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Crunch Fitness confirmed on May 19, 2026 that it will open Crunch North Austin, a $5 million, 30,000-square-foot club at 8716 Research Blvd in Austin, Texas. The gym is operated by franchisee The Undefeated Tribe and is scheduled to open in fall 2026.
The new club will be The Undefeated Tribe’s eighth Crunch Fitness location in the Austin market. The franchisee currently runs 60 clubs open and in development across five states and is targeting more than 100 locations by 2028, making Austin one of the most heavily clustered markets in the Crunch system.
Crunch North Austin is operated by The Undefeated Tribe, one of the fastest-growing franchise groups inside the Crunch system. Founded in 2018 by Tony Hartl, the group runs clubs across Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Missouri and Minnesota, and was named Crunch Fitness Franchisee of the Year in both 2021 and 2023.
“We are so excited to bring the Crunch Fitness brand to North Austin,” said Tony Hartl.
With 60 clubs open and in development, The Undefeated Tribe shows how multi-unit operators now drive franchise expansion. Concentrating eight clubs in a single metro lets a developer share marketing, staffing and management resources across nearby sites, a model visible across other Texas Crunch projects already in the pipeline.
Crunch North Austin will use the brand’s Crunch 3.0 design. The format pairs modern interiors with expanded strength, functional-training and recovery zones built to lift revenue per member. Members will have access to:
The recovery-focused build reflects a wider industry shift toward wellness amenities, a theme also visible in how fitness brands are compressing build-out timelines to open new clubs faster.
Crunch ranked #2 in the fitness category and #20 overall on the 2026 Entrepreneur Franchise 500, up sharply from #32 a year earlier. The brand competes in the high-value, low-price segment against operators such as Planet Fitness, with consumer memberships that start at $9.99 per month to drive volume. Its rollout now spans markets from Texas to Idaho.
The Crunch North Austin announcement is less about one gym than about how scaled franchising now works. Growth is concentrated in the hands of well-capitalized multi-unit operators that can absorb real estate competition and open clusters of clubs in a single market. For investors in Asia and MENA weighing fitness concepts, the signal is clear: brands that support density, recovery-led formats and disciplined developers are the ones positioned to compound returns. The fitness category increasingly rewards operators who treat each market as a portfolio rather than a single site.
Source: PR Newswire — Crunch Franchise Brings State-of-the-Art Crunch 3.0 Gym to Austin, Texas
