Verified — real FDD extraction
SBA-eligible · directory code S3834 since 2019
Yoga Six
Fitness · independent · est. —
Yoga Six is a boutique fitness brand offering a range of studio yoga classes, from gentle and restorative to heated and high-energy formats, aimed at all experience levels. A franchisee operates a membership-based studio, managing instructors, class schedules and member retention.
Yoga Six net unit count grew +20.0% from 2022–2024 per its FDD Item 20.
New to franchising? Start here
A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.
Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:
- Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
- Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
- Item 20 — how many locations opened and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).
The verdict
Proven & strong
Distress
Enough units and history to judge, and the record is good: growing or stable units with clean exits by the standards of its disclosed record. The main concern in the record: owners are leaving at a high rate.
Exit rate · latest year
12.4%
vs 3.8% across 34 fitness systems
Cost to open
$529K–$826K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan defaults
11.5%
vs 14.8% avg across rated brands
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
3-yr trend · Item 20 Table 1
terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3
transfers vs. base · Table 3
actual vs. projected openings · Table 5
Item 19 disclosure + completeness
Systemwide units
2022–2024
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2024, 23 of 185 franchised outlets left the system — a 12.4% annualized exit rate, vs 3.8% across 34 fitness systems. Not every exit is a failure — but this is the measurable floor.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 127 | 160 | 185 |
| Opened | 42 | 38 | 30 |
| Transfers | 17 | 23 | 19 |
| Terminations | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 6 | 10 | 20 |
| Outlets at end | 160 | 185 | 192 |
| Net change | +33 | +25 | +7 |
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 160 SBA-backed loans to Yoga Six franchisees since 2019. Of the 52 that have resolved, 11.5% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.
11.5%
6 of 52 resolved defaulted
66.7%
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
7.7%
default rate × loss severity
$414,602
what recent franchisees borrowed
47 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
34 vs 24
distinct banks still lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO YOGA SIX BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
Who finances it
the Huntington National Bank
22.5% of this brand's loans
That lender charges off 10.1% of its loans to other franchise brands, vs 14.8% nationally.
Who buys it
58.2%
first-time franchise owners
The rest already owned at least one other franchise. Across the corpus, brands bought mostly by repeat operators charge off at roughly 10% versus 17% for brands sold mostly to newcomers.
Does experience help here?
Not enough resolved loans to split
Computed from 160 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to Yoga Six franchisees joined to the brand's own FDD. Debt service assumes level amortization at the average disclosed term and rate. A lender's rate excludes its loans to this brand, so it reads the lender, not the brand.
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $60K franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $529K–$826K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$529K–$826K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$60K
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
7%
of sales, ongoing
Your figure — cross-check against this brand's Item 19 and current-owner validation.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$70K
7% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$700K
royalties alone, excl. ad fund
This is not profit. It's the only money the FDD actually pins down — what you put in, and the royalty you owe on every dollar of sales. Your real take-home depends on labor, rent, food cost, and ramp-to-breakeven, none of which any FDD discloses.
Build a real pro-forma for Yoga Six with an independent CPAModeled risk
FDD Risk Score · modeled from the public record
Modeled from the public record, this brand looks safer than 63% of systems we score.
Risk percentile
37 / 100
Loan-corroborated
Modeled SBA charge-off
11.0%
Observed SBA charge-off
11.5%
Top drivers: Share financed by high-loss lenders (lowers) · Item 20 exit rate (raises) · Investment ceiling (log) (lowers) · Single-lender dependence (raises). 15+ resolved loans stand behind this estimate. A linear scorecard built from this brand's own disclosure figures plus the federal loan record behind its franchisees; full spec and cross-validated accuracy on the methodology page. A score is context, not a verdict.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
Franchise litigation docket: Elias v. Yoga Six Franchise SPV LLC (District Court, N.D. California)
CourtListener/RECAP · 8mo ago
CourtListener/RECAP · 16mo ago
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Yoga Six's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →Yoga Six franchise questions, answered from the filings
What percentage of Yoga Six franchises closed last year?
In Yoga Six's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2024), 23 of 185 franchised outlets left the system — an annualized exit rate of 12.4% — compared with 3.8% across 34 fitness systems tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons." There is no official failure rate, and not every exit is a failure, but this is the measurable floor.
How much does a Yoga Six franchise cost?
Per Yoga Six's 2025 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $60K (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $529K–$826K (Item 7).
What royalty does Yoga Six charge?
Yoga Six charges an ongoing royalty of 7.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2025 FDD.
Does Yoga Six disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — Yoga Six makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2025 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.
How often do SBA loans for Yoga Six franchises default?
Across 160 SBA-backed loans to Yoga Six franchisees since 2019, 6 of the 52 that have resolved were charged off — a 11.5% default rate, versus about 14.8% across all rated franchise brands. This is the lender's-eye view of franchisee failure, drawn from public SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA data and independent of the franchisor's own disclosures.