Does Basecamp Fitness require franchisees to purchase supplies from approved sources?
Basecamp_Fitness Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
nitial Franchise Fee you would have paid for those Studios.
ITEM 8 RESTRICTIONS ON SOURCES OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
All equipment, furnishings, fixtures, signs, software, software support and security monitoring, supplies, branded items, marketing, maintenance services, insurance and products you purchase for use or sale in your Basecamp Studio must meet our specifications. Additionally, all membership types you offer as well as workouts provided through your Basecamp Studio must meet our specifications and, where allowed by applicable law, comply with our pricing guidelines. Those specifications may include minimum standards for delivery, performance, design, appearance, and quality. We will issue the specifications to you before you begin operating. We may include these specifications in the manual that we provide to you online, or we may issue them separately. While we do not have specifications for local advertising you create to promote your studio, we do require that you obtain our prior approval at least 4 weeks before you use any advertising materials you prepare. You may not establish or have established any digital or electronic medium or method of communication, including a website, web page, review or opinion page, social media and/or social networking site, channel, avatar, profile, including an online business profile, account, hashtag, user name or application, whether web-based or otherwise, or keyword advertising, pay-per-click
advertising or other search engine marketing, relating to or making reference to us, your Basecamp Studio, or to the Basecamp Fitness System without our approval. We reserve the right to refuse, reject, adjust or require changes to any advertising material you prepare. You must provide us with full admin access (including with log-in information) to all social media accounts, profiles and pages, business managers, and ad accounts related to your Basecamp Studio or that use our marks. You must provide ownership-level access to any Google Business profiles.
You can expect that the items you purchase to meet our specifications will represent over 90% of the total purchases you will make to begin operations. Once you begin operating, we expect the items you purchase that meet our specifications will represent between 70% and 90% of your total expenses.
If you want to purchase items for your Basecamp Studio that we have not previously approved, or items that differ from our specifications, you must notify us in writing. If we request, you must submit samples and other information we require for testing or to otherwise determine whether the product, material or supply meets our specifications and quality standards. We do not impose any fee for our consideration of an item not previously approved.
We may require you to purchase certain furniture, equipment, inventory, supplies, services and other products used or offered at your studio from vendors we approve, in which case we will provide you with a list of approved suppliers. These will include mandatory vendors (persons from whom you must purchase certain items or services), designated vendors (for items or services that must be purchased from vendors we approve), and preferred vendors (for vendors we have approved, but in categories where we do not require you obtain our approval of the vendor). These suppliers may pay vendor rebates to us and they may include our company and affiliates of ours. We may modify our mandatory, designated, and/or preferred vendor(s) at any time. We may require you to offer additional services or products and some of those products or services may require that you purchase additional equipment or training for your staff.
When we have a designated vendor (other than a mandatory vendor), if you want to purchase from other vendors the items or services for which that vendor has been designated, you must notify us in writing and obtain our approval. If you seek approval of a new supplier (or if the supplier applies directly to us for approval), we will require the supplier pay us a nonrefundable fee of $300 before we will consider approving their application. This fee is intended to defer our cost of reviewing the supplier. (We do not require you to pay any fee.) We may also require the supplier to sign a supplier agreement with us.
In reviewing prospective suppliers, we consider whether the product or service is consistent with our concept and brand; how they and/or their products or services would enhance our brand and make it more attractive to members and other customers or franchisees; how the product or service would improve the studio experience of a member; how the product or service would increase revenue of a franchisee's business; how the product or service would increase the efficiency of a franchisee; if the product or service is already available through other sources, would approval of another vendor enhance competition or dilute our ability to maximize pricing benefits for our franchisees; is the product of a commercial quality with a proven record of durability; does the supplier support our values; and other factors. In addition, we consider demand from franchisees, the need for the vendor based on business trends, and the ability of the vendor to serve franchisees throughout the United States. (The criteria is posted on our website for potential vendors and franchisees.) We will generally notify you and the supplier of our approval or disapproval within 2-12 months of our receipt of all the information and samples we request. If we revoke approval of any supplier or any item offered by a supplier, we will send you written notice of our revocation of an approved supplier or item.
