With his MBA, love of fitness and deeply woven family ties in franchising, Ryan Morningstar seems like a natural fit to lead a high-energy indoor cycling franchise like CycleBar. Surprisingly, it took him a bit longer to find his match, spending 15 years in the high-stakes world of tech startups and operations before moving into fitness franchising.
In 2023, Morningstar bought the CycleBar Berkeley studio and, with it, his first shot at franchise ownership. Since taking over, revenue has climbed 20% year over year and membership has nearly doubled. He saw the same thing in cycling that a lot of riders do — a loyal community, a familiar routine and a category that still had life in it.
As the studio approaches its 10-year anniversary, Morningstar is also pushing to surpass 500 sustaining members. With this anniversary push underway and plans to expand in the near future, Morningstar is showing no signs of slowing. He credits that momentum to being an active, engaged owner who treats every member and employee as a vital part of the studio’s culture.
Morningstar sat down with 1851 Franchise to discuss his path to ownership and what it takes to build on a longtime community fitness brand in Berkeley: Here’s what he had to say:
1851: Frame your personal story for us. What do you want us to know?
Ryan Morningstar: I've been an operator and an entrepreneur in the tech space for the last 15 years. I primarily worked with early-stage startups, growing operational units and teams, so I really care a lot about people, management, growth and culture. When I graduated from my MBA program, I felt it was the right time to take on something of my own, where the buck would stop with me. I'm very passionate about fitness as a whole — running, cycling, lifting. You name it, and I've probably done it. I want people to know me as somebody who really cares about fitness, community and people. Every single time you come to our studio, everyone tries to know your name, what makes you tick, and what your goals are to serve you to the highest degree.
1851: What did you do before franchising, and how did you decide franchising made sense for you?
Morningstar: I was new to the franchise space, meaning I hadn't really thought that it would be a benefit, or I didn't think about it at all. Until I saw an opportunity that presented itself, and from a dollars and cents standpoint, it seemed to make sense.
1851: What was your perception of franchising prior to becoming a franchisee, and what do you want people to know about franchising now that you are in it?
Morningstar: My family has actually been in franchising for a long time. My father is a broker, so I've been around it and familiar with it for a long time. I didn't have a positive or negative perception — if anything, it was positive — but I never really considered it until it happened. Now that I've been a part of it, I see a lot of value in franchising as a whole, particularly around scaling small business opportunities. It provides this umbrella that has a lot of the tools you need to be successful, but it allows you to operate on a micro-level in individual communities. Rather than a big corporate approach, you can have an independent feel to each entity while having the structure needed to operate a lot of them at the same time.
1851: What made you pick this brand? What excites you most about this company?
Morningstar: It was just a good opportunity where the dollars and cents worked. It was a good location, and I was very familiar with the market. I considered cycling as an opportunity from a categorical sense. I knew there were avid cyclists. I had a Peloton at home, and I could see what happened in the industry and why it's ripe for a resurgence. Cycling itself is a super strong community. Unlike some of the other boutique fitness trends out there, I could see this one was anchored and has been for a long time. I thought the category really lent itself to a strong opportunity going forward.
1851: What do you hope to achieve with your business? What are your plans for growth?
Morningstar: I purchased the studio in 2023. It had multiple owners before and was a distressed asset from Xponential Fitness, meaning it was losing money. I've since turned it around, increased our revenue by 20% year over year and almost doubled our membership count since taking it over. Our goal has been 500 sustaining members, and we're going to get over that mark hopefully after our upcoming 10-year anniversary push. I'm already looking now at other opportunities and thinking about different strategies. I think I'll take the next two locations myself before coming up with some way to scale it into something larger.
1851: Is there anything else about your story you want us to know?
Morningstar: I am a dad who cares a lot about his kids. It's all for them in the grand scheme of things. I am using franchising and small business to get away from working for somebody else, so I am able to spend my own time how I need to and really spend more time with them.
1851: What advice do you have for other people thinking about becoming franchise owners?
Morningstar: I would say that the work is not passive. When people tell you that ownership of any business is passive, it's not going to be, so be ready to be active and engaged. The second thing, which I think is most important for a small business, is the people. Spend time, energy and focus on your people — everything from hiring to nurturing. You have to be a person and care about people and their growth as a whole. If you do that, I think you can be successful.
About Extraordinary Brands
Founded by Paul Flick in 2022, Extraordinary Brands is a multi-brand franchisor platform specializing in boutique fitness and wellness concepts. The company empowers entrepreneurs to launch, scale, and grow standout studio brands through a shared services model and operational consistency. Its expanding portfolio now includes CycleBar (indoor cycling), Rumble (boxing-inspired group fitness), Row House (rowing-based HIIT), and NEIGHBORHOOD barre (barre). Extraordinary Brands continues to pursue growth across Pilates, spin, HIIT, barre, and recovery verticals, with a focus on franchisee success and long-term brand revitalization. Visit www.extraordinarybrands.com to learn more.
About CycleBar
Founded in 2004, CycleBar is the largest indoor cycling brand by number of studios and offers a variety of low-impact, high-intensity indoor cycling workouts, which are inclusive of all fitness levels. CycleBar offers an immersive, multi-sensory experience in state-of-the-art “CycleTheaters,” led by specially trained instructors, enhanced with high-energy “CycleBeats” playlists and tracked using rider-specific “CycleStat” performance metrics. Ranked on Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500 six years running, Fastest-Growing Franchises in 2021 as well as Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 in 2020, CycleBar is headquartered in Irvine, CA and backed by Xponential Fitness, one of the leading global franchisors of boutique health and wellness brands. To learn more about CycleBar, visit www.CycleBar.com.
