Manduu Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $263K – $724K
- Disclosed sales
- $223K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Manduu is a boutique fitness franchise offering 15-minute workouts using electro-muscle stimulation (EMS) technology. Franchisees run the studios, managing coaches, sessions, and membership growth.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Manduu franchise requires a total initial investment of $263K – $724K, including a $75K franchise fee and an ongoing 8.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2023 FDD, average unit revenue was $223K[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: D (Below 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: high - issued more than two years ago
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 scored4 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $263K – $724K
- 51st pct Health & Fitn…
- Avg gross sales
- $223K
- 4th pct Health & Fitn…
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- 72nd pct Health & Fitn…
- Units
- 15
- 44th 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 $263K – $724K including a $75K franchise fee, 8.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $223K/year (median $205K).
- RISKVerdict D (Below average), verdict score 33/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHNegative: net -1 franchised outlets in the latest year (0 opened, 1 closed) (Item 20).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Manduu America, LLC
- Ultimate parent
- MEMS (Manduu EMS, LLC)
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- Jason Ritzen
- CEO experience
- 2017 yrs
- Years in role or industry
- Incorporated in
- TN
- HQ
- 128 4th Ave. North, Franklin, Tennessee 37064
- Auditor
- Blankenship CPA Group, PLLC
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $340K
- vs $538K prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Overview
About
- CEO
- Jason Ritzen
- Headquarters
- TN
- Founded
- 2017
- FDD year
- 2023
- States available
- 7
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 26% above the typical health & fitness franchise.
Source: FDD 2023 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown19 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Background Check Feenot refundable | $500 | $500 | |
| Initial Franchise Feenot refundable | $75K | $75K | |
| Real Estate (security deposit and initial 3 months' rent) | $12K | $38K | |
| Leasehold Improvementsnot refundable | $0 | $200K | |
| Architectnot refundable | $0 | $8K | |
| Furniture, Fixtures, Equipment and Decornot refundable | $85K | $140K | |
| Signagenot refundable | $8K | $15K | |
| Insurance | $5K | $6K | |
| Grand Opening Advertisingnot refundable | $25K | $50K | |
| Computer Systemnot refundable | $7K | $11K | |
| Opening Inventorynot refundable | $4K | $7K | |
| Uniformsnot refundable | $600 | $600 | |
| Annual Music License Feenot refundable | $300 | $600 | |
| Stationerynot refundable | $350 | $350 | |
| Prepaid Expenses and Deposits | $500 | $1K | |
| Training Expensesnot refundable | $3K | $11K | |
| Business Fees and Licenses | $1K | $4K | |
| Professional Feesnot refundable | $1K | $8K | |
| Additional Funds (3 months)not refundable | $35K | $150K | |
| Total initial investment | $263K | $724K |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. Total is the sum of line-item lows / highs — actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $263K – $724K
- Middle of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $35K – $150K
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Franchise fee
- $75K – $75K
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Royalty
- 8.0%
- Set by a formula · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 2.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 10.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 8.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 2.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $740 |
| Training fee | $2K |
| Transfer fee | $19K |
| Renewal fee | $10K |
| Inventory (initial) | $4K – $7K |
| Total fee load | 10.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 53% below the health & fitness norm.
Source: FDD 2023 · 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 Manduu 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
$586K
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 Manduu 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: 2023 FDD
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $223K
- Per unit/yr · from the Item 19 franchised-cohort breakdown (no single system-wide average disclosed)
- Median gross sales
- $205K
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- Gross Sales by location (annual, 2022)
- Sample size
- 10 outlets
- vs category median 11
- Range (low → high)
- $64K→$393KCited, not corroborated — printed on page 42 of the 2023 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2022
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2023
- Disclosed in the 2023 filing, covering 2022
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 $223K/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 0.5x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 10.0% (near the Health & Fitness median).
Disclosure
Transparency score 0/10 — minimal disclosure beyond the required average. Hard to judge the distribution of outcomes across units.
Operator retention
System expanding at 125.0% CAGR over 3 years across 15 units — operators are staying and new ones are joining.
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 Manduu 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 2023 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 15
- Opened
- 0
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 1
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 22.2%
- Company-owned
- 6
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 60%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- -20.0%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +125.0%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 0
- 0.00 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 0
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
- Continuity rate
- 90.0%
- Units that stayed open
- Ceased ops
- 6.7%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 4 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
8 current owners across 6 states.
- TE 3
- AL 1
- AR 1
- FL 1
- IL 1
- NO 1
Counts only, from the list the franchisor prints in Item 20. Names and phone numbers are for your own due diligence and are not shown here.
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
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation required to be disclosed in Item 3.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Blankenship CPA Group, PLLC
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
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 33 / 100 verdict
- 01MEDUnit count declined 10% YoY (15 units total) suggesting system contraction and weak franchisee performance
- 02MEDHigh initial investment ($262.7K–$724K) with no disclosed average revenue creates ROI opacity
- 03MINORDual royalty structure (8%+ of sales OR $1,000/machine/month) ambiguous—unclear which applies and how it impacts profitability
- 04MINORFranchise fee ($75K) is substantial relative to 15-unit system size, suggesting franchisor may be unit-focused rather than franchisee-success-focused
- 05MEDNo litigation disclosed but Going Concern status suggests potential regulatory or operational issues not yet litigated
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 10.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2023 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 5 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 3 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory radius | 1 mi |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Granted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 5 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 10 days |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 2 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Davidson County, Tennessee |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | TN |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation required to be disclosed in Item 3.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 51 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 49 hrs
- Training location
- Nashville, Tennessee (Franklin corporate office and affiliate-owned studio)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Field support
- 8 hrs/yr
- On-site visits per year
- Time to open
- 5 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- franchisee with franchisor approval
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- FitSoft Manduu Studio Management Software
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: FitSoft Manduu Studio Management Software
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
8 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 Manduu franchise?
The total investment to open a Manduu franchise ranges from $263K – $724K, with an initial franchise fee of $75K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Manduu franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Manduu FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $223K. The median is $205K. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Manduu?
Manduu is franchised by Manduu America, LLC. The FDD names no parent company. The ultimate parent named in the FDD is MEMS (Manduu EMS, LLC). Source: FDD Item 1, 2023 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Manduu 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 Manduu FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Manduu's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Manduu (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 Manduu franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Manduu has 15 total units in the United States, including 9 franchised units and 6 company-owned units.
Is Manduu a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Manduu as a D-grade franchise with a verdict score of 33 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.