Opening a studio in Wisconsin: the $25 presale cap, the $100 line and the bond

October 14, 2026

This is for anyone opening a Pilates, yoga, barre or boutique fitness studio in Wisconsin. Until a member has written notice that you are open, the contract cannot require more than $25, or 10 percent of the price if that is less. Once you are open, collecting more than $100 ahead of service takes a $25,000 bond or an escrow account the state approves, for each location.

Wisconsin’s fitness center law names studios

Section 100.177 of the Wisconsin Statutes defines a fitness center as an establishment that, for profit, helps patrons “in physical exercise, in weight control, or in figure development, including but not limited to a fitness center, studio, salon or club.” A covered contract includes one “for instruction, training, assistance or use of facilities primarily for physical exercise.” A class studio fits the words.

The exclusions are nonprofits, weight reduction centers and “an organization solely offering training or facilities in an individual sport.” Whether yoga is an individual sport is unsettled. When Bliss Flow Yoga closed in 2019, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) told a reporter “We are not yet able to just say definitively how the business should be classified.” We would plan on being covered.

There is no registration and no fee. You file with DATCP only when the bond rule applies.

The $100 line and the $25,000 bond

Section 100.177(13) says “no center may collect or by contract require a buyer to pay more than $100 for center services before the buyer receives or has the opportunity to receive those services unless the center establishes, for each center location, proof of financial responsibility.”

Proof is either an escrow account DATCP approves, holding everything members pay in advance, or a bond, certificate of deposit or irrevocable letter of credit of at least $25,000 payable to the state. The lower amounts in the statute are for weight reduction centers only.

What that means for your products

The words “or has the opportunity to receive” leave room to argue that a pack usable the same day is not paid in advance. DATCP has not said so in anything we found. Ask DATCP for its information packet before you price.

In Frontmat, memberships bill monthly through Stripe, and there is no annual membership. A membership at $100 a month or less stays under the line. Price packs at $100 or less, or plan on the bond.

Founding members: $25 until you open

Section 100.177(8): “No contract may require the buyer to pay more than $25 or 10 percent of the total contract price, whichever is less, prior to the date on which the customer receives written notice that the facilities and services described in the contract are available for full use by the buyer.” Posting a bond does not lift this cap. The bond rule is written “Subject to sub. (8).”

The contract must also promise everything will be available on a set date no more than 6 months after the member signs, so do not presell further out than that. For a member who signs before you open, the 3-operating-day cancel window starts when they get your notice that you are open.

In Frontmat a membership can be sold before opening with billing starting on opening day, and a founding membership can be capped at a number of spots. A founding member signed that way pays nothing before you open, which keeps you under the $25 cap. Send every founding member the written notice that you are open before that first charge.

What the member contract must say

• A copy of the written contract to the member at signing (100.177(2)).
• Where your facilities are, and the general nature of each major facility and service, with any conditions or restrictions on use (100.177(3)).
• A specified length of no more than 2 years and the full price, including any interest or other charges (100.177(5)).
• The caption “CANCELLATION AND REFUNDS” in boldface uppercase of at least 10 points, followed by the statute’s “Right to Cancel” text word for word (100.177(6)).
• If a facility or service becomes unavailable, the member owes only the share of the price for the time elapsed and gets the rest back, or can finish the term at another location you own (100.177(11)).
• On death or disability, the member owes only the share for the time elapsed (100.177(12)).

The statutory text lets a member cancel until midnight of the 3rd operating day after signing, by any writing mailed or delivered. You refund within 21 days, less a user fee of no more than $3 per day of actual use. An “operating day” is a day the member can use the studio “during a period of at least 8 hours.” A studio with a morning block and an evening block may rarely have one, which on our reading stretches the window.

A contract that does not comply is unenforceable against the member. DATCP can seek forfeitures of $100 to $10,000 per violation, and a member can sue for damages plus attorney fees. Wisconsin’s automatic renewal statute (134.49) does not reach consumer services.

