Do you want to start a Crossfit franchise and want to know the fees, agreement, details? If YES, here’s how much it will cost you to buy a Crossfit franchise. Nothing attracts people to a business than when things are done differently from already established and accepted ways of doing things. This is perhaps what gave CrossFit inc. its outstanding success in the world of fitness and exercise.
With its high intensity mix of cardio, weight lifting and gymnastics, CrossFit is now an established trend that is gradually taking over the world of fitness training. Regardless of the high price tag required to belong to this famed cult of fitness idols, Americans have taken to it with a generous amount of enthusiasm. Because of this, owning a CrossFit gym has become a go-to business opportunity for many entrepreneurs.
In case you have wondered about what it would take to own, run and profit from running a CrossFit gym (or box as it is known in industry parlance) in the United States, here are the facts laid bare.
Buying a CrossFit Franchise – A Complete Guide
- Details to Note
The following are details an applicant needs to note when intending to acquire or open a CrossFit affiliate or box and use the CrossFit name in making and running the business.
- Revenue
Crossfit inc. generates its revenue mainly from annual affiliate fees of $3,000 and $1,000 seminar fees. Affiliates are free to train and collect a part of the fees if they have fulfilled certain requirements. Affiliates also make their money by charging membership fees every month which is around $200. It should be noted that discounts are given to long-term participants and to the military, police, fire personnel and teachers.
- Training
All intending CrossFit inc. applicants are mandated to go through a two-day training program where they are taught the CrossFit philosophy, the nine fundamental CrossFit movements including variation of squats and power lifts, and they are shown how to design the workout of the day (WOD). They are equally taught how to handle and lecture beginners.
- Failure Rate
According to research, there is a 2 percent failure rate when opening a CrossFit gym, a statistics that is remarkably low.
- Affiliate Licensing Fees
Affiliates are required to pay $3,000 annually as affiliation fee and affiliates are also locked in on the fee they paid as at the time they joined the network. Because of the locked in fee, some affiliates still pay $500 a year.
- Barriers to Entry
The barriers to entry into the CrossFit world is regarded as quite low as affiliates are free to open their boxes in garages, industrial settings, loading bays and what have you as long as you can afford it.
Cost of Opening a CrossFit Franchise
To open a CrossFit gym, affiliates have to factor in affiliate fee, equipment cost, rent, utilities, insurance, marketing as well as salary expenses. As such, the applicant needs to budget for the following;
- Equipment – $5,000 minimum
- Maintenance/replacement of equipment – $1,000 per month.
- Rent (depending on location and size) – $7,900 per month
- Salaries (hourly rate) – $20 to $25 for three or four coaches depending on the capacity of your facility.
Considering everything, it is recommended that an intending affiliate have at least $30,000 when intending to start a CrossFit gym business.
- Making Profit
Most CrossFit gym businesses, if well managed get to turn a good profit for the owner. If the gym has a membership of about 150 and each participant pays about $200 (the average fee) per month, the box gets to make about $30,000 in revenue every month. This type of revenue, if attained is enough to offset all expenses including the box owner’s salary, while having some income left over to use in running the daily affairs of the business and paying bills.
This number of patronage may seem to be on the high side and difficult to attain, but with a lot of work and a strong marketing plan, this figure and more is quite reachable.
Certifications Needed to Run a Crossfit Franchise
CrossFit, inc. offers the following certifications to its affiliates;
- Level 1 Certificate Course
- Level 2 Certificate Course
- Certified CrossFit Level 3 Trainer (CF-L3)
- Certified CrossFit Level 4 Coach
Equipment Needed to Run a CrossFit Franchise
These are some of the tools and equipment you need to effectively run your CrossFit box.
- Barbells and bumper plates
- Kettlebells
- Medicine balls
- A pull-up structure or rig
- Gymnastic rings
- Plyo boxes
- Parallettes
- Rowers
- Jump ropes
- Racks
- Weight bench
- Airdynes
- SkiErgs
- PVC pipes
- Metal change plates
- Abmats
- Rubber flooring to protect your equipment
You should also budget for extra bars and poles, white board and markers (for lecturing), cleaning equipment like mop, broom, trash can, buckets, towels etc; office equipment like chairs, tables, cabinets, telephone, CCTV cameras etc. These expenses maybe considered little but they do add up to a significant amount real quickly.
