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When Rasheen Hartwell started taking his son to a Stretch Zone studio in Nashville, he was amazed by what he discovered.
A former running back at Eastern Michigan University, Hartwell had long believed in the power of stretching to increase an athlete’s durability and enhance performance. He was sure his son, a high school football player, would benefit from assisted stretching. He was right.
But that wasn’t the discovery that piqued Hartwell’s interest in becoming a Stretch Zone franchisee. It was something he saw and learned while at the facility: People were flocking there. The company was expanding into new markets. And this was in 2021, when the country was in the throes of Covid-19.
“I just was fascinated that they were growing as a company,” he says, “and I wondered: How are they growing at a time when you couldn’t even touch people for a year or two?”
Stretch Zone, founded in 2004, had a record-breaking year in 2021, taking in more revenue than ever and celebrating more than 150 studios in operation. In 2022, it eclipsed 200 studios. By 2023, two or three locations a week were opening. In May 2025, the company was approaching 400 U.S. locations. Hartwell owns five of them.
Stretch Zone is one of the many health-related brands benefiting from America’s insatiable appetite for wellness services and products. Many Americans came out of the pandemic with a renewed focus on holistic care and aging well, fueling robust growth for the diverse health and wellness industry.
According to FRANdata, the industry, which includes fitness studios, gyms, spas, home healthcare, beauty salons, and tanning salons, is growing at a rate of 5% to 10% annually in the U.S. and was valued at $480 billion in 2024. By some estimates, the value last year was closer to $2 trillion.
Americans still want treadmills and kettlebells, and they want to relax with therapeutic massages and hydrating facials. They are also taking advantage of newer offerings to maintain health, manage pain, and de-stress. They’re trying lymphatic drainage, vitamin infusion therapy, infrared saunas, cryotherapy, and balance improvement therapy. The list goes on and on.
Many franchisees are drawn to health and wellness brands because they were influenced by personal experiences. It’s about more than dollars and cents, and success requires more than just business acumen.
“You’ve got to want to help people,” Hartwell says. “I’m not saying that restaurant franchise owners don’t help people, but feeding them is one thing, and helping them have a better quality of life is another. I don’t think you can own a fitness and wellness franchise, and do it well, without wanting to help people feel better and without really being engaged with helping people reach their goals.”
Hartwell has been athletic for all of his life, playing football, basketball, tennis, and golf. He also enjoys developing and training young athletes.
Early on, he recognized the benefits of maintaining a flexible body and not just for those who play sports. His grandmother always stretched, and it helped her remain healthy and active throughout her life.
For Hartwell, it was always a matter of time before he ended up working in the sports and fitness field. After 25 years in the corporate world, he spotted his opportunity when he began taking his son to the Stretch Zone.
“I became fascinated with the whole process,” he says. “It created a bigger love for stretching, seeing him and how he felt afterward.”
Hartwell found out the company wasn’t merely weathering the Covid storm. It was thriving. According to Stretch Zone, not one of its studios closed during the health crisis. All of that made it the right fit for Hartwell. He opened his first studio in Bettendorf, Iowa, in 2022. Four others, mostly in the Chicago area, quickly followed.
Clients go to Stretch Zone to increase their range of motion and to improve mobility. Some people who have never been to a studio have a misperception that Stretch Zone caters to serious athletes, he says. That’s a small percentage of his business.
His studios pull from every demographic as people try to take control of their health journeys. Most devotees are between the ages of 30 and 60. Their goals range from “running longer in a marathon or just getting out of bed without pain or just being able to raise their arm past their shoulder or being able to hit the ball as a golfer a little longer,” Hartwell says. “I don’t think there’s a more satisfied customer than someone who has a goal, and their body is telling them they can’t do it, and then they do something that allows them to do it.”
It’s important to draw a line between Stretch Zone practitioners and healthcare professionals, he says.
“For us, one of the challenges is making sure that we differentiate ourselves from being a chiropractor or being a medical doctor,” he says. “We’re neither one of those. We’re a wellness brand. We have to keep the boundaries because some people who come in here are very ill, and some people we honestly have to turn away. We can’t stretch someone who’s pregnant or someone who has a certain illness. They probably need more of a healthcare professional. We’re wellness professionals.”
For franchisees operating in the health and wellness sphere, it’s also important to find employees with the right attitude. They need to be attentive to details and client needs.
