Contours Express vs Hard Exercise Works Franchise Comparison

Below is an in-depth analysis and side-by-side comparison of Contours Express vs Hard Exercise Works including start-up costs and fees, business experience requirements, training & support and financing options.

Start-Up Costs and Fees
 
Contours Express Franchise
Hard Exercise Works Franchise
Investment $35,000 - $50,000$136,273 - $486,897
Franchise Fee $12,500$29,900
Royalty Fee $395/mo.-
Advertising Fee --
Year Founded 19982011
Year Franchised 19982011
Term Of Agreement 10 years-
Term Of Agreement 10 years-
Renewal Fee --


Business Experience Requirements
 
Contours Express Franchise
Hard Exercise Works Franchise
Experience --

Financing Options
 
Contours Express Franchise
Hard Exercise Works Franchise
  In-House/3rd PartyIn-House/3rd Party
Franchise Fees No/No-/-
Start-up Costs No/No-/-
Equipment No/Yes-/-
Inventory No/No-/-
Receivables No/No-/-
Payroll No/No-/-

Training & Support
 
Contours Express Franchise
Hard Exercise Works Franchise
Training --
Support Newsletter, Meetings, Toll-free phone line, Grand opening, Internet

# Protected Territory # 5 days of Training at Contours Express University # 3-Day Training at your gym # Adjustable Weight Stack Equipment # 16 Stations - 4 extra stations optional # Butt-n-Gut cd # Preferred Vendor Discounts # Unlimited Ongoing Training # Advertising and Marketing Advice # 24/7 Online Marketing Materials Library # Personal Gym Website # Prepared PowerPoint Marketing Presentations # Nutritional Counseling Program - C.O.R.E. # Site Selection Assistance

-
Marketing Ad slicks-
Operations 50% of all franchisees own more than one unit

Number of employees needed to run franchised unit: 2

Absentee ownership of franchise is allowed. (50% of current franchisees are owner/operators)

-

Expansion Plans
 
Contours Express Franchise
Hard Exercise Works Franchise
US Expansion -Yes
Canada Expansion No-
International Expansion Yes-

Company Overviews

About Contours Express

After operating coed clubs, working as consultants and working in other areas of the fitness industry, Daren Carter, Mike Widener and Charlie Woodward joined forces to create a fitness center just for women. In 1998, the partners founded Contours Express, a women-only center catering to towns with populations too small to support a full-scale, coed gym.

Contours Express members follow a 29-minute cue tape that keeps them moving through aerobic stations and strength training machines. A fitness trainer (the franchisee or an employee) works with the members during their workouts, providing motivation and other services.

Clubs, which are usually located in strip centers, are about 1,200 square feet in size and can accommodate up to 20 members at a time.

About Hard Exercise Works

"Hard

At Hard Exercise Works, we guide our members to do exactly that through bootcamp-style group training. Their success is our success.
That’s why so many of our franchise owners are former members!
The Franchise Business you will own and operate is a fitness business that offers nutrition accountability programs, group training programs and other fitness services (based on similar principles as U.S. Navy S.E.A.L. workouts) to get members into shape operating under the trade name “Hard Exercise Works®”.