Franchises · 2026 FDD · Wisconsin DFI filing 642202
GNC franchise cost, unit revenue and closures
Opening a GNC cost $187,589 to $530,342 in the 2026 FDD; the median unit sold $445,319 in the franchisor's 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 figures; 22.0% of franchised units closed over three years.
Franchisor: GNC Holdings, LLC. FDD issued 2026-07-30. Fiscal year end 2025-12-31. Figures re-found on the cited page 2026-11-03.
What a unit costs to open
New Franchise Store; a Conversion is $112,589 to $474,342 and a Smoothie Bar add-on $31,870 to $66,300.
What a unit pays the franchisor
| Initial franchise fee | $20,000 | Item 5, p. 25 |
|---|---|---|
| Royalty | 6% of total gross sales, monthly | Item 6, p. 28 |
| Advertising fund | National Advertising 3% of total gross sales | Item 6, p. 28 |
new franchisee; $15,000 for an existing franchisee or employee.
What a unit sells
Item 19 is optional and is the franchisor's own representation. It is shown here as filed, with the franchisor's measure, sample and period, and nothing is estimated where it is missing.
| Measure | gross sales, franchised stores, calendar 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Sample | 626 units: the 626 of 643 franchised US stores open at 2025-12-31 that operated continuously from 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31; 76 franchised stores that closed during the year are excluded | |
| Period | 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 | |
| High / low | $1,613,679 / $91,647 | |
Revenue to investment
Formula: Item 19 median / Item 7 New Franchise Store total (midpoint, low, high). A ratio of 1.00 means one year of median unit revenue equals the investment; it says nothing about profit.
How many units open and close
| Franchised units | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start of year | 774 | 750 | 703 |
| Opened | 12 | 22 | 16 |
| Terminated | 12 | 22 | 15 |
| Not renewed | 18 | 36 | 52 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| Ceased, other reasons | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| End of year | 750 | 703 | 643 |
| Company-owned, end of year | 1,555 | 1,437 | 1,317 |
Item 20, Table 1 p. 98; Table 3 totals p. 104.
Closures are the franchisor's Item 20 counts of units terminated, not renewed, or ceased for other reasons, summed over 2023–2025 and divided by franchised units at the start of 2023. Units the franchisor reacquired are not closures. This is an Item 20 count, not a failure rate.
company-owned includes 20 Puerto Rico stores.
Source and method
Every figure above comes from the GNC Franchise Disclosure Document issued 2026-07-30, as filed with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (filing 642202, registry record). The PDF is the franchisor's and is not hosted here; the item and page beside each figure is where to check it. Item 7 and Item 20 tables were read cell by cell; Item 19 was read by hand; each Item 20 year was checked to sum (start + opened − exits = end) before it was recorded.
Informational only, not professional, legal or investment advice. Unitnomics computes from the filing and does not advise on, rank, or refer to any franchise. Last reviewed: November 2026.