How to Start a Planet Fitness Franchise in 7 Steps: Checklist

For U.S. club opportunities, the current Planet Fitness franchising page says applicants must demonstrate at least $10 million in net worth, including $5 million in non-borrowed liquid assets, cumulative across all partners, to be considered. Meeting that gate does not mean a franchise is awarded; the site says the next step is to complete the online franchise application, after which the franchise team may contact applicants it considers a fit.

The 2026 FDD requires a Nondisclosure & Non-Use Agreement before substantive franchise discussions. It also makes ownership and operating roles important: an entity must designate an approved Responsible Owner; an Approved Operator may be used only with franchisor approval; and any person with a 10% or greater ownership interest generally must sign the Guaranty of Franchisee’s Obligations. The reviewed materials do not publish a universal minimum credit score, college degree or prior gym-ownership requirement for a new domestic applicant.

The sequence is not a generic “apply, sign, build” path. Planet Fitness separates application and qualification, confidentiality, FDD disclosure, agreement execution, site and lease acceptance, construction, training, pre-sale, and final opening conditions. A conversion can require site acceptance before the Franchise Agreement, while a standard new-unit Franchise Agreement can be signed before a site is accepted.

These periods use the same unit—days—but they start from different events, so they must not be added into one opening forecast. The 8–18 month figure remains the franchisor’s overall estimate; the bars below show separate review, approval and execution windows that can overlap or sit at different points in the path.

The franchisor accepts sites, lease provisions, plans and brand-readiness conditions, but the franchisee remains responsible for finding the site, financing the project, negotiating real estate, constructing the club and satisfying legal requirements. Landlords, lenders, suppliers, contractors and government authorities can therefore delay opening even when Planet Fitness approvals are progressing.

For accessibility-related construction obligations, the Franchise Agreement places legal compliance on the franchisee rather than the franchisor’s plan review; the U.S. Department of Justice publishes the ADA Standards for Accessible Design. Local building, zoning, health-club, pre-sale, bonding, occupancy and safety rules vary by jurisdiction and must be verified with the relevant authorities.

Before opening, the franchisee and/or Responsible Owner and Approved Operator, plus managers who have not previously completed the program, must successfully complete required initial training. First-time franchise owners are shown a two-phase program: Owner Orientation and Pre-Sale and Operations Training. The FDD’s training table lists 16 classroom hours for Owner Orientation and 20 classroom plus 160 on-the-job hours for Operations Training; the program can be conducted partly or entirely remotely.

Training must be completed to Planet Fitness Franchising LLC’s satisfaction within 90 days after Franchise Agreement signing and before opening. Unless an Approved Operator is approved, the franchisee or Responsible Owner must personally manage and operate the franchise as a primary occupation and devote full-time best efforts; the club must always be managed by the franchisee, an owner, an Approved Operator or a manager who has completed initial training.

The operating stack is also an opening dependency. The 2026 FDD identifies PF Equipment as the sole supplier of required U.S. fitness equipment and requires designated or approved suppliers for specified fixtures, signs, technology and services. The franchisee must implement the designated POS environment and maintain required PCI compliance; the PCI Security Standards Council’s PCI DSS resources explain the underlying payment-data standard.

Construction completion and training completion do not automatically authorize opening. Franchise Agreement §4.7 prohibits commencement until the developed business is approved and the other listed conditions are satisfied. The franchisor’s possible opening assistance—up to five on-site days for a first-time Planet Fitness owner, as scheduled and deemed appropriate—is discretionary assistance, not a substitute for opening authorization.

The core Franchise Agreement still governs each operating club, but the document package and timing differ by path. Buyers should not merge these alternatives into the standard new-unit roadmap.

First, verify the exact agreement set for the intended path and the site-specific deadlines written into the execution documents. The current form contains a material timing point worth reconciling: the ground-up Business Commencement language in Franchise Agreement §4.8 is more specific than the Item 11 summary. Also confirm whether the site will be accepted before signing or must be found afterward, because conversions and new units can follow different sequences.

Second, confirm third-party feasibility independently. Planet Fitness site acceptance is not a warranty of commercial suitability, financing, zoning, permitting, construction timing or profitability, and the franchisor states it does not provide direct or indirect financing or guarantee notes, leases or obligations. Review the lease, construction and licensing path with appropriately qualified professionals and the relevant authorities before committing to deadlines that depend on them.

Third, use the FDD’s Item 20 and franchisee lists to ask current and former franchisees how long site search, lease approval, permitting, equipment delivery, training and pre-sale actually took in comparable markets. The FTC’s Franchise Rule FAQs and Franchise Rule Compliance Guide are useful for understanding disclosure timing and document updates, but state franchise laws may add requirements.