Extraordinary Brands
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As his cycling studio approaches its 10th anniversary, Ryan Morningstar is proving that a people-first mantra can breathe new life into a distressed asset.
With his MBA, love of fitness and deeply woven family ties in franchising, Ryan Morningstar seems like a natural fit to lead a high-energy indoor cycling franchise like CycleBar. Surprisingly, it took him a bit longer to find his match, spending 15 years in the high-stakes world of tech startups and operations before moving into fitness franchising.
In 2023, Morningstar bought the CycleBar Berkeley studio and, with it, his first shot at franchise ownership. Since taking over, revenue has climbed 20% year over year and membership has nearly doubled. He saw the same thing in cycling that a lot of riders do — a loyal community, a familiar routine and a category that still had life in it.
As the studio approaches its 10-year anniversary, Morningstar is also pushing to surpass 500 sustaining members. With this anniversary push underway and plans to expand in the near future, Morningstar is showing no signs of slowing. He credits that momentum to being an active, engaged owner who treats every member and employee as a vital part of the studio’s culture.
Morningstar sat down with 1851 Franchise to discuss his path to ownership and what it takes to build on a longtime community fitness brand in Berkeley: Here’s what he had to say:
1851: Frame your personal story for us. What do you want us to know?
Ryan Morningstar: I've been an operator and an entrepreneur in the tech space for the last 15 years. I primarily worked with early-stage startups, growing operational units and teams, so I really care a lot about people, management, growth and culture. When I graduated from my MBA program, I felt it was the right time to take on something of my own, where the buck would stop with me. I'm very passionate about fitness as a whole — running, cycling, lifting. You name it, and I've probably done it. I want people to know me as somebody who really cares about fitness, community and people. Every single time you come to our studio, everyone tries to know your name, what makes you tick, and what your goals are to serve you to the highest degree.
1851: What did you do before franchising, and how did you decide franchising made sense for you?
Morningstar: I was new to the franchise space, meaning I hadn't really thought that it would be a benefit, or I didn't think about it at all. Until I saw an opportunity that presented itself, and from a dollars and cents standpoint, it seemed to make sense.
1851: What was your perception of franchising prior to becoming a franchisee, and what do you want people to know about franchising now that you are in it?
Morningstar: My family has actually been in franchising for a long time. My father is a broker, so I've been around it and familiar with it for a long time. I didn't have a positive or negative perception — if anything, it was positive — but I never really considered it until it happened. Now that I've been a part of it, I see a lot of value in franchising as a whole, particularly around scaling small business opportunities. It provides this umbrella that has a lot of the tools you need to be successful, but it allows you to operate on a micro-level in individual communities. Rather than a big corporate approach, you can have an independent feel to each entity while having the structure needed to operate a lot of them at the same time.
1851: What made you pick this brand? What excites you most about this company?
Morningstar: It was just a good opportunity where the dollars and cents worked. It was a good location, and I was very familiar with the market. I considered cycling as an opportunity from a categorical sense. I knew there were avid cyclists. I had a Peloton at home, and I could see what happened in the industry and why it's ripe for a resurgence. Cycling itself is a super strong community. Unlike some of the other boutique fitness trends out there, I could see this one was anchored and has been for a long time. I thought the category really lent itself to a strong opportunity going forward.
1851: What do you hope to achieve with your business? What are your plans for growth?
Morningstar: I purchased the studio in 2023. It had multiple owners before and was a distressed asset from Xponential Fitness, meaning it was losing money. I've since turned it around, increased our revenue by 20% year over year and almost doubled our membership count since taking it over. Our goal has been 500 sustaining members, and we're going to get over that mark hopefully after our upcoming 10-year anniversary push. I'm already looking now at other opportunities and thinking about different strategies. I think I'll take the next two locations myself before coming up with some way to scale it into something larger.
1851: Is there anything else about your story you want us to know?
Morningstar: I am a dad who cares a lot about his kids. It's all for them in the grand scheme of things. I am using franchising and small business to get away from working for somebody else, so I am able to spend my own time how I need to and really spend more time with them.
1851: What advice do you have for other people thinking about becoming franchise owners?
Morningstar: I would say that the work is not passive. When people tell you that ownership of any business is passive, it's not going to be, so be ready to be active and engaged. The second thing, which I think is most important for a small business, is the people. Spend time, energy and focus on your people — everything from hiring to nurturing. You have to be a person and care about people and their growth as a whole. If you do that, I think you can be successful.
About Extraordinary Brands
Founded by Paul Flick in 2022, Extraordinary Brands is a multi-brand franchisor platform specializing in boutique fitness and wellness concepts. The company empowers entrepreneurs to launch, scale, and grow standout studio brands through a shared services model and operational consistency. Its expanding portfolio now includes CycleBar (indoor cycling), Rumble (boxing-inspired group fitness), Row House (rowing-based HIIT), and NEIGHBORHOOD barre (barre). Extraordinary Brands continues to pursue growth across Pilates, spin, HIIT, barre, and recovery verticals, with a focus on franchisee success and long-term brand revitalization. Visit www.extraordinarybrands.com to learn more.
About CycleBar
Founded in 2004, CycleBar is the largest indoor cycling brand by number of studios and offers a variety of low-impact, high-intensity indoor cycling workouts, which are inclusive of all fitness levels. CycleBar offers an immersive, multi-sensory experience in state-of-the-art “CycleTheaters,” led by specially trained instructors, enhanced with high-energy “CycleBeats” playlists and tracked using rider-specific “CycleStat” performance metrics. Ranked on Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500 six years running, Fastest-Growing Franchises in 2021 as well as Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 in 2020, CycleBar is headquartered in Irvine, CA and backed by Xponential Fitness, one of the leading global franchisors of boutique health and wellness brands. To learn more about CycleBar, visit www.CycleBar.com.
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