Can crossfit gyms make money

Know an athlete or personality? Talk to them, message the Mods , and we'll arrange an AMA! This subreddit is not affiliated with CrossFit Inc. How profitable are CF boxes, anyway? I DO NOT OWN A CF BOX, NOR DO I WANT TO.

I'm not fishing for info, I'm actually terribly curious and interested! I guess my main question says it all. How profitable are CF boxes, in your experiences? Barely enough to have the owner eat at the end of the day? Plenty of money and profits to invest or save? I've got limited experience in terms of number of boxes, but from what I've been seeing it must be quite hard, financially.

When it comes to it, the incoming amounts of money aren't really very high, are they? I'm in my 5th year of running a CrossFit gym. My husband and I do it full time, and we have 6 part time coaches on staff. We started in a sq ft. We have about members. We make enough money to pay our bills and live our lives, but we are by no means rolling in the dough.

The busier we get, the more equipment we need to buy, the bigger gym we need, and the more staff we need to hire. We don't really get to pocket the extra revenue. As the money coming in increases, so too do the expenses. Well, it is hugely interesting to be honest, yes. I don't want to invade on your privacy or make you type a whole lot, but yes, if you have time, please! I always wondered how CF gyms can compare financially to the massive standard gyms. I mean, CF gyms don't really get to feed off inactive members that are still in a contract nearly as much, do they.

Still, I presume running a CF gym and doing what you love all the time beats things like money any day, in this case, doesn't it. There's def a marginal cost for each new member but after your fixed costs are covered there's a profit per member. More members more problems That's where our gym is at right now. We've out gown our space and the owner is looking.

My box owner teaches 4 of 6 classes a day and works full time. I'm guessing that, while he's solvent, he's not making a killing, yet. The biggest risk with a xfit box is that most of the costs are up front, sunk costs.

So, if no one likes your gym, then you're just out that money minus what you can sell it to the next gym owner for. The equipment to outfit a box is easily in the tens of thousands of dollars. Even if you're buying used bars and bumper plates, they're still going to be expensive.

I don't own a box, I'm just guessing. Also, things will clearly vary based on the size of the gym and the geographic location. I have no idea. You could go to a gym that saves money by not licensing the Crossfit and just uses the crossfit. Definitely not as expensive. One thing you forgot to mention though is that equipment which is probably the biggest cost can be depreciated which offsets the tax and reduces the burden somewhat. If you are practical at the start it's not really all that bad and you expand as your affiliate does.

What’s it like to be the owner of a CrossFit gym? Interview with an Affiliate part 3 | Nicki Violetti

It's true, I did forget depreciation tax shields. That might knock off a memberships from the break even point. I honestly can't punch any holes in that one. I've got to say, though, I did not know the equipment was that expensive. The boxes only a few I've been to were all so minimalistic! Would be worse out here in Europe, I think. Nobody would pay dollars a month. I've been to 3 boxes, charging around 80 dollars a month, roughly, and that's already considered extremely expensive. IT's way more expensive than normal gyms, of course, which is understandable, but that paints a picture.

I think rent would be a big deal, in the end. I do think, however, that the insurances would even that out again. One day I'll be impolite enough to ask my box owner.

By your maths I think you'd need about members, out here. I'm not even joking anymore. HOW is it humanly possible for more than a select few people to afford that every single month? I live far enough outside the city where it's more affordable. It's absolutely insane and I don't see how it's sustainable. Maybe we're spoiled in Europe for as far as CF is concerned: Gyms with prices like that would have the grand total of 0 members. I'd think it would be cheaper in the city, with competition possibly being higher and all?

Where in Europe are you and what are the prices like there. As said, though, as much as I love them, they were always small minimalistic gyms. I hope the popularity of Crossfit makes it over to Europe to a bigger extent, soon. The whole community thing that's so big in NA isn't really there around here in my experience, because it's just too small. It stays individualistic all the time, for some reason. I still love it, though! That's for 3 classes a week. That's about normal - usually you'd get unlimited for that price, but my box is on the slightly pricey side.

Space is at a premium in the city. I have to say, you're right in some regards, the parking lot often looks like a European car show. It's a significant monthly bill that a lot of people can't afford But we have a very roomy warehouse, lots of equipment and space to go around, and awesome coaches with small class sizes. Also they have classes all day from 5am to 8pm. Maybe in NA, CF is just a way bigger deal and more "big business" than in Europe?

