Salon, spa & fitness
Fitness Studio Profit Calculator
Works studio profit, where average class attendance is the decisive number.
Result
Gross profit is what is left after the cost of doing the job. Overhead comes out of that: the building, the office wages, the vans, insurance, software and advertising. A healthy gross margin still loses money if overhead is larger.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Revenue less instructor costs, rent and overhead, giving profit and margin. Because instructor cost is fixed per class and space is fixed per month, profit is driven almost entirely by average attendance across the schedule, and a studio's schedule is its cost structure.
What moves the number
- Average attendance per class across the schedule.
- Number of classes run against demand.
- Instructor cost per class.
- Rent and overhead.
Where this one goes wrong
Running more classes to appear busy raises instructor cost without raising attendance, which spreads the same people across more slots and lowers average attendance, which is how studios make themselves unprofitable while looking active. Fewer, fuller classes is usually the better structure. Measuring attendance per class across the whole schedule, rather than total attendance, is what reveals which slots are carrying the studio and which are diluting it.
Before you quote
- Measure attendance per class, not total attendance.
- Resist adding classes that dilute existing ones.
- Cut or consolidate persistently thin slots.
Questions
About this calculator
Does running more classes help a studio?
Usually not. It raises instructor cost without raising attendance, spreading the same people across more slots and lowering average attendance. Fewer, fuller classes is generally the more profitable structure.
What is the decisive number for a studio?
Average attendance per class across the schedule, since instructor cost is fixed per class and rent is fixed per month. Total attendance can look healthy while the average is too thin to cover the schedule's cost.
How should a thin class be handled?
Moved, consolidated with another slot, or cut. Each of those recovers the instructor cost, and consolidating two thin classes into one full one improves the member experience as well as the margin.
The formula
gross profit = revenue - direct costs
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How to use this calculator
- Revenue ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $48,000.
- Direct labour ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $16,000.
- Product and equipment ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $11,000.
- Other direct costs ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $2,200.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to gross profit, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Revenue | $48,000 |
| Direct labour | $16,000 |
| Product and equipment | $11,000 |
| Other direct costs | $2,200 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Gross profit main result | $18,800 |
| Gross margin | 39.2% |
| Total direct cost | $29,200 |
| Profit per working day | $854.55 |
That is $18,800 at a 39.2% margin, about $854.55 for every working day. Overhead still has to come out of it.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only revenue, this is what happens to gross profit. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Revenue ($) | Gross profit |
|---|---|
| $24,000 | -$5,200 |
| $36,000 | $6,800 |
| $48,000 example above | $18,800 |
| $72,000 | $42,800 |
| $96,000 | $66,800 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Revenue ($)
- A money amount, starting at $48,000.
- Direct labour ($)
- A money amount, starting at $16,000.
- Product and equipment ($)
- A money amount, starting at $11,000.
- Other direct costs ($)
- A money amount, starting at $2,200.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Gross profit | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Gross margin | A percentage. |
| Total direct cost | A money figure. |
| Profit per working day | A money figure. |
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.