As of the issuance date of this Disclosure Document, we have the following sole suppliers in our System:
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- We or a third party, depending upon the item, are currently the sole suppliers of certain items logo'd with our Marks, including any branded mobile applications, all retail products for re-sale, workout formats that you must use at your Basecamp Studio and all fitness programming. You must purchase the Build-Out Package from us. Additional items you will need to operate that are included in the Build-Out Package must be purchased from certain third parties who are the sole suppliers for these items. These items include signage, marketing materials, furniture, and fixtures.
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- ProVision, an affiliate of ours, is currently the sole supplier for certain fitness equipment, technology services, technology, network hardware, and security systems, including iPads, tablet devices, computers, lighting, audio and video systems, software and other related components including a point of sale system and certain cloud based technology included in the Technology & Fitness Equipment Package which you must purchase to operate your Basecamp Studio.
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- We have a sole supplier of studio management, billing, payment and scheduling software which you must use to operate your Basecamp Studio.
Supplies for your Basecamp Studio must be purchased from designated vendors. We are also currently a designated vendor for business supplies, and marketing materials, and we or our affiliates may be a mandatory, designated and/or preferred vendor for other items in the future. We do not currently, but we may implement a program that automatically ships supplies and/or marketing materials to your studio on a monthly basis based on your need and inventory levels at your cost.
We may require you to use our preferred vendors for your Grand Opening Program for your Basecamp Studio, which may include us or our affiliates, we may require you to submit your grand opening plans and local marketing plans for our prior approval, submit proof of purchase or other documentation to verify you have met minimum spend requirements, and show proof of performance of your advertising activity, or we may require you to implement a Grand Opening marketing plan that we develop in consultation with you and one of our preferred marketing vendors. Or, we may also require you to pay the $40,000 for the Grand Opening Program to us and we will execute the Grand Opening Program.
Source: Item 8 — RESTRICTIONS ON SOURCES OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES (FDD pages 28–32)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Basecamp Fitness's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisees are generally required to purchase supplies from approved or designated vendors. Basecamp Fitness specifies that all equipment, furnishings, fixtures, signs, software, supplies, branded items, marketing materials, maintenance services, insurance, and products used or sold at the studio must meet their standards. These specifications cover aspects like delivery, performance, design, appearance, and quality.
Basecamp Fitness designates sole suppliers for certain items, including logoed merchandise, retail products, workout formats, fitness programming, signage, marketing materials, furniture, and fixtures. ProVision, an affiliate, is the sole supplier for specific fitness equipment, technology services, network hardware, and security systems. Additionally, franchisees must use the franchisor's designated supplier for studio management, billing, payment, and scheduling software. Supplies must be purchased from designated vendors, which may include Basecamp Fitness itself or its affiliates.
The FDD outlines a process for franchisees to request approval for new suppliers or items that don't meet the franchisor's specifications. Basecamp Fitness may require franchisees to purchase certain items from approved vendors, categorized as mandatory, designated, or preferred. Mandatory vendors are those from whom franchisees must purchase specific items or services, while designated vendors are approved for items or services that must be purchased from approved sources. Preferred vendors are approved but not mandatory. If a franchisee wants to use a non-designated vendor, they must seek approval, which involves the vendor paying a nonrefundable $300 fee to cover review costs.
Basecamp Fitness benefits financially from these vendor relationships, deriving revenue from franchisee purchases through rebates, which can be up to 15% of the purchase amount. In 2024, Basecamp Fitness received $102,583 in revenue from required goods and services, representing 1.97% of their total revenues. ProVision received $516,320, and SEB Distribution received $111,139 from these purchases. Franchisees should be aware that these purchasing requirements are extensive and impact a significant portion of their operational expenses, with initial purchases meeting specifications expected to exceed 90% of total startup purchases and ongoing purchases representing 70% to 90% of total expenses.