Equipment is one of the things that would likely cost you a lot of money while opening your box. You can budget between $20,000 and $50,000 depending on your capital, but the budget can equally be quite lower too. If you are low on cash, you could start up with only the necessary equipment pending when you can afford other more expensive ones. You are also allowed to purchase used equipment and you can find these on Craigslist, eBay and at your local auction.
If you choose to buy new equipment, you can patronize large vendors like Rogue and Again Faster etc. You can shop around in order to compare prices so as to get the cheapest bargain. Another option you can consider when equipping your box is to use an equipment financing company like Rigquipment Finance. They offer both loan and lease financing options for those who don’t have cash to buy upfront.
- Staff / Manpower Requirement
A typical CrossFit gym would need
- Head coach (normally the affiliate owner)
- The manager
- Administrative assistant
- Receptionist
- Cleaner
But the owner of the CrossFit box can take over most of these positions if he is running on a lean budget.
- Insurance Policies Needed
You should expect to spend roughly $1,000 to $2,000 annually on insurance.
4 Requirements for Owning a CrossFit Box
Here is a list of requirements an intending affiliate has to fulfill before being qualified to open and run a CrossFit gym in the United States.
- Application letter: an applicant intending to own a CrossFit box has to first of all write an application letter to CrossFit inc. making his or her intentions known, explaining why he wants to be an affiliate, his background, skills, experiences etc. It takes between 6 to 8 weeks to get a response from the company.
- CrossFit training certificate: an applicant is required to obtain at least a Level 1 Certificate before considering applying for an affiliation. CrossFit organizes level 1 Certificate courses several times in a year and in several locations. Applicants need to check the CrossFit website to locate a training center nearest to them. CrossFit Level 3 certificate is also acceptable.
- Insurance: affiliates in the United States are required to submit proof of insurance. Though insurance from other companies are acceptable, but CrossFit offers its own insurance which is called CrossFit Risk Retention Group (RRG), which they believe offers a better insurance coverage for affiliates. You can check their website www.crossfitrrg.com for more details and go to the insurance section.
- Website: a website is another basic requirement for becoming an affiliate. You need to have an already standard and functional live website that would enable you to be linked to the CrossFit site. Note however that you are not allowed to register a domain with the CrossFit name until after your affiliate application has been approved. Doing thus is illegal and can get you sued.
A Brief History of CrossFit
Industry Overview
- Date of incorporation: 2000
- Date of Affiliation: 2002
- Headquarters: Santa Cruz, California
- Industry: Fitness/Gym
CrossFit inc. is a fitness company or gymnasium that took its name from the pattern of workouts it allows. CrossFit was founded by Greg Glassman who in his teenage years was a gymnast.
The CrossFit training program can be referred to as a ‘Jack of all trades and master of none’ approach. It involves working out across board with the aim of achieving specialized abilities and fitness that applies to one particular set of movement. The goal is to train every muscle in the body to achieve general fitness.
CrossFit took the fitness and games world by storm when it increased the prize money to $1 million, and this singular act drew gymnasts and trainers into the competition in droves; and in 2015, the prize wins for the CrossFit games rose to $2 million.
The CrossFit training method builds whole-body functional fitness by utilizing various calisthenics, free weights, gymnastic rings, kettle bells and pull-up bars. This unique method of training is now being adopted by an ever increasing number of high schools and colleges.
Currently, CrossFit has been adopted for different methods and different classes of people such as; for soldiers in severe environments, for the elderly, for children, for combatant athletes, and in the park.
Currently, there are over 13,000 CrossFit gyms and boxes in more than 120 countries of the world with over 4 million CrossFit devotees, and the company generates over $4 billion in annual revenue, and CrossFit, inc. makes around $100 million annually.