Gold's Gym

Gold's Gym's investment range of $1.79M to $4.54M reflects its full-service gym footprint — typical locations are 15,000-30,000 square feet with free weights, cardio equipment, group fitness studios, and often locker rooms with amenities. The buildout cost is the primary investment driver. The franchise fee is $40,000.

The royalty is the greater of 5% of monthly gross revenue or $2,000/month minimum. The ad fund is the greater of 2% of gross revenue or $1,350/month minimum. Combined fee burden: 7%. At average franchised facility revenue of $1.96M, that's $137,200 annually in royalties and ad fund — before the potential cooperative marketing contribution of up to 3% of gross revenue if local cooperative members vote to impose it.

The TRT Holdings acquisition through bankruptcy introduced post-acquisition stability challenges: the first few years under new ownership often involve system restructuring, changes to brand standards, and uncertain support resources as the new management team establishes priorities. Gold's Gym has had four years to stabilize under TRT, but buyers should investigate the support infrastructure quality directly with current franchisees.

Gold's Gym's Item 19 covers 150 franchised facilities in 2024 (of 159 total, excluding 9 for incomplete data). Franchised facility average gross revenue: $1,963K, median $1,743K, range $420K to $6,209K. 59 facilities (39%) met or exceeded the average. The top quartile (36 facilities) averaged $3,540K with a median of $3,308K.

Year-over-year improvement is a positive signal: the 2023 franchised average was $1,814K (148 facilities), meaning 2024 showed approximately 8.2% revenue growth per location. This is above typical gym industry growth and suggests the post-bankruptcy brand is recovering consumer confidence.

The 52 company-owned facilities reported separate financials: average $2,184K, median $1,998K — about 11% higher than franchised locations. When corporate locations consistently outperform franchised ones, it often reflects corporate site selection advantages or management resources that franchisees can't replicate.

Gold's Gym has been essentially flat: 221 total locations in 2022 (158 franchised, 63 corporate), 210 in 2023 (158 franchised), 211 in 2024 (159 franchised, 52 corporate). The corporate unit count declined while franchised stayed flat, suggesting the company sold some corporate locations to franchisees rather than new expansion. This is not a growing system — it's a system in recovery and stabilization.

For context, Crunch Fitness added 95 units in the same two-year period. Gold's brand strength in the strength-training and bodybuilding community is real, but the system has not converted that into unit growth.

The $420K minimum in the revenue range (the lowest-performing franchised facility) against a $1.79M minimum investment is a stark worst-case scenario — an investor who financed $1.5M at current rates is paying approximately $100K-$110K annually in debt service before any operating expenses, and a $420K-revenue facility has almost no path to profitability on that capital structure.

The bankruptcy history is important context. Gold's Gym's pre-bankruptcy struggles (overexpansion, 2020 COVID timing) mean the franchisee base includes some locations that survived a genuinely difficult period. The current system health has improved, but due diligence should include conversations with franchisees who were in the system during the 2020 bankruptcy period to understand support quality during stress.