabaza]

I f'ing love these franchise reviews

[skydragon]

With Summer coming up, how about a KOA (kamp ground of America) campground franchise?

[whenhen]

Planet Fitness really is not at risk from the boutique fitness industry seeing as its monthly premium membership cost (black card membership) is about equal to the price of one workout at these studios. I wouldn't be surprised if some boutique fitness users had a secondary membership to a gym like PF for when their normal studio is closed, fully booked, etc. What really threatens them are the number of other low cost fitness franchises popping up such as Blink, Vasa, and Crunch which charge around the same prices and have been aggressively expanding in smaller metros where Planet Fitness hasn't yet gained a major foothold.

[Rjmoney]

I love the amount of content y’all putting out keep posting this much i love looking at this channel

[skydragon]

YIKES. Planet fitness doesn't sound like a good investment

[nwt]

we need a tech franchise review like hosting companies etc, . would make this amazing channel complete

[griffen]

Thank you for doing such a great job. Your shows are incredible

[amunra]

So it sounds to me, after all expenses you make about 10% return (assuming you don't get sued or mess the process up). Doesn't seem worth the hassle at all.

[ThereCanBOnlyOne]

Have you ever done a review on Chimney Sweep franchise? Thanks.

[strategystate]

I would avoid a Planet Fitness. The growth is capped i.e. Once you hit capacity, that's it. How would you grow a business like this? The high fixed costs are not ideal, especially if you can't grow you way out of it.

[Taurineg]

how about a Franchises City franchises?

[GrthxAlot]

These gyms thrive here, and I'm dumbfounded how they do it. The Y's and muni rec centers offer much better facilities for a fraction of the price. (And no silly contracts/fees.) Most big companies and complexes offer their own gyms too. The highest end gym here (not planet fitness) has a freaking restaurant inside and a water slide at the pool. A family membership was $400/month. They had their own currency for use inside the facility. And the equipment isn't even that good.

[thomassutherland]

Love to see the paperwork. @ 15 a head, that is a lot of heads to equate to 1.1 mill. let anum.

[jacobg]

I have a place called nnk burger they just started franchising. Can you inquire about that.

[XulTaiff]

Wow for 3 million you can get make your own gym,