FRANCHISE·WATCH·DESK

Verified — real FDD extraction

Not found in the SBA Franchise Directory under this name — though SBA loans to its franchisees exist; verify eligibility with your lender

I LOVE KICKBOXING

Fitness · independent · est. —

iLoveKickboxing (ILKB) is a fitness studio brand offering instructor-led kickboxing workout classes on heavy bags for cardio and conditioning. A franchisee runs a studio selling class memberships, employing instructors and managing the schedule.

I LOVE KICKBOXING net unit count declined -38.1% from 20212023 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

Showing strain

Distress

0
STABLE

The disclosed record shows weakness — shrinking units, elevated exits, or churn — worth reading closely before going further.

Exit rate · latest year

32.9%

vs 3.8% across 34 fitness systems

Cost to open

$100K–$371K

Item 7 total investment range

SBA loan defaults

27.8%

vs 14.8% avg across rated brands

Behind the verdict

the record, factor by factor · Item 20

hi-1.0.0
Net unit growth35%

3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1

Weak
Exit quality25%

terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3

Weak
Transfer / churn15%

transfers vs. base · Table 3

Weak
Promise-keeping10%

actual vs. projected openings · Table 5

Strong
Transparency15%

Item 19 disclosure + completeness

Strong

Systemwide units

2021–2023

-38.1%
842021732022522023

Survival record

FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year

In fiscal 2023, 24 of 73 franchised outlets left the system — a 32.9% 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
Status (FTC)202120222023
Outlets at start1158473
Opened233
Transfers6116
Terminations331424
Non-renewals000
Reacquired by franchisor000
Ceased — other reasons000
Outlets at end847352
Net change-31-11-21

The lender's view

SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present

Banks have made 181 SBA-backed loans to I LOVE KICKBOXING franchisees since 2014. Of the 151 that have resolved, 27.8% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.

Charge-off rate

27.8%

42 of 151 resolved defaulted

Loss given default

71.8%

avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $

Expected loss

20.0%

default rate × loss severity

Avg. loan · FY2020+

$213,000

what recent franchisees borrowed

Median time to default

49 mo

approval → charge-off, defaulted loans

Lenders · FY21+ vs FY16–20

2 vs 42

distinct banks — pulling back

Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)

8'153036'172733'19

SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO I LOVE KICKBOXING BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL

The owner's side of the deal

FDD × federal loan record

Who finances it

Stearns Bank National Association

30.9% of this brand's loans

That lender charges off 11.4% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.

Who buys it

70.7%

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?

+6.0pp

multi-unit vs single-unit owners

Owners of multiple units default at 30.0%; single-unit owners at 24.0%.

Computed from 181 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to I LOVE KICKBOXING 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 $20K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $100K–$371K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.

To open (Item 7)

$100K–$371K

all-in investment range

Franchise fee (Item 5)

$20K

upfront, one-time

Royalty (Item 6)

6%

of sales, ongoing

If a unit does this in annual sales…$1M/yr

Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.

Royalty you'd pay / yr

$60K

6% of sales, before profit

Over a 10-yr term

$600K

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 I LOVE KICKBOXING with an independent CPA

Modeled risk

FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record

High risk

Modeled from the public record, this brand looks riskier than 91% of systems we score.

Risk percentile

91 / 100

Loan-corroborated

Modeled SBA charge-off

21.6%

Observed SBA charge-off

27.8%

Top drivers: Item 20 exit rate (raises) · Net unit growth (raises) · System size (log units) (raises) · Share financed by high-loss lenders (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

No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for I LOVE KICKBOXING. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.

Before you sign anythingfree · 30 min · no commission

A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing I LOVE KICKBOXING's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.

Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →

I LOVE KICKBOXING franchise questions, answered from the filings

What percentage of I LOVE KICKBOXING franchises closed last year?

In I LOVE KICKBOXING's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2023), 24 of 73 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 32.9% — 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 I LOVE KICKBOXING franchise cost?

Per I LOVE KICKBOXING's 2024 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $20K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $100K–$371K (Item 7).

What royalty does I LOVE KICKBOXING charge?

I LOVE KICKBOXING charges an ongoing royalty of 6.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2024 FDD.

Does I LOVE KICKBOXING disclose earnings (Item 19)?

Yes — I LOVE KICKBOXING makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2024 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.

How often do SBA loans for I LOVE KICKBOXING franchises default?

Across 181 SBA-backed loans to I LOVE KICKBOXING franchisees since 2014, 42 of the 151 that have resolved were charged off — a 27.8% 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.

Is I LOVE KICKBOXING a good franchise to buy? Health score, exit rate & costs (2026) · Franchise Watch Desk