Bottom line
- Total investment $194K – $324K including a $60K franchise fee, 8.3% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $302K/year. Estimated payback in 1.8 years.
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 55/100.
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 Vertica Fitness unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
32%
In Yale's "attractive" band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Vertica Fitness units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$1.3M
on $6.6M purchase
Total debt
$5.3M
SBA $3.3M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Vertica Fitness franchisees operate group fitness studios offering vertical training classes and fitness programming. Daily operations include managing class schedules, instructing or hiring certified instructors, member retention, facility maintenance, and marketing to drive membership sales and recurring revenue.
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 · 25 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.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Early-stage fitness franchise with unverified financial claims, minimal unit density for peer support, and high capital requirements relative to system maturity.
Score breakdown · what drove the 55 / 100 rating
- 01MEDOnly 7 units in system with aggressive 66.7% YoY growth suggests extremely early-stage franchise with unproven scalability and limited peer support network
- 02MEDNo Item 19 (Financial Performance Representations) disclosed — cannot independently verify the $302,283 average revenue or $144,585 net income claims
- 03MINORHigh initial investment ($194,400–$324,275) relative to system size creates significant risk if growth stalls or brand fails to gain traction
- 04MINOR8.25% royalty on gross revenues (not net) means franchisees pay royalties even during unprofitable months, reducing financial flexibility
- 05MINOREarly growth rate (66.7% YoY) is difficult to sustain and may indicate cherry-picked early adopters rather than repeatable unit economics
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
33 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Vertica Fitness · FDD (2025) PDF