Ultimate Ninjas

The vendor opportunity at Ultimate Ninjas

Ultimate Ninjas is a small but fast-growing fitness franchise headquartered in Illinois. The 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document reports 10 total units — 5 franchised and 5 company-owned — across five states: Illinois (4), Florida (1), California (1), Ohio (1), and Wisconsin (1). Average unit volume sits at $972,167, and the system grew unit count by 66.7% year-over-year. For a software vendor, the immediate addressable market is limited to these 10 locations, but the growth trajectory and a 10-year initial term signal a franchise that is actively scaling and likely to add new units — and new software needs — in the near term.

Who controls software purchasing

Purchasing authority at Ultimate Ninjas is concentrated at headquarters. The FDD’s Item 1 lists five executives: CEO Jeff Piejak, Vice President of Programming Jesse Labreck, Vice President of Course Operations Mike Silenzi, Chief Marketing Officer Jackie Piejak, and VP of Business Development Thomas Rhomberg. No CIO or CTO is named, which is common in a system of this size. For a vendor selling operational, marketing, or financial software, the most relevant contacts are likely CEO Jeff Piejak and CMO Jackie Piejak, with Thomas Rhomberg potentially involved in vendor evaluation given his business development role. There are no multi-unit operators on file — all 9 mapped operators run a single unit — so there is no independent buying layer outside of HQ.

Mandated and current tech stack

The 2025 FDD mandates three specific technology systems. iClass Pro is the required operational platform, QuickBooks Online by Intuit Inc. is the mandated accounting system, and Mailchimp by Intuit Inc. is the required email marketing tool. These are named in Item 11, meaning franchisees must adopt them as a condition of the franchise agreement. For a vendor, this creates both a barrier and an opportunity: any software that overlaps with these three mandates must either integrate tightly or offer a compelling replacement that the franchisor is willing to mandate system-wide. The presence of two Intuit products also suggests an existing relationship with that vendor ecosystem.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

Item 8 of the FDD contains no extract regarding procurement rules, so the formal supplier approval process — whether designated, approved, or open — is not disclosed. This means vendors should expect to engage HQ directly to understand how new software is evaluated and adopted. On the renewal side, Item 17 provides a clear window: franchisees must give written notice of renewal between 6 and 12 months before the end of their 10-year term. They must also pay a successor franchise fee equal to 10% of the then-current initial franchise fee and refurbish the location to current standards. For a vendor, the renewal cycle is a natural trigger point when franchisees may be open to evaluating new tools, especially if the franchisor updates its mandated tech stack as part of the renewal conditions.

How to read the Ultimate Ninjas FDD

The 2025 Ultimate Ninjas FDD is embedded below for full review. Key sections for software vendors include Item 11 (mandated systems), Item 1 (executive team), Item 8 (procurement rules, though not disclosed here), and Item 17 (renewal and transfer conditions). The document confirms a small, HQ-controlled system with a concentrated decision-making structure and a defined set of required software. For vendors targeting this franchise, the path to adoption runs directly through the CEO and CMO, with renewal cycles offering a recurring window for evaluation. To see how Ultimate Ninjas ranks alongside other franchise targets based on tech mandates, growth rate, and decision-maker accessibility, FranCloud can generate a ranked target list tailored to your product category.