Dave Mortensen is visiting Sydney from the US where he co-founded the 24/7 gym network Anytime Fitness 10 years ago this month. He spoke to Franchising magazine about the fitness arena.
There are now 1900 Anytime Fitness outlets in 13 countries but the business began in May 2002 in Cambridge, Minnesota and grew through an urban base. In Australia the approach was to target regional areas as well as major cities. The result was faster initial growth — the master franchisors for Australia have sold 350 territories already.
The concept
“There are a lot of similarities between the US and Australian markets. One thing I have to compliment the team here on is the larger membership in each gym; we average 750 in America, in Australia it’s 1000. Australia is very receptive to the 24/7 concept.
“Anytime Fitness brings fitness to the community, it’s not a destination but a place of reference. We are the facility for busy people.
“It came from our experiences of 15 years travelling the US, Canada and Australia and visiting independent facilities. We worked to the 80/20 rule, generating what people really wanted. The idea came from a club in Tennessee that was 24 hour fitness, and provided a key to every gym member. We owned a technology company so we were able to automate the experience.
“Security is a necessary investment. In the general fitness box the overheads are in the payroll which is between 35 and 45 percent. We bring the overheads down, and the overall cost of the security is much less than it would be with [traditional] staffing levels.”
Surviving tough times
“For franchisees, the individual facilities have grown despite tough economic times. On the consumer basis there is even more of a need for fitness when people are stressed.
“We have been able to maintain or grow. It’s a more affordable model with a successful track record. We have zero failures in Australia, and brand-wise less than a three percent failure rate.
Growing the brand
“As a franchisor we need to evolve the brand. We’ve evolved and the challenge is making sure we maintain relevance.
“One of our goals is to improve our penetration rates. In Australia the percentage of people [using fitness facilities] is still in the low teens.”
A new design for the Anytime Fitness facilities a couple of years ago has helped spread the word, said Mortensen. And there is the upcoming Anytime Health online program (which is already available in the US) that gives customers an easy way to address any health issues, and is designed as a social media platform.
“This is our own in-house community, people can talk amongst each other. Providing accessibility is key. We can build relationships through social media.
“Today’s challenge is to continue to educate the consumer about accessibility to fitness, to find ways to encourage them to change their lifestyle. There’s a rise in obesity in the US and Australia and we are very conscious of this.
“We will improve upon personal training, it’s very important for customer success, you have to make fitness a habit.”
Technology driven?
“People ask me all the time where Anytime Fitness will be in 10 years time, and I have no idea. We need to be pliable to be what the consumer needs.”
Portable items such as mobile phones will become more important to the brand he predicts, with an app on the cards.
“People ask why Anytime Fitness wasn’t around 20 years ago; well, 20 years ago if you’d swiped your card at a gym, computers were so slow you’d have been waiting two hours to get in! [It’s about] the speed of computers, everything now is in the cloud, it all happens automatically.
“Technology drives us as much as it gives us the ability to give the personal touch. What drives the business is the personal; technology supports franchisees and gives them more time.”
- Read more about the brand: 150 clubs open; franchisor networking; franchisee satisfaction; franchisee story.