Fitness Ventures has become the single largest franchisee in the Crunch Fitness system, after acquiring 22 gyms in Texas and Southern California from Harman Fitness in June 2026. The deal lifts the operator’s portfolio to 115 locations across 30 states and pushes it into two of the country’s biggest fitness markets, Houston and the Los Angeles metro, in a single move.
The purchase reshapes the map of multi-unit ownership inside one of America’s fastest-growing value gym brands. By absorbing Harman Fitness’s 22 clubs, Fitness Ventures not only adds scale but plants its flag in two dense, fiercely contested metros where budget and mid-range operators are fighting hard for members. The company now targets 130 locations by the end of 2026.
“The company now targets 130 locations by the end of 2026.” — L’Express Franchise
Founded in 2016, Fitness Ventures built its early footprint in mid-sized and tertiary markets, including college campuses, where Crunch’s low-priced membership model pulled in price-sensitive student members. The Harman deal marks a deliberate shift in profile, trading a campus-and-suburbs base for flagship urban markets. Private equity firm Meaningful Partners, which acquired Fitness Ventures in August 2024, has bankrolled the accelerated run of growth since.
Crunch sits in the high-value, low-cost gym tier that has proven recession-resistant and ripe for roll-ups. Large franchisees are buying out smaller operators to capture density, spread marketing and management costs, and negotiate better real-estate and equipment terms. The same consolidation logic is reshaping boutique fitness, where brands such as Club Pilates and other studio concepts are also signing record multi-unit agreements.
The value-gym playbook driving this deal travels well. Across the Gulf and Southeast Asia, rising middle classes, young populations and rapid urbanisation are creating exactly the kind of price-conscious membership base that built Crunch in the United States. The lesson for regional investors is structural: scale and density, not single clubs, are what make budget fitness profitable, because thin per-member margins only work across a large, tightly managed network. Operators studying fitness franchise opportunities across Asia, or watching same-week expansion moves like Orangetheory’s entry into Italy, are seeing one consistent theme in 2026: the winners are the groups with the capital and operating discipline to consolidate fast. For family offices and multi-unit operators in MENA and ASEAN, a master or area-development structure that builds clusters of clubs, rather than scattered one-offs, is the model most likely to mirror the economics on display in Houston and Los Angeles.
Source: L’Express Franchise — Fitness Ventures Becomes the Largest Crunch Franchisee After Acquiring 22 Gyms
