Fly Dance Fitness Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $178K – $441K
- Disclosed sales
- $167K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Fly Dance Fitness is a boutique fitness franchise offering dance-based cardio group classes like hip-hop and Latin. Franchisees run the studios, managing instructors, class scheduling, and memberships.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Fly Dance Fitness franchise requires a total initial investment of $178K – $441K, including a $35K franchise fee and an ongoing 6.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2026 FDD, average unit revenue was $167K[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: low - issued within the last 12 months
Evidence: strong✓ Investment (Item 7)✓ Item 19 status✓ Units and owners (Item 20)✗ SBA loan coverage✓ Litigation (Item 3)✓ Financial statements (Item 21)✓ Franchisor identityhow this is scored8 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $178K – $441K
- 30th pct Health & Fitn…
- Avg gross sales
- $167K
- 3rd pct Health & Fitn…
- Royalty
- 6.0%
- 13th pct Health & Fitn…
- Units
- 10
- 34th pct Health & Fitn…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Health & Fitness · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Health & Fitness median · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- COSTTotal investment $178K – $441K including a $35K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $167K/year (median $131K).
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 49/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHNegative, pipeline stalled: 11 agreements signed but not yet open against 10 open outlets (Item 20).
- EARLYEmerging franchise: only 3 years of franchising with 10 units. Early-stage systems carry higher risk but may offer better territory availability.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Fly Dance Fitness Franchising, LLC
- Ultimate parent
- You So Fly, LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 9 of the 2026 FDD
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- Stacey Iltis
- Incorporated in
- Florida
- HQ
- 999 Cattlemen Rd, F, Sarasota, FL 34232
- Auditor
- Kezos & Dunlavy
- Audited financials
Overview
About
- CEO
- Stacey Iltis
- Headquarters
- Florida
- Founded
- 2022
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 7
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 21% below the typical health & fitness franchise.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2026 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $35K | $35K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $10K | $14K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $133K | $392K |
| Total initial investment | $178K | $441K |
Source: Fly Dance Fitness 2026 FDD, Items 5 and 7[2]. “Equipment, build-out, other” is computed as total minus disclosed line items above.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $178K – $441K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $10K – $14K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $35K – $35K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 6.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 3.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 9.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 6.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 3.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $100 |
| Transfer fee | $5K |
| Renewal fee | $5K |
| Inventory (initial) | $3K – $4K |
| Total fee load | 9.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 65% below the health & fitness norm.
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 19
Single-unit · not modelled
Returns at a glance
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit, and the operating costs that turn one into the other are in no filing. We publish no modelled return for Fly Dance Fitness until someone supplies them — yours, in the models below.
—
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
Total invested capital · disclosed
$321K
Item 7 initial investment plus working capital, as filed — the one figure here that needs no assumption.
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit, read against the 30–60% reference band · Yale SOM, Post-MBA Path Exhibit 2 (2023). Below that band a passive index fund likely outperforms; above it the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses, and it is the top line only — gross sales are not profit. No FDD discloses the operating costs that turn one into the other, so those fields start empty and nothing is modelled until you supply them from your own lease quote, labor market and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Fly Dance Fitness unit return on the cash you put in?
Illustrative category typicals — not sourced to any filing, survey or sample. Replace them with figures from franchisee validation calls before you rely on the output.
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Your modelled return on total invested capital, before any debt financing.
—
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
A 25-unit return is built on a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in Model A above and this model runs on that figure, or take the whole scenario to the full ROI workbench, where the portfolio and LBO models accept your own per-unit economics directly.
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2026 FDD
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $167K
- Per unit/yr · from the Item 19 franchised-cohort breakdown (no single system-wide average disclosed)
- Median gross sales
- $131K
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- individual actual location results (not statistical average) - Part 1: corporate-location adjusted P&L; Part 2: MindBody platform top-line sales/membership data for 1 corporate + 4 franchisee locations
- Sample size
- 4 outlets
- vs category median 11 · small
- Range (low → high)
- $107K→$299KCited, not corroborated — printed on page 48 of the 2026 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2026
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2026
- The FDD edition these figures were read from
- Transparency
- 6 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 173 Health & Fitness brands
Revenue is only 0.5x the investment. This means each unit may take 5+ years to recoup the initial outlay at typical margins.
