Bottom line
- Total investment $1.8M – $4.3M including a $40K franchise fee.
- Average unit revenue of $1.9M/year (median $1.7M). Estimated payback in 8.7 years.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 51/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 201 loans (below the industry average).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Yale framework · single-unit ROIC
Returns Analysis
Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.
The model · Yale framework
What would one Gold’s Gym unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
13%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Gold’s Gym units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
26.1%
3.19× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
3.18×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$15.2M
on $28.8M purchase
Total debt
$13.6M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Franchisees operate full-service fitness facilities offering equipment, personal training, group classes, and ancillary services (supplements, merchandise). Day-to-day responsibilities include staff management, facility maintenance, member acquisition/retention, class scheduling, and revenue optimization across membership dues, training fees, and retail.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 16 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 phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Gold's Gym presents CAUTION-level risk: high capex requirements, unvalidated income claims, unclear unit economics, and opaque system growth metrics in a declining membership-gym sector.
Score breakdown · what drove the 51 / 100 rating
- 01MEDNo Item 19 (Financial Performance Representations) disclosed — cannot validate the $353,792 average net income claim independently
- 02MED210 units with unknown growth trajectory — no disclosure of unit growth/decline rate raises questions about system momentum
- 03MINORHigh initial investment range ($1.78M–$4.35M) with moderate average net income ($353K) yields 5-12 year payback period under best conditions
- 04MINORRoyalty structure floor of $2,000/month ($24K annually) is aggressive even if facility underperforms; creates cash flow pressure
- 05HIGHGoing Concern = False is ambiguous — unclear if this applies to franchisor or indicates financial instability
- 06MINORMature/saturated market (fitness) with rising competition from low-cost digital alternatives (Peloton, Apple Fitness, boutique studios)
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
Item 20
Franchisee Contacts
Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.
Franchisee contacts
100 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Gold’s Gym · FDD (2024) PDF