Have a good friend who wants to open a planet fitness franchise.. but I keep telling him it makes no sense..
I know nothing about business but charging $10/mo membership fee? how can you afford to pay even the electricity bill let alone all the other business expenses??
i'm guessing planet fitness is a franchise.
try to get an idea of how many close down per year. that is going to be a very hard thing to find out because if it's a high number that's bad for business.
like many franchises, the parent company makes money off the investor. they sell franchises knowing you will eventually go under, until that time they bleed you dry and then start over.
one of the best rules of thumb to get an idea if the business model is viable is to find out how many of the franchises are owned by the parent company themselves.
if planet fitness has 1000 franchises but only owns a few, like 5, then it's bullshit, they themselves don't make money from the model but from selling the model.
if they own a high percent of their own franchises then it says they are invested in the same business as the franchise owners and have confidence in the model, so their fates are tied together.