“No one wants to come in and get stretched for 30 minutes by someone who doesn’t have a decent personality, isn’t energetic, and doesn’t have passion for what they’re doing. You lose clients pretty quickly if you don’t have those three elements,” Hartwell says. “The No. 1 thing I look for in any employee I bring on is that they want to help people. If they don’t want to help people, I generally don’t move forward with them because I think that’s the root of it.”
Sierra Rohr was a recent college graduate headed toward a career in early childhood education when an injury changed her trajectory.
Involved in sports for her whole life, she played volleyball at Bismarck State College in North Dakota and was a fitness enthusiast. In a freak accident, she ended up with an exposed Achilles tendon.
“That was a big life change for me, going from being so active to pretty much lying in bed to recovering,” Rohr said. “Then after, it was just so painful to even walk. I ended up having surgery on it to alleviate some pain.”
Following months of physical therapy, she was medically cleared for hot yoga. She ultimately discovered Hotworx, which uses saunas that not only heat the air, but also emit infrared wavelengths of light, warming the body from within and inducing sweat. Touted benefits include pain relief, improved circulation, and reduced stress.
“Within three workouts, I could just feel that infrared aiding in my recovery,” Rohr says.
In 2021, Rohr, her mother, Tori, and her aunt, Nicole Privratsky, got licenses to open three Hotworx studios in North Dakota. If it helped Sierra, they decided, it could help others.
“One of the rewards of being a Hotworx franchisee is hearing from members about transformations,” Rohr says. “It’s getting to hear those stories through being at the studio: people sharing on their social media and not just at our home location. It’s hearing from other people in the world who have their lives transformed as well, maybe in similar or different ways than I have. That’s been the biggest blessing of being a franchisee.”
Two of her family’s studios are open in Bismarck and West Fargo, and the third is in the works.
Rohr’s career switch was well timed. According to McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm that conducts surveys on consumer behavior, 82% of U.S. consumers in 2024 considered personal health and well-being a top priority in their everyday lives.
A big draw for Hotworx is that the studios offer 24/7 access. People with busy lives can go to the virtually instructed studios for the hot yoga that Rohr found so beneficial. Studios also offer hot Pilates, a hot core regimen, hot cycle, and other workouts.
There are options “for wherever a person is in their fitness journey and whatever they’re wanting to get out of that,” Rohr says. “No two stories are the same. You never know if it’s going to be somebody looking for the mental benefits of Hotworx or the physical benefits of Hotworx. We’ve heard stories all over the board as far as what the infrared aided in: maybe somebody’s recovery, maybe they’re just looking for an escape to have their ‘me time.’ We get to be that space for people no matter who they are and what their journey is.”
Aaron Katzoff didn’t find his way to Spavia through a personal experience with the franchise; he was driven by data. Katzoff was looking for a career change after spending 25 years in employee benefits marketing and sales. He analyzed the numbers of various franchisors and was struck by what he found.
“Financially, wellness is one of the fastest growing industries in the country if not the world,” Katzoff says. “It’s all about taking care of yourself, which ties directly into overall health from spa services to skincare and hand care. And for younger generations, it’s an even bigger priority.”
Katzoff and his wife, Danielle, chose Spavia because they like the wide array of services offered with an emphasis on pampering. They were also impressed by the franchise founders, Marty and Allison Langenderfer, who were interested in finding franchisees who would be involved in the community and charitable causes.
“They blew me away. They’re not just looking to build a company. There’s a mission behind it,” Katzoff says. “There’s a big focus on giving back to the community. The more you give back, the more you get. It’s a very simple, pleasant concept: What you give, you get. That was always a very attractive concept to me.”
Spavia, founded in 2005, has 60 locations in 23 states and a goal of reaching 200 in the next decade.
The Katzoffs opened their first spa in Moorestown, New Jersey, more than 10 years ago, becoming the seventh franchise operation in the Spavia system. Another two Connecticut locations in Guilford and Stamford followed, and there’s one in Boca Raton, Florida. A fifth spa is slated for Princeton, New Jersey.
It didn’t take Katzoff long to see that providing massages, facials, and body wraps is different from most businesses.
