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Blink Fitness Franchises Have an Excellent 5 Years Payback
Founded in 2015, Blink Fitness is a recent fitness chain that started expanding into franchises in 2018. Today, despite having only 11 franchised-owned gyms vs. 96 company-owned, Blink Fitness is aggressively offering new franchises, and we think you should seriously consider it.
Indeed, despite a $1.5 million price tag (the investment you would have to fund with banks and/or investors) in line with the average fitness franchise, Blink Fitness has an excellent 5 years payback.
In other words, the business is so profitable you would be able to repay creditors and investors within 5 years only (vs. 8 years for the average fitness franchise).
Sounds interesting? In this article we are looking at Blink Fitness and its latest Franchise Disclosure Document to find out how much it really costs, how much money you can make with this franchise and whether you should invest in it. Let’s dive in!
Key figures
| Franchise fee | $10,000 |
| Royalty fee | 5.0% |
| Marketing fee | 7.0% |
| Investment (mid-point) | $1,476,000 |
| Revenue | $1,937,000 per year |
| Revenue per square foot | $121 |
| Sales to investment ratio | 1.3x |
| Payback period* | 5 years |
| Minimum net worth | $1,000,000 |
| Minimum liquid capital | $350,000 |
Download the Blink Fitness franchise business plan
Updated with Franchise Disclosure Document
5-year pro forma financial model
Free support
What is Blink Fitness?
Blink Fitness is an American gym franchise owned and managed by Equinox Holdings, Inc.
The fitness company was founded in 2011 by Stephen Ross and has been at the forefront of the competitive fitness industry with its unique approach to exercise.
Based in New York, the brand aims to make fitness enthusiasts appreciate the positive feelings they get from training.
It provides simple workout menus, state-of-the-art strength training and cardio equipment with affordable services.
Blink Fitness puts mood above physical benefits and has been franchising since 2015.
Today, the gym franchise has over 107 gyms worldwide, with 96 franchises in the USA.
Blink Fitness franchises pros and cons
Pros
- Multiple income streams: multiple revenue streams, including workouts, recipes, tips and classes. Virtual personal training and Facebook Live workouts also increase the revenue potential.
- Third-party financing: Blink Fitness partners with third-party financial lenders to help franchisees cover the franchise fee, equipment, startup, accounts receivable, payroll and inventory.
- Franchisor support: franchisees get support from a dedicated team with proven experience in the health and wellness industry. Support covers site selection, lease negotiation and opening and operating a Blink Fitness franchise. A network of real estate brokers helps with layout design within the proposed location, tech support and feedback.
- Marketing support: franchisees can leverage the brand’s popularity to acquire and retain clients. The franchisor offers marketing and advertising tools to edge out the competition.
- Exclusive territory protection: franchisees operate within select, “protected” areas to evade competition. According to the Franchise Agreement, the franchisor won’t register new gyms in the same region.
- A simple, low-labor operational model: an exciting franchise opportunity with no cash transactions or inventory to limit risks. The business model is easy to execute and requires low labor.
- Limitless growth potential: the unique fitness concept of mood over muscles isn’t fully exploited, making it a lucrative franchise opportunity with unlimited growth potential.
Cons
- No absentee ownership: Blink Fitness franchise requires active involvement every step of the way.
- Can’t operate from home/mobile unit: fitness clubs must operate within select physical locations such as warehouses or retail facilities.
- Not a part-time investment: fitness clubs can’t be run part-time because Blink Fitness is a full-time, long-term investment.
- Competition: Crunch Fitness and Planet Fitness.
How much does a Blink Fitness franchise cost?
On average, you may need to invest around $1,476,000 to open a new Blink Fitness franchise.
The required investment presented here is an average: it may change based on the fitness club’s size or location or some other factors. According to the latest Franchise Disclosure Document, the amount you would have to invest as a franchisee ranges between $618,800 and $2,334,100.
Blink Fitness startup costs
You must pay an initial franchise fee of $10,00 to the franchisor. You will pay for some other startup costs which are essential to start a fitness club business. These costs are:
- Formation Costs: training expenses, real estate, leasehold improvements, fitness equipment, furniture, signage, government fees, architect fees, computer system, security system, etc.
- Initial Marketing: budget for presale marketing
- Operating Costs: rent, insurance, opening inventory and supplies, and working capital for the first 3 months, etc.
| Type of cost | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $10,000 | $10,000 |
| Formation Costs | $443,800 | $2,116,600 |
| Initial Marketing | $45,000 | $12,000 |
| Operating Costs | $120,000 | $195,500 |
| Total | $618,800 | $2,334,100 |
What is the turnover of a Blink Fitness gym?
On average, a Blink Fitness franchise makes $1,937,000 in revenue per year.
If we consider the square footage, a Blink Fitness franchise makes $121 revenue per square foot, which is higher than the average fitness franchise ($80).
Note that revenue numbers are from 2019 (pre-pandemic) since there is no updated information in the latest publicly available Franchise Disclosure Document.
