Athletech News — (June 28, 2025) — Retro Fitness is a fast-growing high-value, low-price fitness gym franchise. When CEO Andrew Alfano took the helm of Retro Fitness in 2019, he didn’t just join a gym franchise, the company was at an inflection point and he transformed Retro Fitness into a leader in the high-value, low-price franchise gym category. As a result, the Retro Fitness brand has evolved using a hospitality mindset. While some brands stalled during the pandemic, Retro Fitness was focused on doing the heavy lifting and reinvested and modernized its clubs and programs to emerge stronger making it even more relevant with today’s consumer.
Today, investors who want to capitalize on the fitness industry will benefit from Retro Fitness’ reputation for operational excellence and franchisee support. The management team is relentlessly focused on driving revenue and creating profitability. They firmly believe transformational brands seek continuous innovation. Retro Fitness is poised to be the cutting-edge of innovation across the exercise, health and fitness landscape. With a strong team embracing their role as “Ambassadors of Fitness,” Retro is focused on positive community impact dominating in exercise, health and fitness.
What is your franchise’s unique selling proposition (USP)?
Retro Fitness is building an exercise, health and fitness brand to help people live their best lives. Living a healthy lifestyle never goes out of style – and the fitness industry is booming. The opportunity could not be clearer as exercise, health and fitness is more relevant than ever. Retro Fitness has identified a gap in the market and is strategically positioned to dominate. Now is the time to thrive in the resilient, high-demand fitness sector.
For franchisees, Retro Fitness has a full suite of services delivering a true turn-key box. No other franchisor does more; from site selection and build-out to marketing, operations and consumer engagement to create an emotional connection to the brand, Retro Fitness does all the heavy lifting. The company provides significant operational advantages including multiple recurring revenue streams, high margins, low labor and low complexity. Backed by an experienced executive team, Retro Fitness continues to drive revenue and profitable opportunities across the franchise system. This momentum presents low-labor and high-margin investment opportunities.
How many units do you currently have? Additionally, how many new ones are opening per month and in which geographic areas are you most popular?
Retro Fitness is a fast growing high-value, low-price fitness gym franchise with over 200 locations open or in development in nine states. For motivated franchisees and investors, Retro Fitness offers single-unit, multi-unit or territory development/direct investments. Retro Fitness’ expansion strategy is focused on high-opportunity markets for the high-value, low-price model from coast to coast. They are building momentum by accelerating an exercise, health and fitness brand through strategic marketing and an authentic brand encouraging people to live their best lives. The brand is actively and intentionally expanding its presence, fueled by a growing pipeline of new franchisees with a focus on New York, New Jersey, Florida and Texas.
What are the key revenue streams for franchisees?
Fitness is booming – representing a $35-billion industry with strong tailwinds. Retro Fitness’ franchisees benefit from diversified revenue channels and multiple profit centers including:
This model enhances profitability allowing franchisees to capitalize on multiple points of engagement with members.
How is your brand positioned for future growth and expansion in the next 5-10 years?
The $35-billion fitness industry, with strong tailwinds, is consistently outpacing the economy and projected to grow more than 20% over the next five years. The industry is thriving and now is the best time to invest to help capitalize on future growth.
With a new executive leadership team led by former Starbucks executive Andrew Alfano, who came in to restructure and transform the Retro Fitness brand, the company now provides investors and franchisees with a full suite of services. Retro delivers a turn-key fitness club franchise including real estate site selection, construction, world-class personal training, live in-club support, an in-house marketing agency, accounting services, a call center and more. With a focus on an innovative, transformational and disruptive model, Retro Fitness aims to help people live their best lives as the leader in the high-value, low-price gym model.
Retro Fitness leaders see themselves as “Ambassadors of Fitness.” Retro Fitness will continue leading the conversation around exercise, health and fitness. Retro Fitness is dedicated to staying on the cutting edge of the fitness industry. The brand regularly updates its offerings to include the latest fitness trends, from technology-enhanced workouts to building an exercise, health and fitness brand amplified by “Get Real Moments” to helping people live their best lives in an inviting atmosphere.
In the next 5-10 years, Retro Fitness expects to continue maturing its programs and scaling with a goal of strategically expanding locations and supporting its current franchise owners and institutional investors. Since a transformational brand truly never arrives, the management team will continue to disrupt the fitness industry to be leaders in the space — evolving the member experience, expanding personal training and fitness offerings, upgrading equipment, and setting new standards in operations and community involvement inspired by their hospitality industry backgrounds. As a mission driven organization, initiatives such as Project LIFT, in partnership with the BlackRock Impact Opportunities Fund, help bringing fitness access to the communities it serves – ensuring the brand continues to grow with purpose.
What are the minimum capital requirements, initial investment costs and ongoing fees for franchisees? Furthermore, are financing or other fundraising options available?
The total investment necessary to begin operation of a Retro Fitness franchise is between $2,037,319 and $3,241,991.
Retro Fitness has a franchise development team ready to guide investors through financial requirements and available options.
What training and support do you provide to franchisees, including marketing, advertising, technology, equipment and real estate?
You don’t need prior experience in fitness to be a successful franchisee, as Retro Fitness provides comprehensive training. The ideal Retro Fitness franchisee aligns with our culture and is passionate about helping others achieve their health goals, has strong business acumen and is motivated to grow a thriving business.
Retro Fitness offers comprehensive support to help maximize your return on investment. Starting with site selection and build-out assistance, through grand opening and beyond, no other franchisor does more. Franchisees receive ongoing support in areas such as operations, marketing and member engagement. Retro Fitness also provides extensive training and access to proprietary tools for managing and growing the business.
For successful onboarding, Retro Fitness offers 80 hours of on-the-job training and 40 hours of classroom training, called “field days,” which are all about inspiring, training and celebrating franchisees and staff to ensure all are playing to win.
Retro Fitness delivers a comprehensive turn-key solution and does all the heavy lifting for franchisees – no other franchisor does more:
This full-stack support enables franchisees to focus on customer engagement while the home office handles the heavy lifting with backend operations.
Do you grant exclusive rights to a specific geographic area or are there any limitations on competition from other franchisees?
Yes. We offer exclusive territories to protect franchisee investments and ensure market stability. Our franchise development team can help explore options for multi-unit ownership based on your goals. Each location is strategically mapped to optimize performance.
Can you provide any pertinent financial performance details that would assist potential franchisees?
We welcome the opportunity to walk through a performa with any prospective franchisee or investor.
What are the key contact details for reaching out to your company and exploring potential collaboration?
Submit an inquiry on our website. Then a member of our franchise development team will reach out to discuss your goals and answer any questions. We’ll guide you through our discovery day process, introduce you to the team, provide details on financials and help determine if Retro Fitness is the right investment for you. For motivated franchisees and investors, Retro Fitness offers single-unit, multi-unit or territory investments/direct investments from coast to coast.
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