Gym franchises

1. Home Blogs How to ‘Guides’ Free Entrepreneurship Course Get in Touch Top 15 Gym and Top 15 Gym and Fitness Franchises in Fitness Franchises in Australia Australia If you are planning to embark on your Entrepreneurship journey and are looking for an option in the Franchise space – Gym Franchises or Fitness Franchises should be your go- to option. In the Article (Quick Access) The Australian health and ?tness industry is one of the major industries in the country and contributes $4 billion to the country’s GDP. (Source: Ausactive) 1. Anytime Fitness 2. Snap Fitness It is one market that has grown from strength to strength. 3. EFM Health Clubs Consider these stats from Statista:  between 2016 and 2023, Australia’s heath/?tness centres and gyms grew from 3,800+ to 7,300. 4. My First Gym 5. Jetts Fitness Now, that’s almost double-digit growth in 8 years. Genesis Health and Fitness Clubs The ?tness industry in Australia is continuously growing, and ?tness activities are taking new and reformed shapes.  6. 7. Planet Fitness The industry is not just limited to weight training and gyms alone.  8. Crunch Fitness It also includes Yoga and Pilates studios, dance, group classes, and many other activities. — With this brief overview of the Australian gym franchise business, let us now jump to our list of Australia’s top 15 gym and ?tness franchises. Anytime Fitness Number of Franchises 530+ Headquarters NSW

2. Founded in 2008 Franchise Cost $381,575 – $783,897  One of the world’s fastest-growing ?tness chains tops our list.  Anytime Fitness is a 24-hour health and ?tness club founded in Minnesota, USA. In Australia, the brand was launched in Gunnedah, NSW 2008.  After one and a half decades of business, the brand has spread to more than 500 branches nationwide. This growth makes it one of the biggest health club chains in Australia. In October 2023, the Fitness chain recently achieved a major milestone of opening its 550th Australian Club in Sydney, New South Wales (source: anytime ?tness) The club’s growth is not limited to Australia alone.  Globally, the brand has expanded to more than 5000 clubs. If these stats are not impressive, Anytime Fitness has some exciting numbers to show its rapid growth. For example, per the club’s of?cial website, a new member joins an Anytime club every three minutes. Now that’s some pretty neat data point, won’t you say? It’s a club that is growing by the minute!  It must be doing something, a lot of things, right? But as you might wonder, this growth rate is not a mere claim but has been certi?ed by the Franchise Council of Australia (FCA). In 2018, FCA gave the brand “International Franchisor of the Year” award based on ?nancial strength, stability, growth rate, and size. One of the clever strategies of the brand is its ‘small club format’ that reimagines the small gym space. The idea behind designing a smaller club is to have a reduced footprint and more ingenious con?guration to optimise the experience for those who prefer smaller and cosier spaces for their ?tness routine. The club is open 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. (Source: Of?cial Website, Entrepreneur, Wikipedia) Visit Website To Know More Snap Fitness Number of Franchises 235

3. Headquarters Brisbane, QLD Founded in 2003 Franchise Cost $354,738 – $1,211,917 (Source: SnapFitness) The second ?tness club on the list is also a US-origin club.  Peter Taunton founded the club in Chanhassen, Minnesota, US, in 2003 with the ambition to be an industry innovator. Present in more than 20 countries, Snap Fitness has opened more than 1000 clubs and has a vast community of 1 million+ member. (Source: SnapFitness) The club entered the Australian market in 2009 – Within six years of its original launch in the US as a Brisbane headquartered company. Today, Snap Fitness has more than 235 clubs spread throughout the country.  One of the reasons for such a rapid brand expansion is its smooth onboarding and franchising system. The club can be out?tted with equipment and opened within ten days of signing the lease.  The whole franchise is mounted on an 18-wheeler, ready to be unpacked on any site on arrival. Once your franchise is opened, its cost can break even at 275 members strength.  Time-wise, it can be achieved within three months. As you can see, Snap Fitness has truly stood to its name in this regard.  That is why most franchise owners are, what the brand terms, ‘Absentee Owners’(Absentee owners are the ones who are running the gym as a side business).  The majority of franchise owners, 60%, fall in this category. Most of these absentee owners can run it as a side business because of the convenience of checking out their visit counts and revenue reports online.  It is supported by the fact that the members enter gyms with their access cards.  They can even access their club’s live footage remotely. (Sources: Wikipedia, SnapFitness, Forbes) Visit Website To Know More EFM Health Clubs Number of Franchises 65

4. Headquarters Unley, South Australia Founded in 1991 Franchise Cost $120,000+ The third Australian Fitness and gym franchise on the list is EFM Health Club.  Curiously named as an acronym, EFM has an interesting story behind its name. But before coming to its name, let’s just talk about its inception and the specialities of its operations. EFM Health Club is the ?rst on our list, an Australian-origin club.  The club was founded by Shane Redbone, an ex-SANFL and AFL footballer. With over 65 outlets throughout the country, the club has won several awards for its exceptional services since it was founded in 1991. The speciality of the EFM Health Clubs lies in corporate health and ?tness programs for the employees of major Australian hospitals. Hence the name EFM, which stands for Executive Fitness Management. Several years after its operations, the company realised that its name was probably not the best of choices. The name “Executive Fitness management” sounded rather confusing to the people and generated so many questions regarding the services offered by the club. So, the club changed its name to its acronym, EFM Health Clubs. EFM Health Clubs also specialises in running on-site ?tness programs for schools.  The club has more than 20 school programs being run nationwide. One ?agship program run for schools is called “Fit 2 Play”, which aims to ?ght childhood obesity through its special ?tness sessions for kids needing help in this regard. EFM provides free commercial-grade ?tness equipment and specialised programs for students, staff, school alumni, parents, and the local school community through these programs. The star feature of the club is a personalised and tailored program with an affordable membership scheme. (Sources: EFM, Wikipedia) Visit Website To Know More My First Gym Number of Franchises 16

