Twenty fitness companies made the 2016 Entrepreneur Franchise 500 list, which was released this month.
The highest ranking fitness-related company was Anytime Fitness, Hastings, Minnesota. It ranked No. 10 on the list of top franchises.
Snap Fitness, Chanhassen, Minnesota, ranked second at No. 61. Jazzercise, a group fitness franchise based in Carlsbad, California, came in No. 80, making it the third highest-ranking fitness-related franchise on the list. Planet Fitness, Newington, New Hampshire, came in at No. 95.
The rankings are based on financial and statistical data from July 2013 through July 2015. The data is submitted by the companies to Entrepreneur. Only companies that provide a franchise disclosure document can be considered for the list.
The three most important factors in the Franchise 500 rankings are system size, growth (that is, net franchise unit growth over a three-year period), and financial strength and stability of the franchisor, which is determined by an independent certified public accountant (CPA) based on an analysis of their audited financial statements, Tracy Stapp Herold, special projects editor for Entrepreneur Magazine, told Club Industry. The rankings also are based on the number of years a company has been in business and the length of time it's been franchising, startup costs, litigation, percentage of terminations and whether the company provides financing. Financial data is analyzed by an independent CPA. Entrepreneur does not measure subjective elements such as franchisee satisfaction or management style, she said. The objective factors are plugged into the company's exclusive Franchise 500 formula, with each eligible company receiving a cumulative score.
Following is the full list of fitness-related franchises that made the 2016 list:
10: Anytime Fitness
61: Snap Fitness
80: Jazzercise Inc.
95: Planet Fitness
123: Gold's Gym
168: Pure Barre
190: 9Round
201: My Gym Children's Fitness Center
226: UFC Gym
242: Retro Fitness
255: Orangetheory Fitness
276: i9 Sports
313: Crunch Franchising LLC
329: Brickhouse Cardio Club
379: The Little Gym
388: iLoveKickboxing.com
400: CKO Kickboxing
425: The Exercise Coach
439: Parisi Speed School
455: Pro Martial Arts Franchise Corp.
Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches ranked No. 1 overall on this year's list.
You can view the full list here.