Verified — real FDD extraction
SBA-eligible · directory code S0395 since 2017
Club Pilates
Fitness · independent · est. —
Club Pilates is a boutique fitness studio chain offering group reformer Pilates classes for a range of fitness levels on a membership basis. A franchisee operates a studio, hiring and scheduling certified instructors, selling memberships, and managing the front desk and class calendar.
Club Pilates net unit count grew +35.2% from 2022–2024 per its FDD Item 20.
New to franchising? Start here
A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.
Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:
- Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
- Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
- Item 20 — how many locations opened and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).
The verdict
Proven & strong
Distress
Enough units and history to judge, and the record is good: growing or stable units with clean exits by the standards of its disclosed record. The standout in the record: the system is growing.
Exit rate · latest year
0.6%
vs 3.8% across 34 fitness systems
Cost to open
$385K–$839K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
0.0%
vs 14.8% avg across rated brands
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1
terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3
transfers vs. base · Table 3
actual vs. projected openings · Table 5
Item 19 disclosure + completeness
Systemwide units
2022–2024
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2024, 5 of 868 franchised outlets left the system — a 0.6% annualized exit rate, vs 3.8% across 34 fitness systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 660 | 761 | 876 |
| Opened | 93 | 116 | 166 |
| Transfers | 71 | 78 | 59 |
| Terminations | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Outlets at end | 761 | 876 | 1,029 |
| Net change | +101 | +115 | +153 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 292 SBA-backed loans to Club Pilates franchisees since 2015. Of the 182 that have resolved, 0.0% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.
0.0%
0 of 182 resolved defaulted
—
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
—
default rate × loss severity
$391,896
what recent franchisees borrowed
—
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
29 vs 35
distinct banks still lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO CLUB PILATES BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
Who finances it
Simmons Bank
29.7% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 12.2% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.
Who buys it
52.0%
first-time franchise owners
The rest already owned at least one other franchise. Across the corpus, brands bought mostly by repeat operators charge off at roughly 10% versus 17% for brands sold mostly to newcomers.
Does experience help here?
+0.0pp
multi-unit vs single-unit owners
Owners of multiple units default at 0.0%; single-unit owners at 0.0%.
Computed from 292 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to Club Pilates franchisees joined to the brand's own FDD. Debt service assumes level amortization at the average disclosed term and rate. A lender's rate excludes its loans to this brand, so it reads the lender, not the brand.
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $65K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $385K–$839K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$385K–$839K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$65K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
8%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$80K
8% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$800K
royalties alone, excl. ad fund
This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.
Build a real pro-forma for Club Pilates with an independent CPAModeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
Modeled from the public record, this brand looks safer than 94% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
6 / 100
Loan-corroborated
Modeled SBA charge-off
6.2%
Observed SBA charge-off
0.0%
Top drivers: System size (log units) (lowers) · Share financed by high-loss lenders (lowers) · Net unit growth (lowers) · Item 20 exit rate (lowers). 15+ resolved loans stand behind this estimate. A linear scorecard built from this brand's own disclosure figures plus the federal loan record behind its franchisees; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
Franchise litigation docket: Bunting v. Club Pilates Franchise, LLC (District Court, E.D. New York)
CourtListener/RECAP · 23mo ago
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Club Pilates's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →Club Pilates franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of Club Pilates franchises closed last year?
In Club Pilates's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2024), 5 of 868 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 0.6% — compared with 3.8% across 34 fitness systems tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons." There is no official failure rate, and not every exit is a failure, but this is the measurable floor.
How much does a Club Pilates franchise cost?
Per Club Pilates's 2025 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $65K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $385K–$839K (Item 7).
What royalty does Club Pilates charge?
Club Pilates charges an ongoing royalty of 8.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2025 FDD.
Does Club Pilates disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — Club Pilates makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2025 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.
How often do SBA loans for Club Pilates franchises default?
Across 292 SBA-backed loans to Club Pilates franchisees since 2015, 0 of the 182 that have resolved were charged off — a 0.0% default rate, versus about 14.8% across all rated franchise brands. This is the lender's-eye view of franchisee failure, drawn from public SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA data and independent of the franchisor's own disclosures.