Anytime Fitness Parent Plans 2,500 More Gyms by 2030

It took Anytime Fitness and its sister brands 24 years to reach 7,500 gyms. Purpose Brands, the Minnesota company that now owns them, wants to add another 2,500 in four.

The plan, laid out in an Oct. 21 report by the Minnesota Star Tribune, calls for membership to grow from 6 million to 10 million by 2030 and sales to rise from $4.1 billion to between $5 billion and $6 billion. Purpose Brands formed in 2024 when Orangetheory Fitness merged with Self Esteem Brands, owner of Anytime Fitness, Waxing the City and the Bar Method.

Most of the growth is supposed to come from outside the U.S. The company has 2,300 locations in the U.S., 1,200 in Japan and 600 in Australia, and it plans new sites in Poland, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Argentina and Chile. Executives traveled to China in the spring and hosted prospective franchisees from Italy and Kuwait at the Woodbury headquarters this month. International gyms average larger membership rolls than U.S. clubs, said Stacy Anderson, global president of Anytime Fitness.

“It is a lot, [but] any fitness concept outside of the U.S. is just on fire around the world,” Anderson told the paper. “It’s a huge opportunity.”

The math depends on franchisees writing large checks. A license costs about $42,000, and building out a gym runs $500,000 to $900,000. The company has opened 875 gyms since January 2025 and plans 400 more in 2027. Co-chair Chuck Runyon conceded that higher borrowing costs could delay openings and squeeze franchisee returns. Purpose is counting on its size to win better prices on equipment and supplies.

Not every brand in the house is growing. There are about 1,200 Orangetheory studios worldwide, 300 fewer than in 2023. Franchisees who closed cited rents, wages and operating costs, and Live Oak Bank sued one operator in December over $4.3 million in defaulted loans tied to 12 Orangetheory sites in the Twin Cities and the Dakotas. George John, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, told the Star Tribune he is skeptical the company can hit its targets.

Existing owners are being asked to spend, too. Purpose is putting $50 million into technology upgrades and urging franchisees to renovate toward a new design with bigger strength areas and recovery rooms fitted with infrared saunas. Andy Gundlach, who owns 177 Anytime Fitness gyms, plans to use the design for clubs he is opening in Chicago and California. “It’s slick. Our clients will like it,” he said.

The push comes as fitness keeps concentrating around large, well-capitalized operators, from Planet Fitness absorbing Body Xchange to F45 trading unit count for franchisee quality.

One structural detail may matter more than the targets. Anytime Fitness charges franchisees a flat fee rather than a percentage of sales, so owners keep more of every new membership. Whether that is enough to justify a $900,000 build at today’s borrowing costs is the bet thousands of prospective owners will have to make.