First aid, CPR and an AED

Section 100.178 adds a staffing rule. Either keep an employee trained in basic first aid and CPR on site whenever you are open, plus one with current AED proficiency. Or have every employee finish that training within 90 days of hire. CPR certification has to come from the American Heart Association or the American Red Cross (DHS 174). Post a notice of the rule and its penalty where patrons see notices: at least 8 by 11 inches, black letters on white. The same $100 to $10,000 forfeitures apply.

Sales tax: classes are not taxed

The state rate is 5 percent. Seventy counties add 0.5 percent, Milwaukee County adds 0.9 percent and the city of Milwaukee adds 2 percent, so a studio in Milwaukee collects 7.9 percent on anything taxable.

Wisconsin taxes dues for access to clubs and athletic facilities. But the Department of Revenue’s Publication 201 says “Charges for lessons or classes of study are not subject to Wisconsin sales or use tax.” Tax Bulletin 78 and Publication 204 (April 2026) list aerobics classes and all lessons as nontaxable, and tax a single fee by what members spend more than 50 percent of their time doing.

So packs and memberships at a class-only Pilates, yoga or barre studio look untaxed. Retail is taxed. We found no ruling that names a Pilates or yoga studio, so confirm with the Department of Revenue. Frontmat does not add a sales tax line to packs or memberships today.

Your waiver

In Atkins v. Swimwest Family Fitness Center (2005 WI 4) the Supreme Court said releases “are not favored in the law” and are read strictly against the business. Swimwest was mainly an instructional swim facility. Its release failed on three counts. Its release was “overly broad and all-inclusive” and said “fault.” It sat on a guest registration form with no separate signature. And “The form itself must provide an opportunity to bargain.” The court added that Swimwest “could have included the word ‘negligence’ in the waiver.”

So a Wisconsin waiver should be its own document with its own signature. It should name negligence and release nothing intentional. Ask your lawyer how to give members a real choice on the form. We found no Wisconsin case deciding whether a parent can sign away a child’s claim. In Yauger v. Skiing Enterprises (1996), a father signed a release on a family season-pass application at a ski hill, and his 11-year-old daughter later died there. The Supreme Court voided that release because it never mentioned negligence and the form did not show it was a release. The suit was the parents’ own wrongful-death claim, and the court never took up whether a parent can sign away a child’s claim, so ask your lawyer about it too if you teach teens.

In Frontmat the waiver is your own text. Members sign it once, at their first booking, with a typed name. We store the time and a fingerprint of the exact wording they signed, so an edit later never changes what an earlier member agreed to. It is plain text, so emphasis is done in CAPITALS. We never supply waiver language. Get yours from a Wisconsin lawyer.

Workers’ comp and texts

You need workers’ comp from the day you hire a third employee, full or part time. You need it sooner if you pay one or more employees $500 or more in a calendar quarter, by the 10th day of the next quarter. An instructor paid on a 1099 counts as a contractor only after passing a nine-part test under 102.07(8).

Wisconsin’s telephone solicitation law (100.52) counts a marketing text as a call, and anyone who employs or contracts people to send them registers with DATCP: $700 the first year, then $500. A text to a current client, or one the person asked for, is exempt. Frontmat sends booking texts only (waitlist offers, confirmations and cancellations) to members who opted in, and stores the time and wording of each opt-in. It sends no marketing texts.

Before you sign anything

1. Set your prices. Packs and monthly memberships of $100 or less stay under the bond line. Anything over it needs a $25,000 bond, certificate of deposit or letter of credit, or an approved escrow, filed with DATCP for each location.
2. If you sell before opening, take no more than $25 or 10 percent, open within 6 months of the first sale, and send written notice when you open.
3. Write the member contract with the “CANCELLATION AND REFUNDS” clause word for word, a term of 2 years or less, the full price, the facilities list, and the closure and death or disability terms.
4. Train staff in first aid, CPR and the AED, and post the 8 by 11 inch notice.
5. Buy workers’ comp when you hire your third employee or pay $500 in a quarter.
6. Have a Wisconsin lawyer write the waiver as a standalone document that names negligence.

This is our reading of the statutes, rules and agency pages as of October 14, 2026. It is not legal advice. Confirm the fitness center questions with DATCP’s Bureau of Consumer Protection at (608) 224-4996 and the tax questions with the Department of Revenue.

If you are still choosing where to open, we keep the rules in every state on one page.