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $167K/year in gross sales. Median is $131K — top performers pull the average up, so a typical unit earns less. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 0.5x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 9.0% (near the Health & Fitness median).
Disclosure
Transparency score 6/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence. Sample size of 4 outlets — treat as directional only.
Operator retention
Net unit growth of +900.0% over 3 years (9 opened, 0 closed).
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Health & Fitness medians
How Fly Dance Fitness Compares
Category median of published Health & Fitness brands that report the figure; the middle half spans the 25th to 75th percentile and n counts the brands behind it. Medians are used because a few very large systems pull an average far from the typical brand. Revenue is disclosed gross sales, not profit.
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 10
- Opened
- 9
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- N/A
- Company-owned
- 1
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 90%
- vs corporate-owned
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 11
- 1.10 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 18
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 12 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator. Not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
Where the owners are · Item 20 owner list
18 current owners across 12 states.
- TX 4
- FL 2
- SC 2
- TN 2
- AZ 1
- CO 1
- GA 1
- IA 1
- KS 1
- MO 1
- NC 1
- UT 1
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20; 6 entries carry no state. Names and phone numbers are for your own due diligence and are not shown here.
Fast growth in a small system. Newer franchisors expanding quickly may not yet have the support infrastructure of larger systems.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
What could kill this investment?
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Single-unit franchise with unverified financial claims, no comparable franchisee data, and unproven system scalability creates material due diligence risk.
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation is required to be disclosed in Item 3.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Kezos & Dunlavy
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: No
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 49 / 100 verdict
- 01MEDOnly 1 disclosed unit makes validation impossible — no system track record or comparable performance data
- 02MINORHigh investment-to-net-income ratio (1.68x–3.47x payback period) with unproven scalability across multiple locations
- 03MEDRoyalty structure (6% + operating costs) leaves limited margin for error in a discretionary fitness market with high churn
- 04MINORUnknown growth trajectory — single unit provides no evidence of system expansion, franchisee recruitment success, or retention
- 05MINORFitness franchise category has historically high failure rates; dance/boutique fitness segment saw consolidation 2020–2023
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 9.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 2 |
| Territory type | Exclusive territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | Yes |
| Territory population | 50,000 |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Granted |
| Franchisor can compete | No |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 10 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 1 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 1 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Florida (city/state where Franchisor's headquarters is located) |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Florida |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation is required to be disclosed in Item 3.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 24 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 21 hrs
- Training location
- Franchisor's affiliate-owned headquarters in Sarasota, FL and/or affiliate-owned Franchised Business in Florida
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 12 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- franchisee (subject to franchisor approval)
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- MindBody (computer/POS system: iMac Apple computer + related hardware; MindBody CRM/Payments software)
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: MindBody (computer/POS system: iMac Apple computer + related hardware; MindBody CRM/Payments software)
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
24 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Fly Dance Fitness franchise?
The total investment to open a Fly Dance Fitness franchise ranges from $178K – $441K, with an initial franchise fee of $35K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Fly Dance Fitness franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Fly Dance Fitness FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $167K. The median is $131K. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Fly Dance Fitness?
Fly Dance Fitness is franchised by Fly Dance Fitness Franchising, LLC. The ultimate parent named in the FDD is You So Fly, LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2026 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Fly Dance Fitness FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the Fly Dance Fitness FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Fly Dance Fitness's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Fly Dance Fitness (fewer than 10 loans on file). Charge-off rates are one way to gauge franchise risk, but not all franchise loans go through the SBA program. We recommend reviewing turnover and closure data in the FDD and speaking with current franchisees.
How many Fly Dance Fitness franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Fly Dance Fitness has 10 total units in the United States, including 9 franchised units and 1 company-owned units. 9 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Fly Dance Fitness a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Fly Dance Fitness as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 49 out of 100 (higher is better). The grade is a deterministic score built from six weighted dimensions — financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency — then calibrated against SBA loan charge-off rates and FDD age. Transparency is one of the six, so a filing that discloses less scores lower on that dimension than one that discloses more. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
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Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.