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Fitstop targets interstate expansion with new growth plans

Nick Hall

Brisbane-based fitness franchise, Fitstop Australia has unveiled plans to open twenty new locations across the Brisbane metropolitan area in the coming months, in addition to interstate expansion.

The news follows a significant pattern of franchise success that has seen functional fitness gyms emerge as the industry’s latest disruptor.

Launching over the weekend, Fitstop’s latest site at Newstead in Brisbane’s inner city marks the third new location in just two months for the brand, following successful launches at Indooroopilly and Maroochydore.

Peter Hull, Fitstop founder and CEO launched the franchise model in 2017, and believes the strategic focus on Queensland has provided the brand with traction in a traditionally over-crowded marketplace.

We’ve created a really tight community in the fitness industry, particularly in Brisbane, and branching out into the wider Queensland area,” Hull said.

The biggest thing for us to make sure we’re sending the right message, of a who a franchise owner is and what a franchise owner actually looks like. We’ve really been creating traction, with over 90 franchise enquires in the last two months.”

As a reflection, the second half of 2018 will see further growth for Fitstop, who is currently looking to take the model interstate.

“We have Brisbane and Queensland pretty much booked up for the rest of the year, with twenty new locations planned. We’re currently looking at signing up partners for Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, which we’ll be looking to roll-out by early next year,” Hull said.

The interstate expansion will bolster the brand’s current franchise network, which has grown from two locations in 2017 to 14 at present.

“The biggest advantage with Fitstop is that it was built with the end in sight,” said Fitstop director, Travis Telfer.

“It wasn’t something that started off as one gym and slowly grew, it was a strategic plan that was built with 100 locations in mind. We currently have 14 locations, and we operate on the basis of having a new gym open every two months.”

As the interstate movement gathers pace, Hull said the brand would be looking to ramp up expansion, raising the rate of openings, bringing with it a new set of challenges.

“We provide the franchisee with the whole package, all trades and project management is done with our in-house team. So while the franchisee can go and do their eight weeks training and learn the business operations and model, they can pretty much walk into a ready-to-go gym with a membership base,” Hull said.

“As we grow, we’ll add more people to the team, so that build time goes down and we’ll be able to open a new location every week.”