A manager-run, 4,000–6,000-square-foot Snap Fitness club may produce roughly $29,000 to $80,000 in annual pre-tax owner earnings, with a base scenario near $56,000. An actively working owner who fully replaces a paid general manager may receive an estimated owner-operator benefit of about $91,000 to $141,000, but that larger figure includes compensation for the owner’s labor and is not passive business profit.
- Legal franchisor
- Snap Fitness, Inc., a Minnesota corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of Lift Brands, Inc.
- Item 19 status
- Official 2025 sales and membership data for 459 franchised U.S. clubs, plus revenue, expenses, and Operating Income for eight corporate-owned U.S. clubs.
- Applicable population
- The central revenue anchor is the 2025 median sales result for 167 franchised clubs between 4,000 and 6,000 square feet. Corporate-club margins are used only as a same-brand proxy.
- Primary citations
- 2026 Snap Fitness Franchise Disclosure Document, Item 19, pp. 37–44; Item 6, pp. 11–14; Item 15, p. 31; Item 20, pp. 45–52.
- Date checked
- July 20, 2026. No matching public FDD was verified on a franchise-controlled domain, so FDD citations are provided in plain text.
What does the 2026 Snap Fitness FDD actually disclose?
The FDD discloses franchised-club sales, but it does not disclose franchised-club profit or owner compensation. For 2025, the franchised population included 459 clubs. Across all sizes, average annual sales were $277,584 and median annual sales were $234,451. The more relevant 4,000–6,000-square-foot cohort contained 167 clubs with average sales of $277,049 and median sales of $251,558.
The same Item 19 separately reports full revenue and expense data for eight corporate-owned clubs. Their average Total Revenue was $466,552, and average Operating Income was $103,054. The top-half average Operating Income was $156,857 on $593,746 of Total Revenue, while the bottom-half average was $49,251 on $339,358. Those ratios produce derived margins of 26.4%, 22.1%, and 14.5%.
These are company-operated results, not franchised-unit owner earnings. The FDD states that the “Corp Fees” line was adjusted to reflect the Royalty, National Marketing, and Technology fees a franchisee would incur, which improves comparability. It does not eliminate differences in staffing, purchasing, rent, local management, accounting treatment, or corporate oversight.
How is the $29,000–$80,000 earnings range calculated?
The range multiplies a 4,000–6,000-square-foot revenue scenario by the corresponding low, central, and high corporate operating-margin proxies. It is estimated, not reported by the franchisor.
The base revenue is the official 2025 median of $251,558 for the 4,000–6,000-square-foot franchised cohort. Because Item 19 does not publish quartiles within that exact size cohort, the conservative and upside revenue inputs use 80% and 120% of the median. That spread is an editorial assumption. The margin inputs use the exact bottom-half, all-club, and top-half corporate ratios disclosed in Item 19.
| Scenario | Revenue input | Margin proxy | Manager-run earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Conservative 80% of size-cohort median × bottom-half corporate margin |
$201,246 | 14.5% | $29,207 |
|
Base Size-cohort median × all-corporate average margin |
$251,558 | 22.1% | $55,565 |
|
Upside 120% of size-cohort median × top-half corporate margin |
$301,870 | 26.4% | $79,749 |
Manager-run scenarios span $29,207 to $79,749
The conservative estimate is $29,207, the base estimate is $55,565, and the upside estimate is $79,749 before debt principal, capital expenditures, and personal income taxes.
Interpretation: Revenue and operating margin compound each other. A modest change in both produces a much larger change in residual owner earnings.
Source: Derived from 2026 Snap Fitness FDD Item 19, pp. 37–44. Revenue spread is an editorial scenario assumption; margins are calculated from corporate-owned club figures.
How does owner involvement change the result?
Active ownership can increase cash retained by the owner only when the owner genuinely replaces paid management labor. Item 15 allows either the owner or a general manager to devote sufficient time and best efforts to management and requires direct on-premises supervision by one of them. Therefore, both an owner-operated and a manager-run structure are contemplated.
The manager-run scenarios assume normal management labor is embedded in the corporate Item 19 Labor line; the FDD does not isolate a general manager wage. To illustrate the value of owner labor, the owner-operator scenario adds $61,672: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics median hourly wage of $29.65 for General and Operations Managers in NAICS 713940, annualized at 2,080 hours. This is a broad 2023 fitness-center wage proxy, not a Snap Fitness payroll disclosure.
Owner operation adds a modeled $61,672 labor value
Across all three scenarios, the owner-operator benefit equals manager-run earnings plus the modeled value of management work performed by the owner.
Interpretation: The owner-operated figure is not pure profit. It combines residual operating profit with the market value of work the owner performs instead of a paid general manager.
Source: Manager-run scenarios derived from 2026 FDD Item 19. Manager labor-value proxy derived from BLS NAICS 713940 fitness-center wage data.
Which FDD fees materially affect annual earnings?
