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About CrossFit 417
CrossFit 417 is located in the Ozark, Missouri area. Christine Kolenbrander co-owns the CrossFit affiliate with husband Jared Stevens, and splits her time between coaching, running the business, and training as a CrossFit Games athlete. Meanwhile, Stevens leads the gym’s Sports Performance program, working with student-athletes on strength and speed, plus a strong focus on injury prevention.
The gym opened 12 years ago and has built the kind of “Cheers” culture most fitness owners are chasing: a place where, as members put it, “everybody knows your name.” Classes run 60 minutes and cover a warm-up, strength or skill work, and conditioning, with coaches scaling each workout so a first-timer and a competitive athlete can train side by side. Members talk about strong friendships with coaches, a non-judgmental floor, and a shared goal of becoming the best version of themselves.
Running a gym with that kind of hands-on coaching and community isn’t an easy task. And Kolenbrander, like most owners, watches her margins closely. Which is what made one specific line item stand out when she recently audited her expenses: credit card processing fees.
The Win: Passing On Processing Fees
“I had no idea how much processing fees were cutting into our profit each month,” Kolenbrander said. Every membership charge and point-of-sale swipe carries a processing fee, and most gym owners just absorb that cost without ever adding it up. When she ran the numbers at CrossFit 417 in the fall of 2024, the total surprised her: about $500 a month, or $6,000 annually.
Kolenbrander then did some research and realized that more and more gyms are choosing to pass that cost on to members, the same way restaurants and service businesses do. It’s usually just a few dollars added to a person’s charge. But multiplied across a full membership base and stacked up over a year, it adds up.
And when Kolenbrander determined that kind of money could fund some new equipment, she realized it was time. But at first, she wasn’t sure how members would react.
“Naturally, I was a little nervous to pass these on and I didn’t know how our members would respond,” she said. She sent an email that explained CrossFit 417’s reason for making the change: a few extra dollars per month per person would allow the gym to reinvest in better equipment and service. This wasn’t about padding margins for no reason—there was a real benefit to sharing the expense.
Kolenbrander also built in an alternative option. Starting in 2025, CrossFit 417 allowed members to pay their membership in full for the year, save 10 percent, and skip the processing fee altogether.
“This gave a buffer for if anyone did have an issue with the fees,” she explained, “they have an option to not have to pay them if they pay the year in full.”
Members responded well.
“Everyone was super supportive,” Kolenbrander said, and she credits the honest, up-front approach in that email.
In fact, after she posted about the whole experience on Instagram, one of the CrossFit 417 members gave her props, saying, “You guys did a great job with that. When you explained the why, it was easy to get on board. We appreciate you!”
So, what about the money the gym has saved?
“The extra savings has allowed us to buy new equipment more easily,” Kolenbrander said. “We’ve been able to consistently purchase or replace equipment at the gym much easier and more frequently since passing on the fees.”
If you’re running a gym and haven’t checked your own processing total lately, you can do that quickly today. Simply go to Financial Settings in Wodify, and check out the “Total Potential Savings” per year stat. Most owners are surprised by the number, the same way Kolenbrander was at first.
From there, copy the CrossFit 417 approach: tell members why you’re making the change before you flip the switch, and give them an alternative, like an annual prepay discount, so they feel like they have options no matter what.
“It’s such an easy way to instantly make more money to put right back into your gym. It benefits you and your members. Total no brainer!” — Christine Kolenbrander, co-owner, CrossFit 417
How Wodify Makes it Easy
The good news is that Wodify not only does the math for you to pass on processing fees, but you can turn it on with one simple click. Plus, the Processing Fee is added as a clear line item on each client’s invoice for transparency.
Kolenbrander described it about as simply as it gets, saying, “You just go into your settings and literally just click a button and it transfers the fees. It has been super helpful for us and Wodify makes it super easy.”
Further, it doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing switch. Wodify lets you choose whether you’re passing on processing fees for every existing membership or only for new sign-ups going forward. You can even toggle it separately for recurring memberships, one-off invoices, drop-in payments, and point-of-sale retail purchases.
The fee shows up under a label you choose, so members always see it clearly instead of finding a mystery charge on their statement. Transparency is key, both for members and card networks that require it. Treating cash or check differently once you’re passing on fees can violate their rules, so check with your accountant or legal counsel before you flip the switch.
Once you’ve started passing the fees on, simply go to Financial > Payouts, Financial > Transactions in Wodify Core (or Ask Wodify for help!), so you can see the savings add up in real time.
For CrossFit 417, this one quick setting turned an invisible cost into a line item for new equipment, without raising a single membership rate. Take a page from Kolenbrander’s game plan and check your own settings today.
Want to see how passing on processing fees can help your gym reinvest or improve your bottom line? Book a demo with our team today!
To learn more about CrossFit 417, visit the website here.
