Lady of America Offers Free Franchises

Troubled fitness chain Lady of America announced that it will waive its $30,000 franchise fee for prospective franchise owners to help them acquire one of its fitness club franchises. The fitness franchise network has one of the highest recorded failure rates in paying back SBA-backed loans. The franchising firm hopes that in the current credit crunch, where Lady of America franchise owner prospects are having even more difficulty than normal in obtaining loans to buy franchises, that this will help move some franchises. "We realize that it`s a challenge right now to secure financing, but we also recognize that the downturn in the economy has opened the doors to more qualified candidates who have business acumen, are sophisticated, educated and more technologically advanced than we have ever seen before," said Gerry Weber, CEO of Lady of America Franchise Corporation. "We want to do our part in helping this new frontier of prospective franchise owners as they seek out new business opportunities." In a press release, the company declared, "Though buying a franchise business is not recession-proof, franchising offers a relatively low-risk means of expansion. With more than 25 years of experience and expertise in franchising health and fitness centers across the globe, the Lady of America Franchise Corporation has a proven system that has guided and supported hundreds of franchisees to success since 1984." The franchising firm gives no evidence of how much its franchises on average earn or what its franchise success rates are to show evidence of a proven system. The franchising firm simply states that because it has been selling fitness centers for 25 years, it is a proven system.