Traditional gyms have sneaky high barriers to entry from finding a lease, not-cheap equipment, insurance, etc. A franchised unit of a decent brand came up for sale near me. He wants 3x SDE; he works about ~45 hours a week at the gym today. If I were to have someone in his place (~$75k?), I would be paying 4x EBITDA.

Any insights on multiples paid, how to think about the SDE vs. EBITDA when the CEO role is not technically challenging / relationship-driven (not an engineering firm), or anything else that I am missing would be much appreciated!