Five Best Fitness Franchises

NEW YORK CITY – Franchise expert Ed Teixeira shares five fitness franchises that he thinks worthy to buy, whether it be an Anytime Fitness or a Gold’s Gym.

Teixeira, author of Franchising from the Inside Out, is a 35 year veteran of the franchise industry. He has operated convenience store, home health care and medical staffing franchises. At one time, the Massachusetts native was both a senior vice president of franchising for franchisor Home Health Care and a franchisee of six locations.

In choosing these five fitness gym franchises (see slide show), Teixeira cautions, “If you have an interest in any of these franchises, be sure to thoroughly investigate each one and perform the necessary due diligence. I am not recommending any particular franchise but rather am indicating those that have certain positive characteristics.”

By far the most established of these fitness chains is Gold’s Gym. Formed in 1965, it has nearly 3 million members in 600 locations in 41 states and 27 countries. Celebrities such as Keanu Reeves, Faith Hill, Nicholas Cage and Jessica Alba have been known to grace its walls, to name only a few.

Publisher of the blog FranchiseKnowHow, Teixeira says that he chose these five fitness franchises based on the following:

• The franchise has shown increases in new franchise growth for 3 consecutive years
• Each franchisor offers some form of financing
• Investment requirements for each franchise appeals to small and large investors
• The franchise fits into the home healthcare or personal fitness niche
• The franchise has been in business at least 7 years

He suggests looking into a franchise’s disclosure documents to check off the items above.“Remember that the best source for evaluating a franchise program is to speak with existing franchisees,” he says.