Vertica Fitness

The vendor opportunity at Vertica Fitness

Vertica Fitness, headquartered in Arizona, presents a small but high-growth target for software vendors. The 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document reports 7 total units, a 66.7% increase from the prior year. The system includes 5 franchised locations and 2 company-owned units. While the total addressable market is limited today, the rapid expansion trajectory signals a franchise actively adding new locations, each representing a potential software deployment.

The franchise does not disclose an Average Unit Volume in its FDD. Royalties are set at 8.25% of gross revenue, and the initial franchise term is 10 years. For a vendor, the key takeaway is a young, centralized system where a single headquarters relationship can unlock the entire footprint.

Who controls software purchasing

Software purchasing authority rests at the headquarters level. The FDD’s Item 1 identifies the leadership team: Katrina Wyckoff serves as President and CEO, Dennis Mulgannon is the Director of Franchising, and Sean Hansen holds the role of Franchise Development Manager. In a system of this size, these executives are the de facto buying center. A vendor’s path to a pilot or system-wide deal almost certainly runs through CEO Wyckoff or Director Mulgannon. There is no separate CIO or CTO listed in the disclosure, suggesting technology decisions are made by the core executive team.

Mandated and current tech stack

Vertica Fitness mandates a specific set of technology systems for its franchisees. The FDD lists four required platforms. For accounting, franchisees must use QuickBooks Online by Intuit Inc. For scheduling and payment processing, the Wellness Living Scheduling and Payment System is mandated. Additionally, two proprietary systems are required: a platform simply called “Vertica” and the “Vertica Business Success Method.”

This stack reveals both opportunities and barriers. The mandate for QuickBooks Online and Wellness Living means those vendors are entrenched. A competitor to these systems would need to displace a mandated standard at the franchisor level. However, the stack has obvious gaps. There is no mandated CRM, marketing automation, payroll, or business intelligence tool mentioned. These represent greenfield opportunities for vendors who can demonstrate value to the HQ team.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

The FDD’s Item 8, which typically outlines procurement restrictions and designated suppliers, does not contain an extract in our corpus. This means the specific procurement model—whether it is a designated supplier program, an approved vendor list, or an open model—is not disclosed in the available data. Vendors should clarify this directly during discovery.

On contract timing, the initial franchise agreement runs for 10 years. Item 17 outlines the renewal conditions: a franchisee must be in compliance with the agreement, pay a renewal fee, sign a general release of claims, provide written notice at least 180 days before expiration, and sign the then-current agreement, which may contain materially different terms. Renewals are for successive terms. This structure suggests that major technology stack changes are most likely tied to new unit openings or a franchisor-driven system-wide refresh, rather than individual franchisee renewal cycles. With 66.7% unit growth, new location openings are the most immediate trigger for software purchasing.

How to read the Vertica Fitness FDD

The 2025 Vertica Fitness FDD is the foundational document for any vendor’s due diligence. Item 1 provides the executive team and ownership structure, confirming the brand appears independently owned with no parent company on file. Item 11 details the mandated technology systems. Item 17 governs renewal and term conditions, which shape the long-term sales cycle. The full FDD is embedded below for your review. For software vendors building a ranked target list of franchise systems, understanding these specific mandates and decision-maker profiles is what separates a cold pitch from an informed conversation. Talk to FranCloud to see how Vertica Fitness compares to other fitness franchises on unit growth, tech mandates, and buyer accessibility.