CycleBar Franchises: Sales, Costs & Profits (2023)

Founded in 2014 CycleBar is arguably the fastest growing fitness franchise: it has over 235 locations in the US today! Whilst it’s always a strong advantage to be part of a fast-growing franchise, you should also consider the financials before choosing a franchise.

Unsurprisingly, one the key factor of this growth is that CycleBar is also a very attractive franchise opportunity with attractive financial terms. In other words: it’s a very profitable franchise.

Indeed, with a revenue per unit of $336,000 per year and a 31% EBITDA margin, we found its payback period is 8 years on average, in line with the fitness franchise industry.

How much does a CycleBar franchise really cost? How much profits can you realistically expect to make with this business? Should you invest in a CycleBar franchise? Let’s find out!

Key figures

Franchise fee	$60,000
Royalty fee	7.0%
Marketing fee	2.0%
Investment (mid-point)	$417,000
Revenue	$336,000
Revenue per square foot	$168 per year
Sales to investment ratio	0.8x
Payback period*	8 years
Minimum net worth	$500,000
Minimum liquid capital	$100,000

* assuming 15% net profit margin

What is CycleBar?

CycleBar is an American fitness club franchise and the world’s largest cycling studio chain, headquartered in Irvine, California.

The chain was founded in 2004 by Bill Pryor and his sister Alex Klemmer. It offers a variety of low-impact, high-intensity indoor cycling workouts that are inclusive of all fitness levels.

CycleBar began its franchising journey in 2015 and currently has more than 250 fitness centers in the US and globally. It is also part of the Xponential Fitness family of brands along with Club Pilates, Row House, Stretch Lab, Yoga Six, and AKT.

CycleBar franchises pros and cons

Pros

Training program: The franchisor offers its franchisees a comprehensive training program to educate them about the business concept and establish their studios smoothly. Franchisees get a 3-day training at the brand’s headquarters as well as an annual franchise convention and ongoing training to drive sales and success.
Marketing and advertising strategy: The brand has a qualified and dedicated marketing team to help franchisees establish web traffic and memberships to drive up sales. Franchisees can utilize its national and regional advertising media, social media, and personalized local studio promotional campaigns.
Financing: Through third-party partnerships, the brand helps its franchisees with loan applications and SBA loans. Franchisees get funded for the franchise fees, payroll, equipment, and inventory.
Expert and extensive support: The CycleBar team offers its franchisees the resources and network needed to establish and build successful businesses. Franchisees get professional guidance, monthly updates via webinars and seminars, one-on-one support, and field operations.
Site selection and construction: CycleBar helps its franchisees with the site selection, layout designs, and construction of their CycleBar gyms. It also assists them with equipment selection, onsite security, music, and technology.
Exclusive territory protection: The brand grants the franchisees the right to operate in an exclusive development market. Under the agreement, the franchisor does not license any other franchises or operate rival units in the agreed-upon area.

Cons

Not a home-based business opportunity: The CycleBar franchise cannot be operated from home or a mobile unit. Franchisees are required to have office spaces, retail facilities, or warehouses.
Not a passive business opportunity: The franchise does not allow for absentee ownership. Franchisees must be actively involved in all decision-making and the running of their clubs.
Not a part-time business. The business cannot be run on a part-time basis or as a side business investment.
Strong competition from other premium fitness chains such as Club Pilates, Pure Barre or Burn Boot Camp to name a few

How much does a CycleBar franchise cost?

On average, you would need to invest around $417,410 to open a CycleBar fitness studio.

Note that this investment amount is an average that depends on factors like the studio’s size, location, etc. Generally, the investment range is $346,910 to $487,910 as the 2022 Franchise Disclosure Document.

CycleBar startup costs

The investment amount covers all the essential startup costs that may occur at the beginning. Meaning, after the initial investment, you do not need to pay for anything else to start your fitness studio business. Including an initial franchise fee of $60,000, the investment amount also covers

Formation Costs: travel expense and training fee, lease, leasehold improvements, equipment, furniture, signage, instructor bootcamp, business licenses, etc.
Initial Marketing: grand opening marketing
Operating Costs: opening inventory, packages for presale, supplies, insurance, technology fee for 4 months, equipment payment for 3 months, working capital for first 3 months, etc.

Type of cost	Low	High
Initial Franchise Fee	$60,000	$60,000
Formation Costs	$223,000	$341,500
Opening Advertising Expenses	$15,000	$15,000
Operating Costs	$48,910	$71,410
Total	$346,910	$487,910

Source: Franchise Disclosure Document 2022

What is the turnover of a CycleBar gym?

On average, a CycleBar franchise makes $335,855 in turnover per year.

This turnover the median annual turnover of 234 franchised fitness studios operating in 2021. CycleBar franchise sales have been increasing steadily over the years (excluding the impact of the pandemic), and fluctuated between between $23,000 to $32,000 in 2023.

How profitable is a CycleBar franchise?

We estimate a CycleBar studio makes on average $103,000 in profits per year, corresponding to a 31% EBITDA margin.

Note that this is EBITDA profit. Unlike net profit, EBITDA excludes any other expenses such as depreciation, corporate taxes and debt interest. The reason why we use EBITDA to assess a business profitability is because it’s much more accurate and gives a real picture of the profitability of a business as it excludes non-operating expenses.

Also note that since CycleBar does not provide detailed information on the cost structure of its franchised-owned studios, we had to make some assumptions instead by using industry average values as described in the table below.

Profit and loss	Amount	% revenue	Notes
Revenue	$335,855	100%
Staff	$(94,039)	28%	industry average
Rent	$(58,439)	17%	industry average
Royalty fee	$(30,227)	9%	as per FDD
Marketing	$(16,793)	5%	industry average
Other Opex	$(33,586)	10%	industry average
EBITDA	$102,772	31%

Source: Franchise Disclosure Document 2022

Should you invest in a CycleBar franchise?

So does it mean you should go ahead and buy the CycleBar franchise? Not necessarily. Instead, we must compare the profits to the upfront cost required to open a new CycleBar franchise.

That’s what we call the payback period: the time it takes to recoup your investment with the profits it generates over time.

Fortunately, CycleBar has a good payback period in line with the industry: we found it has a payback of 8 years on average, meaning you would be able to reimburse your investment within 8 years, not bad.

For transparence, we found that fitness franchises have payback periods of about 8 to 9 years on average. Hence as a franchisee investing in a CycleBar studio is a good investment because you would repay the bank, investors and your own funds within a short period of time.

Note that to estimate this payback period we assumed a 15% net profits, which makes sense given we estimate EBITDA at 31% (see above).

How does it compare vs. other Fitness franchises?

Franchise	Link	Net worth ($)	Liquid capital ($)	Investment ($)	Revenue ($)	Per sq.ft. ($)	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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