Discover Strength franchise unit economics
Discover Strength franchisees run an 1,800 to 2,200 square foot studio delivering one-to-one and small-group strength training staffed by credentialed exercise physiologists, inside a protected territory of a three-mile radius or about 50,000 people. A studio open 13 to 24 months averaged $278,638 of gross sales and one open 24 months or more $872,951. Labor, payroll taxes and rent take 91.6% of the first and 59.7% of the second.
- Primary source
- Discover Strength Franchising LLC, 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
- Items read
- Item 7 for cost to open; Item 19 for sales and any profit figure
- Population
- 14 of 25 locations
- Our calculations
- Marked on the page with an asterisk. Method
- Last reviewed
- 26 September 2026
Disclosure-based. Not a forecast, not an offer to sell a franchise, and not advice.
Rent here is almost the same whether a studio bills $278,638 or $872,951, $8,138 a month against $8,717. That single fact is the whole model. Labor, payroll taxes and rent take 91.6% of a second-year studio’s sales and 59.7% of a mature one’s, a swing of 32 points bought almost entirely by filling a lease that was already being paid.
- Three lines take 91.6% of a second-year studio’s sales and 59.7% of a mature one’s. Labor, payroll taxes and rent *, leaving 8.4% and 40.3% before royalty, marketing, utilities and insurance.
- Rent is 35.0% of a second-year studio’s sales and 12.0% of a mature one’s. $97,656 against $104,604 a year *, near-identical dollars, 23 points apart as a share.
- A mature studio bills 3.13 times a second-year one. $872,951 against $278,638, and labor falls from 50.7% of sales to 43.7% across the same span *.
- After the brand’s 12.6%, a second-year studio is 4.2 points under water. Against 29.5 points left at a mature one *, so year two is funded.
- The year-five sales requirement of $500,000 sits above the lowest-selling mature studio. Which billed $262,478, and missing it lets the brand shrink the territory or end the agreement.
How much does a Discover Strength franchise make?
The average Discover Strength unit reported $872,951 of revenue in the 2026 FDD, and the median reported $876,482. The brand’s disclosure document discloses revenue and not profit, so what an owner keeps depends on the cost structure set out below. Fees come off the top first, at about 10.8% of sales across royalty, brand fund and the rest of the stack. Revenue is not income. Rent, wages, cost of goods and the franchise fees all come out before an owner is paid. The figures for the highest-selling and lowest-selling businesses are below.
Top performers
What separates the top Discover Strength performers
Discover Strength splits its locations into groups instead of publishing one average. The best group averaged $1,635,173 a year. The worst averaged $262,478. Both run the same brand, on the same agreement, paying the same fees.
Decided before you open
- Trade area and site.A 6.2× gap between bands is not an operating gap. Catchment, daytime population and what sits next door set the ceiling before the first customer arrives.
- Capacity, fixed at build.Locations run 2,064 to 2,538 square feet. What you can sell is set by the build, and the build does not change after opening.
- What you spend to open.Opening costs $529,000 to $870,000, a 1.6× range inside one brand. The high end usually buys more capacity, so the cheapest build is not always the cheapest route to the top band.
- Lease economics.Occupancy cost ran 12.0% of sales in this filing. The rent does not fall when sales do, so the same lease is a far heavier line at the bottom of the system than at the top. That is how a weak site compounds into a weak profit line.
Live operating levers
- Wages, the dominant line.Wages take 43.7% of sales. Staff productivity, scheduling against demand hour by hour, and the balance of base pay to commission are where this is won.
- Occupancy, the line that does not flex.Rent and building costs take 12.0% of sales here. Sales per square foot and the hours the space is earning are the only two ways to move it, because the rent itself is fixed at signing.
- Suites rented, the operating driver.This model bills on suites rented. The suites are built once and then let, so the business is how many are occupied and how long each tenant stays. It is worth watching every week, because by the time it turns up in a monthly close the quarter is half gone.
