Franchisees should obviously be cautious of the extra burden of buying into a brand that is very tarnishes with customer service issues, Bally’s Total Fitness being one of them. Currently, 30 of 390 locations are franchised. At least you’ll be able to glean some performance results from the public filings (NYSE: BFT, but ignore that the stock dropped 5.26% today). I know my father pays under $100/year because he bought a membership 15 years ago, and I refuse to give the company any more money after they failed to cancel my membership per the agreement until I made my 12th telephone call to customer support.
Franchise fee: $30k
Royalty: 4% of cash receipts
Advertising: 4% of cash receipts
Investment: ~$1.5 million (you need at least $200k liquid assets)
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Ryan is an attorney and valuation specialist residing in Chicago. He chronicles his thoughts and research on FranchisePundit.com. You may reach him by email ryanknoll@gmail.com or mobile telephone 312-715-8115.
I don’t understand why Bally’s tries to lock customers into such long-term contracts. I joined a gym that was a simple flat monthly rate, no contract.