I mean, you have a roomy warehouse, lots of equipment and space, and classes all day. So you pay a lot but get a lot - which is possible cause of the popularity out there. In EU, or at least the few I've been, it's quite minimalistic and there's only a few classes a day.

Flipside is that it costs way way less. Then again, CF is also way less popular out here. Ha that is cheap in NYC. In fact no one charges that in my city. I used to pay a month at my old Box that i was member at.

What’s it like to be the owner of a CrossFit gym? Interview with an Affiliate part 3 | Nicki Violetti

We are all talking about US dollars right? Can people even afford that? I don't know about incomes and standards of living and other costs there, but for instance students wouldn't have a chance, at such costs. Yea people can afford it. It's not any more expensive than smoking cigarettes or a weekly drinking habit.

Students we don't have a ton of. But ok, I think a better question would be: WHY THE HELL is it that expensive?

I know the standard CF arguments and they don't apply, so I'm curious. I am guessing you aren't thinking outside of your own locations standard of living. In NYC i would say when i was a younger man spending 70 dollars a night at a bar is a pretty normal night. I would say more around 80 dollars a night. At 4 times a month that is a month. I am not exaggerating that is how much it costs on a conservative average.

Cigarettes in my city cost on average 11 dollars a pack. Again at a pack a day that is about 77 a week which is more than a CrossFit gym. Why is it that expensive? Group classes are essentially group personal training which i think is a bargain at that level. In my city a box having members is a very crowded successful gym. This would require a great deal of staff and a large box to service and would need to be charging rates in that range to survive. We pay a lot for rent around here as well as personal living standards are higher.

A local globo such as LA Fitness or NYSC runs you anywhere from a month for a non instructive training environment. As an alternative people join my gym for more a month and in my opinion receive much more in the form of instruction on training and nutrition. Even with the success of my box I am still far from a rich man. I live hand to mouth and get by modestly.

I believe this is probably the higher end money wise as far as location but our pricing is not unfair and i believe represents the training you get in relation to the standard of living of our surroundings. Does this make sense at all? I tend to ramble a bit. Perhaps that has something to do with it - though western Europe isn't exactly known for low incomes, perhaps income VS outgoings could have something to do with it. Also, I'm surprised a "globo" costs that much for non-instructive, there.

I'd say it's similar here, in that kind of gyms.

It did make a lot of sense, thanks for the extended answer! How many people does your gym have at , roughly, you'd say? Bear in mind the idea of a higher standard of living we also make more money. A police officer makes , a year with overtime.

A school teacher makes 88, a year with the ability to have extra by working summers. We make more money but also spend more money. A Sanitation worker for instance can make about 85, a year with overtime. As a single income family of 3 I need to make , a year to be able to afford the bare minimum to scrape by.

I think of it as paying for a personal trainer. With crossfit I can go 20 times a month. It's the same around here.

Theres so many factors that need to taken into account. But my guess would be the the most successful ones to be located in the downtown areas. Dowtown toronto has the biggest affiliates and smaller ones in the suburbs.

There was one in my city. Which was only one city away from toronto and it shut down last year because the culture is different. The closest box to me is 30mins away by car. Its pretty new but has a decent amt of members but not enough for the owner to bring on employees.

Also, if the profit margin was not high, crossfit wouldnt be booming right now. People wouldnt just go around spending money and opening xfit gyms just for kicks. I guess it's quite a bit different between EU and NA, too. From what I've heard and read, it's a pretty well-known and big thing in NA by now, isn't it?

There's far fewer boxes here in Europe. The ones that are here seem to do well, but it's undoubtedly a lot harder than is is out there. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and that you have read our Privacy Policy and Content Policy.

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You won't be able to vote or comment. Let me know what you guys think! I'll give you a more detailed break down if you're really interested. Thanks a lot, either way! But, here's some guesses for a suburban box: I don't know what to say, man. In both cases, they were between dollars a month for unlimited classes. Maybe it has something to do with the last bit you said.

Hadn't even considered that before, to be fair. If you drink away, say, 70 dollars in an evening you need help. NYC is at least I just moved to LA and its the same: It's definitely not easy to straight up state, I think. Posts are automatically archived after 6 months.