- Membership and rebooking.A recurring plan turns a high-fixed-cost business from an appointment book into a subscription, which smooths the utilisation that drives the wage line. Rebooking before the customer leaves is what builds it, not marketing spend afterwards.
- Fees, and where the minimum bites.Fees run about 10.8% of sales. A minimum sits underneath the percentage, so the low-volume location pays the higher effective rate. The brand charges the weakest locations the most. Work out the sales level where the percentage overtakes the minimum and know which side of it you are on, because the answer changes what an extra dollar of sales is worth.
- The first year.This filing shows how a new location builds up, so the ramp can be underwritten from the document rather than assumed. Read two things out of it: the month sales cross the point where costs are covered, and how much cash you fund before that month arrives. Everything before break-even is paid for by you.
Context you underwrite around
- The reporting screen.14 of 25 locations are behind these figures. Locations open less than the full year, brand-owned, or not meeting the reporting criteria are excluded, as are locations under the brand’s current size standard, so the numbers describe locations that cleared that screen, not the system as a whole.
- What the disclosure leaves out.Item 19 publishes no profit or cost data for franchised locations. The brand’s own locations are the only margin signal in the document, and they are run by the people who wrote the playbook.
Rent stays put, sales triple
The same lease, three times the sales.
| Line | 13 to 24 months (6) | Share * | 24 months and over (8) | Share * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross sales | $278,638 | 100% | $872,951 | 100% |
| Labor | $141,217 | 50.7% | $381,362 | 43.7% |
| Payroll taxes | $16,250 | 5.8% | $35,470 | 4.1% |
| Rent | $97,656 | 35.0% | $104,604 | 12.0% |
| Left before the brand | $23,515 | 8.4% | $351,515 | 40.3% |
| Brand charges | $35,052 | 12.6% | $94,483 | 10.8% |
| Left after the brand | $(11,537) | (4.2%) | $257,032 | 29.5% |
The sales, labor, payroll taxes and monthly rent are as the brand reported it and the annual rent, brand charges and the two remaining rows are derived from them, marked *.
Rent differs by $579 a month between the two groups. $8,138 against $8,717 *, so the 23-point fall in rent as a share of sales is sales growth alone, against a cost that changes by less than a tenth.
Labor falls seven points as a studio matures. 50.7% to 43.7%, worth $61,106 a year at mature sales *, and the second largest source of the swing after rent.
Utilities, insurance, supplies, interest and owner pay all sit below the last line. So the 29.5% a mature studio keeps is a gross figure, and the negative 4.2% at a second-year studio is before those costs.
Sales per square foot run $135 in year two and $344 at maturity. *, on studios of roughly 2,064 and 2,538 square feet implied by those figures.
The median second-year studio bills 82.9% of its group average. $231,118 against $278,638, while the mature median at $876,482 sits fractionally above its own mean. So the young group is the skewed one.
Franchised against company
The brand’s own studios show the same curve, steeper.
| Measure | Company 13–24 mo (2) | Company 24+ mo (6) | Franchised 13–24 mo (6) | Franchised 24+ mo (8) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average gross sales | $269,990 | $1,032,286 | $278,638 | $872,951 |
| Median | $269,990 | $1,197,924 | $231,118 | $876,482 |
| Low | $210,998 | $374,579 | $104,293 | $262,478 |
| High | $328,982 | $1,426,766 | $479,191 | $1,635,173 |
| Labor share | 68% | 46% | 51% | 44% |
| Sales a square foot | $129 | $524 | $135 | $344 |
Every figure is as the brand reported it, with the company-owned columns describing the predecessor operator instead of franchisee performance.
Mature company studios bill $524 a square foot against $344 at franchised ones. 1.52 times *, on 1.18 times the sales, so they run the same revenue through a smaller box.
Young company studios spend 68% of sales on labor. Against 51% at young franchised ones, which on $269,990 of sales puts those three core lines at 116.4% *, meaning the brand has its own openings through the same trough.
