Case Study: Luxury Fitness Center Achieved Financial Stability with Kordis' Fractional CFO Support

A major luxury fitness center in the Southwest encountered deep financial difficulties. Our team of fractional CFOs and accountants helped to restore their financial health. In less than two years, they had a full financial turnaround. 

Here’s their story:

The Crisis: When Growth Outpaces Governance

The business operated as a premium fitness center with multiple locations and wellness services. They had grown quickly but had no finance infrastructure in order to scale. An investor got alarmed by QuickBooks reports that didn’t match the actual cash position and contacted Kordis. 

The problems were deep: one co-founder controlled all money movement, there were no banking or spend controls, and funds were commingling with another entity. The business was burning $180,000 to $200,000 per month and had a few months of runway left. The company needed to act swiftly because failure to do so would result in permanent closure.

The Mandate: Stabilize, Raise, and Rebuild

It was clear this was a mission for fractional CFOs. We had to:

• Stabilize the business while securing funding to establish organization needed to achieve financial stability through cash management and operational control.
• Obtain emergency funding through a short-term bridge round.
• Rebuild finance systems from the ground up.
• Develop a strategy for achieving operational profitability.

Phase 0: The Fractional CFO Approach to Getting Accurate Data

Our team began by creating investor-ready financial reports based on CRM data instead of using the broken accounting files to build a solid funding proposal. This is typically not best practice but we were operating under special circumstances. 

Having your accounting and books in a good spot is something most businesses don’t do at the beginning but ends up hurting you in the long run.

Phase 1: Stabilize and Extend Runway

Then, our fractional CFOs performed a "mini-QoE" (quality of earnings) analysis during the first three weeks to create a reliable revenue and EBITDA model using CRM data. The company obtained $500,000 to $750,000 in SAFE notes through this funding round which extended their operational period by several months.

The company gained essential time to build a proper finance system through this initial achievement before needing to perform a full forensic accounting re-close.

Phase 2: Control the Money

Next came governance. Our team moved the company’s operations to Mercury, which established payment controls between finance and the lead investor. The team also implemented Ramp as a solution to manage expenses and eliminate individual wire payments and credit card usage.

We got them to do daily bank syncs and monthly reconciliation processes and formal cutoff review procedures to replace their previous disorganized system. The management team got their first reliable "cash truth set".

Phase 3: Make the Numbers Useful

With banking under control, our fractional CFOs rebuilt the chart of accounts and standardized policies, from capitalization rules to close checklists.

Our team set up location-level P&Ls (“four-wall” view) to differentiate performance between mature and new sites, which clarified true unit economics. We turned what was a blended EBITDA loss into a clear understanding of which locations were growing and which we needed to focus our attention on.

The company also started tracking every dollar that had been co-mingled across entities, making sure everything was compliant going forward. 

Phase 4: Improve Unit Economics

With real data, we focused on improving the quality of revenue and retention. Weekly KPI cadences tracked LTV per member, personal training attach rates, and membership churn.

Together with the lead investor, they put key revenue levers in place:

• They introduced warm handoffs to trainers at sign-up to boost PT revenue.
• They enforced initiation fee and pricing policies.
• They cleaned up CRM billing errors and expired cards.

The result of these changes were an improved cash flow and a higher per-member value.

Phase 5: Rebuild Investor Confidence

A big part of the recovery was simply being honest and transparent. 

We helped the founders write directly to their investors, owning what had gone wrong and laying out exactly how they were fixing it. From there, we built out clean, consistent reporting: monthly location P&Ls, cash updates, and KPI dashboards. With data that made sense and accountable governance, investors re-engaged with more confidence.

The Results: From Burn to Breakeven

The results speak for themselves:

• Within just a few weeks, the team closed a $500–750K bridge round to buy breathing room.
• Over the next year, monthly burn dropped from nearly $200K to around $50K. 
• By month 18, the business was generating positive cash flow, and investors were back on board. 

Lessons for Multi-Site Operators

This case underscores a universal truth: financial control and operational clarity are inseparable from growth.

If you’re running a business with multiple locations and high fixed costs, profitability starts with:

1. Controls before analytics: Get banking, spend approvals, and reconciliations right first.
2. Four-wall visibility: Separate mature vs. ramping sites to see true unit economics.
3. Weekly KPIs that matter: Focus on attach rates, churn, and per-member revenue. 

You don’t need a 100-tab model.

About Kordis

Kordis partners with founders, investors, and operators to bring clarity, control, and confidence to complex financial situations. Whether you’re facing a short runway or scaling across markets, we can help you stabilize your business and build the systems that it needs.

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