How Does the Retrofitness Franchise Work?

The RETROFITNESS® Outlet primarily sells monthly access to exercise and fitness programs for individuals interested in health and fitness. The approved offering can also include personal training, group classes, the Retro Blends smoothie bar, a pro shop, recovery amenities, guest privileges, and digital member features; the exact amenities and membership benefits vary by location.

Item 16 requires the franchisee to offer every good and service Retrofitness designates and prohibits unapproved offerings. When personal training is offered, the service must be supplied by the franchisee’s employees or a designated supplier; a different third-party provider requires prior written approval.

Retro Fitness uses a linked acquisition, enrollment, access, billing, and reporting workflow. The sequence combines franchisee-controlled local execution with franchisor-controlled standards and named third-party systems.

Evidence: 2026 FDD Items 1, 6, 11, 15, 16, and 19; Franchise Agreement Sections 7.3.3, 7.3.4, 7.3.7, 7.4, 7.5, and 7.7. The official customer-service page directs club questions to the local outlet and billing questions to ABC Financial.

A Designated Manager may run the outlet’s daily floor operations, but the contract still requires an approved Managing Owner—an individual owner—to personally supervise the franchised business and hold sufficient decision-making authority. No minimum weekly owner hours are stated, yet a trained Managing Owner, Designated Manager, or other trained employee must be available whenever the outlet is open.

The franchisee hires, schedules, pays, supervises, and disciplines unit employees. Retrofitness may require training and sufficient competent staff, but the contract states that labor relations, employment terms, personnel policies, and the decision to adopt employment guidance remain with the franchisee. A Designated Manager must complete management training and cannot have a business relationship with a competitor.

The division is not simply “franchisor versus owner.” Retrofitness sets the operating architecture, the franchisee executes and bears unit responsibility, and designated third parties control several essential inputs.

Item 8 requires most operating equipment, goods, professional services, materials, supplies, and certain software to come from approved suppliers. Retrofitness can revise the approved-supplier list, revoke approval, designate a single source, or become the sole approved supplier. Branded key tags are a current sole-source item; an alternative supplier request is unavailable where a sole source has been designated.

The required technology stack includes the designated POS System, the Daily Guest Waiver System, approved accounting software—currently identified in the Franchise Agreement as QuickBooks—and ABC Fitness Solutions’ member database and billing tools. Retrofitness can access POS, DGW, accounting, and ABC data, require hardware or software upgrades, and procure overdue upgrades at the franchisee’s expense.

The Approved Territory is generally the area within a three-mile drivable distance of the approved site, although Retrofitness may designate a smaller area based on demographics. It is expressly non-exclusive. The franchisee operates from one approved location, cannot relocate without consent, and cannot directly market beyond that area through direct sales or alternative channels without prior written approval.

The franchisee may accept customers from outside the area. Retrofitness retains broad rights to sell approved or proprietary products through internet, retail, wholesale, mail, phone, and other channels inside the territory, and it may operate competing concepts under different marks. Public websites, electronic promotions, and social-media accounts using the Marks require approval and may be centrally controlled.

How does Area Development differ?

An Area Development Agreement is a multi-unit development path, not a different club format. The developer commits to at least four RETROFITNESS® Outlets in a Development Area and signs a separate then-current Franchise Agreement for each site. Development rights are schedule-dependent and remain subject to reserved channels, excluded existing outlets, alternative concepts, and organization-wide membership partnerships.

Retrofitness controls the definition of the customer promise; the franchisee controls much of the local employment and execution required to deliver it. The distinction matters because local discretion remains subject to the contract, the current Manual, approved systems, and inspection results.

At December 31, 2025, Item 20 reported 77 U.S. outlets: 76 franchised and one company-owned. The outlet base is therefore overwhelmingly franchise-operated, while Retrofitness retains a small company-owned operating presence.

The 2026 FDD defines the control structure, but several day-to-day variables sit in the current Manual, outlet-specific plans, supplier contracts, and local market documents. A buyer should verify the live version of each before treating the operating model as fixed.