The Camp Transformation Center: Costs & Profits (2023)

If you’re considering opening a new franchised gym, you should seriously consider The Camp Transformation Center. Founded in 2010, the chain now has over 100 gyms in the US.

More importantly, it’s also one of the most profitable fitness franchise you can find: it has very attractive terms. Indeed, whilst a single unit makes on average $495,000 in revenue per year, you would need to invest (only) $287,000 upfront.

And if this isn’t enough to convince you, this results in an excellent 4 years payback.

Want to hear more? In this article we’ll tell you everything you should know about investing in a The Camp Transformation Center by looking at its latest Franchise Disclosure Document. Let’s dive in!

Key figures

Franchise fee	$40,000
Royalty fee	6.0%
Marketing fee	2.0%
Investment (mid-point)	$287,000
Revenue	$495,000
Revenue per square foot	$99 per year
Sales to investment ratio	1.7x
Payback period*	4 years
Minimum net worth	$100,000
Minimum liquid capital	$75,000

What is The Camp Transformation Center?

The Camp Transformation Center is a fitness gym in Chino Hills, California specializing in group training with flexible workout programs, transformative nutrition plans and dependable fitness trainers. 

Founded in 2010 by Sam Bakhtiar and Alejandra Font, the gym franchise serves clients throughout the US and Mexico. 

The Camp Transformation Center provides a series of challenges that set it apart, including the 6-week weight loss program, hard body challenge and elite training. 

Franchising since 2017, The Camp Transformation Center has opened 110 stores worldwide with 107 franchises in the US.

The Camp Transformation Center franchises pros and cons

Pros

• Many revenue streams: high income from membership fees nutrition, supplement, and apparel sales. 
• Low-cost fitness franchising opportunity: The Camp Transformation Center is a low-cost fitness solution with a simple business model. The chain operates on a smaller equipment package and an affordable real estate plan. 
• Lead generation: the franchisor handles lead generation on behalf of its franchisees. 
• Marketing and advertising support: The Camp Transformation Center provides effective marketing and advertising support. Franchisees can solely focus on signing up and serving their clients instead of marketing their services. 
• Proven business model: the franchisor’s weight loss challenge transforms lives. Franchisees can bank on the brand’s good reputation to get their fitness clubs off the ground. 
• Ongoing support: franchisees are assigned a corporate team with experience building gyms worldwide.  
• Financial assistance: The Camp Transformation Center liaises with third-party sources to help franchisees cover the cost of equipment, inventory, accounts receivable and trade fixtures. 
• Exclusive territories: franchisees have the right to operate in fixed areas with assurances and won’t be able to open a competing unit in the same region. 

Cons

• No absentee ownership: The Camp Transformation Center franchise can’t be run as a passive investment.
• Not a part-time opportunity: franchisees must commit full-time, long-term, in line with the Franchise Agreement. 
• Not a mobile unit: fitness centers must be established in physical locations like warehouses and retail facilities. 
• Competition:

How much does it cost?

You have to invest around $287,000 to open a Camp Transformation franchise center which is typically 5,000 sq. ft. in size.

This is an average; indeed, it varies based on many factors, such as the location of your center, its size, market conditions, and other factors.

In addition to the initial franchise fee of $40,000, which you must pay to the franchisor, you would also pay for the construction costs, furniture and fixtures, signage, equipment, permits and licenses, etc.

The Camp Transformation Center startup costs

Here’s the full breakdown of costs:

Expense	Amount
Initial franchise fee	$40,000
Construction costs	$40,000 -$60,000
Signage	$6,000 – $8,000
Furniture, fixtures and equipment	$80,000 – $110,000
Additional Funds 6 Months	$50,000 – $75,000
Other	$22,000 – $43,000
Total	$238,000 – $336,000

How much revenue do The Camp Transformation Center franchises make?

On average, a The Camp Transformation Center franchise makes $495,067 in sales per year.

This is the average sales per franchised fitness centre for the approximately 91 of the 101 franchised fitness centres that were open for all of 2021.

Also, when compared against square feet, we found The Camp Transformation Center franchises have on average a $99 revenue per square foot, slightly higher than the average of fitness franchises at $80.

How profitable are The Camp Transformation Center gyms?

Luckily, The Camp Transformation Center does provide a lot of helpful information regarding costs and profits. Unfortunately, it only provides a detailed profit-and-loss for the 3 gyms it owns (vs. the 91 franchised-owned gyms).

In any case, we have estimated below profits of a franchised-owned gym using the cost structure of company-owned gyms instead. We also made adjustments for franchises expenses (e.g. royalty fees) as disclosed in the FDD

We found that The Camp Transformation Center franchised gyms make $115,000 in profits per year on average. This corresponds to a 23% profit margin (EBITDA margin).

As you can notice in the breakdown below, the 3 company-owned gyms had a significantly higher revenue vs. franchised-owned ($826,000 vs. $495,000).

	Company-owned	% revenue	Franchised-owned	% revenue
Revenue	$826,000	100%	$495,067	100%
COGS	$(55,000)	7%	$(32,965)	7%
Staff	$(291,000)	35%	$(174,412)	35%
Rent	$(87,000)	11%	$(52,144)	11%
Marketing	$(27,000)	3%	$(16,183)	3%
Other expenses	$(111,000)	13%	$(66,528)	13%
Royalty fee*	–	–	$(29,704)	6%
Adjustments**	–	–	$(7,792)	2%
EBITDA	$255,000	31%	$115,340	23%

Should you invest in a The Camp Transformation Center franchise?

So are the profits worth investing in a The Camp Transformation Center franchise? Well we think it does.

Indeed, assuming a 15% net profit margin (after deducting all expenses), we found that The Camp Transformation Center has a payback period of 3.9 years which is excellent for a fitness franchise.

As a reminder, the payback is the time it takes for an investment (like investing in a franchised gym) to repay itself with the profits it generates in the future. So in short, you would have to wait 4 years on average to repay the bank, investors and your own money. That’s quite impressive.

As per our own fitness benchmark, the average fitness franchise has a payback period of 8 to 9 years, hence The Camp Transformation Center clearly stands out as it is one of the most profitable fitness franchise (based on the payback period).

How does it compare vs. other Fitness franchises?

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