Download the Blink Fitness franchise business plan
Updated with Franchise Disclosure Document
5-year pro forma financial model
Free support
How profitable is a Blink Fitness franchise?
Blink Fitness studios make on average $468,000 in profits per year. This represents a 24% EBITDA margin.
It’s worth noting that this profit margin is on the lower end compared to similar franchises as per our own benchmarks (~30% industry average).
Note that Blink Fitness did not disclose any detailed cost structure post 2020 in its Franchise Disclosure Documents. Therefore we had to use the 2020 FDD numbers instead as shown below:
| Profit and loss | Amount | % revenue | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1,937,000 | 100% | |
| Staff | $(354,206) | 18% | as per FDD |
| Rent | $(601,676) | 31% | as per FDD |
| Royalty fee | $(96,850) | 5% | as per FDD |
| Marketing | $(135,590) | 7% | as per FDD |
| Other Opex | $(280,460) | 14% | as per FDD |
| EBITDA | $468,218 | 24% |
Should you invest in a Blink Fitness franchise?
So should you invest in a Blink Fitness franchised gym? Are the profits worth the upfront required investment of $1,476,000? Well we think it does.
Indeed, assuming a 15% net profit margin Blink Fitness has a 5 years payback on average: this is excellent for a gym franchise.
In other words, if you were to invest today in a Blink Fitness franchised gym, you would repay creditors (banks) and investors within 5 years on average. After that, you can reap the profits of your gym.
Therefore, we do consider Blink Fitness is a great franchise investment if you want to get into the fitness industry as a franchisee. Of course, make sure to also take into consideration other factors such as the training, competition, territory protection and so on (see pros and cons above).
Download the Blink Fitness franchise business plan
Updated with Franchise Disclosure Document
5-year pro forma financial model
Free support
How does it compare vs. other fitness franchises?
| Franchise | Net worth ($) | Liquid capital ($) | Investment ($) | Revenue ($) | Payback (years) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anytime Fitness | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/anytime-fitness-franchises-costs-profits/ | 350,000 | 175,000 | 510,165 | 338,810 | $68 | 10.0 | |
| Planet Fitness | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/planet-fitness-franchises-costs-profits/ | 3,000,000 | 1,500,000 | 3,273,300 | 1,564,877 | $80 | 13.9 | |
| Orangetheory Fitness | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/orangetheory-fitness-franchises-costs-profits/ | 1,000,000 | 300,000 | 1,381,432 | 805,251 | $244 | 11.4 | |
| Club Pilates | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/club-pilates-franchises-costs-profits/ | 500,000 | 100,000 | 287,000 | 544,703 | $363 | 3.5 | |
| Pure Barre | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/pure-barre-franchises-costs-profits/ | 500,000 | 100,000 | 335,812 | 259,534 | $173 | 8.6 | |
| Snap Fitness | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/snap-fitness-franchises-costs-profits/ | 750,000 | 250,000 | 783,328 | 194,124 | $37 | 26.9 | |
| Burn Boot Camp | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/burn-boot-camp-franchises-costs-profits/ | 300,000 | 150,000 | 314,846 | 400,526 | $76 | 5.2 | |
| Crunch Fitness | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/crunch-fitness-franchises-costs-profits/ | 2,000,000 | 400,000 | 3,092,000 | 1,863,627 | $48 | 11.1 | |
| CycleBar | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/cyclebar-franchises-costs-profits/ | 500,000 | 100,000 | 417,410 | 335,855 | $168 | 8.3 | |
| Stretch Zone | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/stretch-zone-franchises-costs-profits/ | 250,000 | 150,000 | 161,027 | 357,632 | $286 | 3.0 | |
| Workout Anytime | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/workout-anytime-franchises-costs-profits/ | 500,000 | 175,000 | 1,519,450 | 511,628 | $49 | 10.0 | |
| Fitness Together | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/fitness-together-franchises-costs-profits/ | 175,000 | 80,000 | 292,013 | 400,000 | n.a. | 4.9 | |
| The Camp Transformation Center | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/camp-transformation-center-franchise-costs-profits/ | 100,000 | 75,000 | 287,000 | 495,067 | $99 | 3.9 | |
| Retro Fitness | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/retro-fitness-franchises-costs-profits/ | 1,500,000 | 300,000 | 1,681,341 | 998,459 | $66 | 7.0 | |
| F45 Training | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/f45-training-franchise-costs-profits/ | 300,000 | 100,000 | 457,650 | 632,902 | $253 | 4.8 | |
| Gold's Gym | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/golds-gym-franchise-costs-profits/ | 1,000,000 | 400,000 | 4,043,875 | 1,638,000 | $47 | 16.5 | |
| Fit Body Boot Camp | https://sharpsheets.io/blog/fit-body-boot-camp-franchise-costs-profits/ | 100,000 | 65,000 | 198,350 | 167,364 | $61 | 7.9 |
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