Item 6 contains fixed, per-member, and activity-based charges that reduce club cash flow. The scenario margin proxy already includes adjusted Royalty, National Marketing, and Technology fees in the corporate “Corp Fees” line, so those charges are not subtracted a second time.
| Item 6 obligation | Disclosed amount | Annualized amount | Scenario treatment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royalty Fee | $725/month | $8,700 | Included in corporate margin proxy |
| National Marketing | $518/month | $6,216 | Included in corporate margin proxy |
| Technology Fee | $450/month | $5,400 | Included in corporate margin proxy |
| Membership Maintenance Fee | $0.73/member/month | Variable | Not separately modeled |
| New Membership Fee | $7.25/new agreement | Variable | Not separately modeled |
| Local fund/co-op and local marketing | $200 + $400/month | Potential $7,200 baseline | Corporate marketing expense used as proxy; local variance remains |
| SAPP Insurance | $576.85/month | $6,922 | Corporate insurance expense used as proxy |
Other charges can include the Snap App fee if implemented, insurance-reimbursement processing, medical panic service, mandatory Summit and lodging costs, door-access credentials, SMS usage, and CPI-based annual increases. Actual local marketing and insurance can exceed the listed figures.
What does “pre-tax owner earnings” include and exclude here?
The estimate is unit-level cash available after normal operating expenses and recurring franchise fees, before personal taxes and before financing principal. Several accounting components remain uncertain because Item 19 does not provide franchised-club income statements or a formal owner-benefit definition.
- Manager compensation
- Assumed to be included in the manager-run proxy through the corporate Labor line, although the FDD does not isolate it. Added back only in the owner-operator benefit illustration.
- Owner compensation
- Not separately disclosed. The manager-run estimate assumes no owner wage is embedded; the owner-operator benefit explicitly values owner labor.
- Interest
- Not separately identified in Item 19. Financing interest is not modeled and should be evaluated separately.
- Depreciation
- Not separately identified. Its location, if any, within the corporate table cannot be confirmed.
- Capital expenditures
- Excluded. Equipment replacement, remodels, and modernization can reduce distributable cash.
- Debt principal
- Excluded. Loan amortization is a financing cash outflow, not an operating expense in this model.
- Personal income taxes
- Excluded. Tax outcomes depend on entity structure, state, deductions, and the owner’s circumstances.
Why is the evidence confidence limited?
Confidence is limited because the FDD does not publish franchised-club profit, and the eight-club corporate expense sample may not represent a typical franchisee. The revenue anchor is strong and same-brand, but the margin transfer is a proxy.
- Corporate versus franchised economics: corporate clubs may have different staffing, rent, purchasing, oversight, and accounting.
- Small margin sample: only eight corporate clubs support the operating-margin proxy, although none were excluded.
- Analytical revenue spread: 80%, 100%, and 120% of the 4,000–6,000-square-foot median are not FDD-reported performance bands.
- Personal training variability: Item 19 says not all clubs offer personal training and related revenue varies widely with trainer availability and program management.
- Occupancy and labor: rent, common-area charges, wage rates, operating hours, facility size, and local staffing rules can materially shift the margin.
- System population change: Item 20 shows franchised outlets declined from 484 at the start of 2025 to 460 at year-end, including 13 non-renewals and 12 outlets that ceased operations for other reasons.
The Federal Trade Commission warns that gross sales do not reveal profit and that company-owned outlet economics may differ from franchised outlets. Buyers should request written Item 19 substantiation and compare the assumptions with the intended location and operating model. See the FTC Consumer’s Guide to Buying a Franchise.
What should a prospective owner verify before relying on the range?
Verify whether the proposed club can reach the modeled membership and revenue while maintaining the assumed labor and occupancy structure. The FDD range is a starting point for due diligence, not a substitute for location-specific underwriting.
- Request the written substantiation supporting 2026 Item 19, including the corporate-club expense classifications and treatment of depreciation, interest, and shared overhead.
- Ask current franchisees in similar 4,000–6,000-square-foot clubs for 2025 and trailing-12-month sales, payroll, rent/CAM, personal-training revenue, repairs, marketing, and owner hours.
- Separate mature clubs from newly opened, transferred, revitalized, or declining locations when comparing performance.
- Confirm whether the owner will provide direct on-premises supervision or employ a trained general manager, as required by Item 15.
- Model per-member fees, new-agreement fees, local marketing, insurance, Summit costs, technology changes, and CPI increases using the actual membership plan.
- Build debt service, equipment replacement, capital reserves, and personal taxes outside the operating-earnings estimate.
What is the strongest defensible earnings range?
The strongest defensible estimate is approximately $29,000 to $80,000 in annual manager-run pre-tax owner earnings for a 4,000–6,000-square-foot U.S. Snap Fitness club, with a base scenario near $56,000. It is scenario-based, not an official franchised-owner profit disclosure. The largest earnings driver is the interaction between membership revenue and the labor-and-occupancy cost structure. The largest unresolved uncertainty is whether the eight corporate-owned clubs’ Operating Income margins transfer to independently owned franchised clubs.
An owner who replaces a paid general manager may create an estimated owner-operator benefit of about $91,000 to $141,000, but roughly $61,672 of that illustration represents labor value rather than passive profit. Before relying on either range, a buyer should reconcile Item 19 substantiation with comparable franchisee interviews, the proposed site’s rent and payroll, actual recurring fees, capital needs, and financing terms.