The highest-selling franchised studio billed $1,635,173. Above the highest-selling company one at $1,426,766, so the ceiling in this system belongs to a franchisee.
The lowest-selling mature franchised studio billed $262,478. Against $374,579 for the lowest-selling mature company one, a $112,101 gap at the bottom that matters more than the gap at the top.
Half the reporting studios are the brand’s own or its predecessor’s. 8 company against 14 franchised, and one company studio has traded 19 years, so read the company columns as a long-run demonstration.
The target to clear
A rising sales minimum, written into the territory.
| Year | Minimum gross sales | How it compares * |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $100,000 | Below the lowest-selling second-year studio at $104,293 |
| Year 2 | $225,000 | Below the second-year average of $278,638 |
| Year 3 | $350,000 | Above the second-year average |
| Year 4 | $450,000 | Above the second-year high of $479,191 by a margin of one studio |
| Year 5 onward | $500,000 | Above the lowest-selling mature studio at $262,478 |
The schedule is as the brand reported it and the right-hand column compares each threshold to the filed franchised averages, medians and ranges, marked *.
Missing the minimum lets the brand shrink your territory or end the agreement. Or require additional general manager training at your expense, so the schedule has teeth beyond a performance conversation.
The step from year two to year three asks for $125,000 more. 56% growth in a single year, against a system where the average studio takes until month 24 to reach $278,638.
At the mature average of $872,951 the requirement is comfortably met. 1.75 times the year-five minimum *, so the pressure sits entirely in years three and four.
Territory is the lesser of a three-mile radius or about 50,000 people. So a mature studio bills $17.46 a head at the population cap *, and the brand decides which of the two measures applies.
Relocating costs 25% of the then-current franchise fee. And is permitted only if the premises become untenantable through casualty, so a poor site is a poor site for the term.
Fees and what it costs to open
Half a million before the doors open.
| Charge | Rate | 13 to 24 months | 24 months and over |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royalty | 6% of gross sales | $16,718 | $52,377 |
| System marketing fund | 2% | $5,573 | $17,459 |
| Local marketing | 2% | $5,573 | $17,459 |
| Technology | $400 a month | $4,800 | $4,800 |
| Scheduling app | $199 a month | $2,388 | $2,388 |
| Total | n/a | $35,052 | $94,483 |
| Share of sales | n/a | 12.6% | 10.8% |
The rates and monthly charges are as the brand reported it and the annual dollar figures apply them to each group's filed gross sales, marked *.
Local marketing may rise to the greater of $12,000 a quarter or 3% of monthly sales. On 60 days’ notice, which at second-year sales would take the requirement from $5,573 to $48,000, worth 15.2 points of sales *.
A studio costs $529,000 to $870,000 to open. 0.61 to 1.00 times what a mature studio bills in a year *, of which $211,000 to $268,000 goes to the brand.
The equipment package alone is $153,000 to $183,000, bought from the brand. With $75,000 due at signing, alongside building work of $220,000 to $390,000 before any tenant allowance.
Additional funds cover only three months. $20,000 to $55,000, against a second-year studio that on these figures is still running at a deficit on its core lines.
Fees actually collected in 2025 ran $33,500 to $58,000. Against a $58,000 list and a $38,000 employee rate, so the low end sits below every disclosed tier.
Questions we get asked
Questions an owner asks.
What does a Discover Strength studio bill?
A franchised studio open 13 to 24 months averaged $278,638 in 2025 with a median of $231,118, a low of $104,293 and a high of $479,191. One open 24 months or more averaged $872,951 with a median of $876,482, a low of $262,478 and a high of $1,635,173.
What happens between year two and maturity?
Sales triple while rent stays put. Rent runs $8,138 a month at young studios and $8,717 at mature ones, so it falls from 35.0% of sales to 12.0%. Labor falls from 50.7% to 43.7%. Together with payroll taxes, those three lines drop from 91.6% of sales to 59.7%, on our reading.
