Retail · registry year 2024 · HQ PA
GNC Franchise
A General Nutrition Centers brand operating in the retail sector, franchising since 1988. According to the 2024 FDD filing for GNC, this is an editorial comparison record; it does not reproduce the brand's current FDD.
- $55K – $300K
- Initial investment · Lower entry cost
- 6.0%
- Royalty rate · Above-average royalty
- 2,600
- Total locations · Large network
FDD outlay schedule
Registry gnc GNC
GNC needs $55K–$300K to open and charges a 6.0% royalty - an entry cost below the typical retail franchise.
- LO $55K
- HI $300K
- FEE $40K
- ROY 6.0%
- UNT 2,600
- I19 Silent
- INV# #191/223
- UNT# #46/223
Same-sector Item 7 peers
Nearest Item 7 peer: Hallmark ($40K)
Same-sector Item 7 neighbourhood for GNC (registry year 2024). Listed lows only - not a profit, cost-of-living, or suitability claim. Verify the current FDD before relying on these figures. How we place brands →
Franchise Opportunity Health Score
How healthy and transparent GNC's franchise system looks, from 2 of 2 tracked dimensions.
- Network momentum -1.9% net unit growth (YoY) 0/100 · F
- Financial disclosure Item 19 not disclosed 0/100 · F
Benchmarked against the 223-brand tracked corpus (p10-p90 range per dimension); a higher score means a growing unit count and a disclosed Item 19. See how we place brands.
Where GNC's investment ranks nationally
GNC's listed Item 7 low of $55K against every one of the 218 tracked franchise brands with a disclosed initial investment. Listed figures only, verify in the current FDD before relying on them.
GNC vs all tracked franchise brands by listed investment
Initial investment low (FDD Item 7), PlainFranchise brand corpus
$55,000 Among the lowest lower than 87% of 218 franchise brands
Franchise brands, banded by listed Item 7 low
Each bar is a $0.001K-wide band; taller bars hold more franchise brands. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source PlainFranchise editorial comparison registry · 2024-12-31
Investment Overview
- Franchise Fee
- $40K
Revenue Data (Item 19)
Item 19 Not Disclosed
This franchisor did not provide financial performance data in their FDD. This is common, disclosure is optional.
Network Size & Growth
Net Growth Rate
Year-over-year unit change
100 locations closed in the last reporting year
Quick Facts
- Sector
- Retail
- Subsector
- nutrition
- Founded
- 1935
- Franchising Since
- 1988
- Headquarters
- PA
- FDD Year
- 2024
- Item 19
- Not Disclosed
Important Notice · GNC
This GNC page is a registry comparison record, not a verified FDD extract. It does not establish suitability, operating costs, profitability, or expected results for GNC.
National footprint registry read for GNC
Signature read: 2,600 locations · Item 7 low $55K
GNC, a General Nutrition Centers franchise, has been franchising since 1988 - 53 years after the concept was founded in 1935 , currently with 2,600 total locations (2,500 franchised, 100 company-owned; 96% of the recorded total is franchised) in the retail sector, headquartered in PA. The listed total initial investment is $55K to $300K, recorded as a low-to-high range in the registry. A franchise-fee field of $40K is recorded separately, while the registry summary does not reproduce the full Item 7 schedule.
Ongoing royalties run 6.0% of gross sales. No Item 19 financial-performance field is recorded for GNC. This registry does not infer a financial outcome from that absence.
Network momentum is currently negative: GNC contracted by 1.9% year-over-year with 100 closures on the record. The percentage does not identify why the count changed or what it means for a specific location.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a GNC franchise cost?
How many GNC locations are there?
What are the ongoing fees for a GNC franchise?
Related reading for GNC: How to Evaluate a Franchise , GNC has no Item 19 in this registry, diligence without a financial performance representation.
Snapshot uses the registry's listed Item 7 initial-investment low and Item 20 location-count fields. It is a descriptive comparison, not a ranking or investment recommendation.
How GNC's Item 7 and Item 19 fields are labeled (expand)
Nationwide brands with similar investment or network size
Two data-derived peer sets for GNC , both outside HQ state PA : nearest Item 7 lows and nearest total-location counts, not the same-sector roster below.
Similar listed investment
Nearest Item 7 lows ($55K here).
Similar network size
Nearest total location counts (2,600 here).
What to do with this
GNC at a glance, drawn from the same figures above.
- GNC scores 0/100 (F) on our composite opportunity read, combining net unit growth and Item 19 financial-disclosure transparency.
- Its $55K – $300K entry cost runs below the typical retail franchise.
- Ranks #191 of 223 listed franchises by initial investment. See rankings
- Hallmark sits at a comparable investment level ($40K) in the same sector. Compare
Editorial comparison registry, not a source-linked FDD record. Verify the current FDD before relying on any figure.
Read our methodology - what this registry can and cannot establish.
Source: PlainFranchise editorial registry Record-level FDD source link and retrieval date pending
| Publisher | PlainFranchise |
| Sources | Public state franchise disclosure registries and FDD filings |