Offering franchisees two types of fitness clubs — full-size or express — as well as the flexibility of full-time or part-time ownership contributed to Anytime Fitness’s strong growth rank (#10), which helped push the franchise into this year’s Top 10. The company’s financial strength is also strong at #31.

During 2011, it was reported that the loan failure rate for Anytime Fitness locations was a low 2.7 percent, with only 4 in 147 SBA-backed loans failing between 2005 and 2010.