What is left over?
Before the brand, 8.4% at a second-year studio and 40.3% at a mature one. After royalty, marketing and technology charges of 12.6% and 10.8%, that is minus 4.2% and plus 29.5%. Utilities, insurance, supplies, interest and owner pay all still come out of the second figure.
What does the brand take?
6% of gross sales in royalty, 2% to the system marketing fund, 2% of local marketing spend, $400 a month of technology and $199 a month for the scheduling app. The brand reserves the right to raise the local requirement to the greater of $12,000 a quarter or 3% of monthly sales on 60 days' notice.
Is there a sales requirement?
Yes, and it rises: $100,000 in year one, $225,000 in year two, $350,000 in year three, $450,000 in year four and $500,000 from year five. Missing it lets the brand require extra general manager training at your expense, reduce the territory or terminate. The year-five minimum sits above the lowest-selling mature studio in the system at $262,478.
How do the company studios compare?
Mature company studios averaged $1,032,286 against $872,951 franchised, at $524 a square foot against $344. But young company studios spent 68% of sales on labor against 51% at young franchised ones. Eight of the 22 reporting studios are company-owned, and one has traded 19 years, so read those columns as a long-run demonstration.
What does a studio cost to open?
$529,000 to $870,000 for 1,800 to 2,200 square feet, of which $211,000 to $268,000 goes to the brand. Building work run $220,000 to $390,000 and the equipment package $153,000 to $183,000 with $75,000 due at signing. Additional funds of $20,000 to $55,000 cover three months.
Which two numbers should run monthly?
Gross sales against $8,717 of monthly rent, because rent is the fixed cost the whole model leans on and it falls from 35% of sales to 12% purely on volume. And labor as a share of sales against 43.7%. Because that is where a mature studio lands and it is the only large line an owner controls week to week.
- No profit figure. The filing reports sales and not earnings, so what an owner keeps is not disclosed.
Questions worth putting to Discover Strength
The filing answers what it answers. These are the gaps an owner or a buyer should close directly.
- What do locations at the median spend on wages and rent as a share of sales? The filing reports sales only.
- What separates the highest-selling locations from the lowest: trade area, years open, size, or the owner?
- How long does a new location take to reach the average you publish, and what does the build-up look like month by month?
- At what level of sales do the minimum charges stop applying and the percentage take over?
- How many Discover Strength locations closed, were sold, or changed hands last year, and why?
Run your own numbers.
The Franchise Finance Diagnostic runs the same checks on your own numbers. It scores where you stand and compares you with Item 19 of your brand’s FDD. It works out what one location earns and spends, and builds a 13-week cash forecast. Checks whether you are ready to open another one. It is free and it runs in your browser.
Launch the diagnostic →How far through the build-up are you?
A structured review of your unit economics, cash forecast. Reporting, built around a lease that costs the same at $278,638 and $872,951, labor at 43.7% of sales. A $500,000 minimum written into the territory.
Request the reviewthe franchise library, all 243 brands · how franchise unit economics work · running the books across several locations · what Averan does for franchise owners
Discover Strength reads against the rest of the personal training group: Alloy Personal Training · Fit Body Boot Camp · Fitness Together · GYMGUYZ. The personal training guide compares all of them on the same figures.
Questions owners ask next
The figures above raise these, and each one is answered on its own page.
- At what level of sales does a minimum fee stop costing me more than the percentage?How royalty, ad fund and minimums actually work on a monthly statement.
- How much cash do I fund before a new location covers its own costs?A 13-week forecast for the months before break-even.
- My payroll percentage keeps climbing. Is that a payroll problem?Usually it is a revenue problem wearing a payroll costume.
- I run several locations. Which ones actually make money?Location-level contribution, and what it takes to see it.
- How much of Item 19 can I rely on?What a financial performance representation does and does not tell you.