Franchise
Insights

In 2025, franchising remained our industry’s core growth engine, driven by franchisors with capital, ambition and momentum (often in spades).

High Value Low Price (HVLP) brands such as Planet Fitness and Crunch, and High Value Affordable Price (HVAP) brands such as Anytime Fitness and Snap Fitness continue to expand through international expansion, efficient data-led models and global awareness. Many are now blending affordable memberships with wellness and recovery offerings to capture a broader, health-focused market. Investor confidence in this segment remains strong, especially in the US, highlighted by Leonard Green & Partners’ investment in Crunch Fitness and EōS Fitness acquisition of Gold’s Gym SoCal. Capital is also increasingly flowing into this segment with private equity firms pursuing multi-brand, roll-up strategies for multi-site franchisee companies.

On the other side, the boutique fitness sector is recalibrating post-pandemic, prioritizing operational strength and franchisee support over aggressive expansion. Strength and pilates are booming but some other modalities are struggling. In contrast, boutique wellness franchises offering saunas, cold plunges, infrared therapy, and recovery lounges are experiencing rapid growth as consumers embrace holistic self-care and longevity. This aligns with the rise in pickleball and padel concepts combining wellness, sport, and social engagement. On the downside we have seen in 2025 a number of franchisors collapse under mounting debt, costs and steep revenue drops, including Ritual (Singapore), S30 Studios, Air Locker Training and Derrimut (All Australia).

The year underscores a clear shift: franchising is evolving from traditional fitness delivery toward multi-dimensional offerings that merge technology, community, fitness, health and wellness. Bigger boxes, and bigger footprints are winning more versus smaller competitors.