“It’s the only business I’ve ever been in or been exposed to where, when someone walks through the door, they may be a little grumpy. They may be upset, but when they walk out of the door, 99% of the time, they’re just a changed person. They kind of float out into the lobby, and it is almost always with a smile and a ‘Thank you so much,’” he says. “We are changing people’s lives in some cases from someone with a sore neck, a sore back, a crick in their side, or whatever. We deliver a great, tangible experience, and it’s really rewarding.”
The success of the Katzoffs’ locations depends on solid financial decisions and good hiring decisions. The brand tries to differentiate itself by giving guests the same level of service that can be found at a resort spa but at an affordable price.
“To be a successful specialist, meaning a massage therapist or an esthetician, you have to have at least the right mindset: that you want to help people feel good,” Katzoff says.
And, of course, their specialists must have received all the required training.
“We just really can’t hire anybody off the street,” Danielle Katzoff says. “So, if someone comes in and says, ‘I want to do massages,’ we’d say, ‘Well, you can’t. You need to be licensed by the state.’ Or if they say, ‘I want to do facials. I think I’d be a really good esthetician,’ we tell them, ‘You need to go to school for that.’ They need to have a certain number of hours in training. They need to pass the state boards. They need to pass background checks. They need to be fingerprinted in certain states. We’re looking for certain licensed specialists who have met the requirements.”
The Katzoffs were required to apply for a cosmetology license and a massage license not so that they could give hands-on services, but so they could oversee the operation. They also had to undergo criminal background checks. Those are important requirements in a burgeoning industry.
“Self-care is very popular,” Danielle Katzoff says. “With our generation—we’re pushing 60—many are caring for other people. But the younger generation, they realize that you need to care for yourself.”
A holistic approach to living is as important at 70 as it is at 30. And it doesn’t just involve physical health. Mental and emotional health are integral to well-being.
Comfort Keepers’ 206 franchisees know this, and it’s a large part of what attracts them to the company’s mission to provide top-quality in-home personal and companion care to seniors, says company CEO Natalie Black.
“We are very much focused on elevating the human spirit,” Black says. “What you’ll hear a lot with home care in general is the mission to keep people safe at home, and that is obviously incredibly close to us as well. But we don’t stop there. We go one step further. We focus on joy and making sure that people aren’t just staying home and safe, but they’re home, they’re safe, and they’re enjoying their lives throughout their lives. Joy and happiness do not stop when they become seniors.”
More than 4.1 million Americans will turn 65 this year and every year through 2027, a historic surge in the age of the population, according to a report from the nonprofit Alliance for Lifetime Income. By 2030, all Baby Boomers will be older than 65.
The demand for at-home care will keep growing, and Comfort Keepers plans to keep growing, Black says.
“Statistically, almost 80% of people would like to stay and age at home. So, it’s just a matter of whether it’s possible for everyone,” she says.
According to Black, the company helps to make that possible by providing a range of services, “whether that is they need a little bit of assistance just to make sure that they’ve gotten dressed, they’ve eaten their food, or making sure they’ve bathed. Sometimes, we have clients where it’s more about social companionship and the mental health piece of it, making sure that they maintain companionship on a daily basis.”
Many Comfort Keepers franchisees have personal experience with aging loved ones who needed assistance.
“It’s a unique combination of people who are focused on growing a business, but who also are focused on doing something good for their community,” Black says. “Many of them have experienced in-home care. It’s touched them in some way, and so they have a calling to it.”
To be successful, franchisees must be driven by a desire to help others. They must build a caring team that’s focused on the same thing because “if people don’t have the heart for it, it’s really a difficult job to do,” Black says.
It can be hard for franchisees to find the right employees. Black says, “There are some incredible people out there who have the heart to want to take care of other people, and it is our goal to find the people who have that heart and that calling to healthcare and then to provide them all the resources that we can so that Comfort Keepers is a good place for them to work.”
The health and wellness sector is booming right now for a good reason, she says.
“There’s been a shift when it comes to health and wellness and aging in the country. Americans are redefining what it means to age, so we’re seeing a greater emphasis on proactive and preventative care for all generations,” she says. “Health is no longer just about treating illness. It’s about living well. For us at Comfort Keepers, we always believe that aging doesn’t mean giving up independence or quality of life. The overall shift in the U.S. is focused on that well-being, and we made sure that we’re positioned to address it.”
The following factors make the health and wellness franchise sector an attractive option for potential business owners:
Growing market demand
Established business model
Support and training
Diverse opportunities
Potential for profitability
Community impact