5. Headquarters Ashmore, Queensland Founded in 2017 Franchise Cost $250,000+ (Source: Company’s Of?cial Website)  Revenue $20.7 million The Next Gym franchise on the list is quite unique. My First Gym is a health and sports activity gym dedicated to kids of all ages.  Yes – A novel concept indeed, but a successful one! The idea of the gym was conceived and materialised by Dan and Eric Newton in Hawthorne, QLD, in 2017. The couple thought of creating a “one-stop shop” for children’s ?tness.  As unique as the idea sounds, it became a leader in this particular niche and ended up winning awards in 2022: Best birthday party venue (peoples choice) Best National Toddler Activity (2-3 years) Best National Preschooler Activity (3-5 years) Best National School Aged Activity (5-15 years) Best National School Aged Activity (5-15 years)   The gym has state-of-the-art facilities for the kids and world-class programs to get the kids involved in fun and physically rewarding activities. As you can imagine, being a kid-friendly space, it is also a family-friendly area where parents and guardians love to hang around. The club brings a variety of innovative technologies and ideas to the child’s physical ?tness.  The key among them is MyMovementBuddy technology, which kids can wear in and outside class. This wearable allows parents and kids to track their movement and reach goals in a structured way. The real-time score for their activities keeps the kids fully involved in their progress. Not to mention the fun and competition it brings along with it. The atmosphere and vibe at the club are one of the most energetic. There are more than 70 classes conducted each week which include MFG Ninja Warrior Parkour Gymnastics Martial Arts Dance, Yoga. Another awe-inspiring feat of the club is its kid’s range.  The club caters to kids aged seven months (yes, months, not years!) to 15 years old.  So practically, no kid feels left behind at My First Gym.

6. The membership perks are equally inclusive. Kids can choose different classes each week with only one membership scheme. Its MFG-FIt classes are the ?rst functional group training class in Australia designed for kids aged 8 to 15. The club also offers birthday parties, date nights, and holiday camps to add to the fun. For its prospective franchisees, the club has undeniable potential for a commercial children’s ?tness service. The support from their head of?ce includes ongoing training, staff development, and sales and marketing teams to ensure pre-sales programs.  It has specialised training concentrated on the ?rst 90 days of the opening and even beyond in many aspects. (Source: Gym’s Of?cial Website & blogs) Visit Website To Know More Jetts Fitness Number of Franchises 260 Headquarters Sunshine Coast, Queensland Founded in 2007 Franchise Cost $550,000 – $700,000 (Source: ICSID) Revenue $62.9 million Brendon and Cristy Levenson founded Jetts Fitness in 2007 on the Gold Coast, QLD. The brand has the unique honour of being the ?rst gym franchise in Australia to offer all- day access. Not just that, but the gym also offered no lock-in contracts, low fees and members- friendly policies.  In 2012, the gym was announced by BRW as Australia’s #1 Fastest Growing Franchise and in 2023, Global franchise and winning culture, voted the ?tness chain to be the 2nd Best Place to Work 2023! The award recognised the incredible revenue growth the brand garnered back then – a 403% increase from the last year and a turnover of $42 million. Going beyond its industry, the brand was declared the 2nd fastest growing company in Australia. (Source: WRKPlus) Jetts Fitness is not con?ned to Australia.

7. It opened its ?rst international club in New Zealand in 2010.  The expansion continued afterwards, bringing the club’s franchises into many other countries, including Thailand, Netherlands, and the UK. (Sources: Jetts Fitness, Wikipedia) Visit Website To Know More Genesis Health and Fitness Clubs Number of Franchises 100+ Headquarters Bayswater, Victoria  Founded in 1997 Franchise Cost $289,500 – $446,000 Revenue $66.2 million Next Health Franchise on the list is also an Australian-origin and 100% Australian owned health-club brand. Genesis Health and Fitness Club ?rst opened in 1997 in Ringwood, Victoria.  The club’s unique strength is being the most pro?table ?tness club organisation. In more than two and half decades of operation, the club has garnered more than 60,000 members and hundreds of highly trained staff. One of the secrets behind their pro?table business and high membership rate is their unique Genesis service and retention programs. Genesis uses an unorthodox approach towards franchising. It operates through a mix of company-owned franchise clubs and joint venture operations, all operating under the franchise system. But what purpose does this approach serve? Well, it allows the brand to remain ?exible in its approach to acquiring, facilitating and successfully operating clubs of any size and ownership choice. To grade it as per the membership cost, it stands in the middle of the spectrum – neither cheap nor too costly. But certain perks give the members personalised and premium treatment. The new members are welcomed with free and personalised ?tness consultation, personal training sessions and a complete training plan.

8. Once you get on that program, they check in with you every 12 weeks to keep you on track. And like other quality gyms, they offer small group and nutrition training programs for an added cost under their ‘the coaching zone’ program. It is becoming increasingly popular among the members of the gym. The gym is a 24/7, all-week open club. (Sources: Genesis, GetMyFit, LinkedIn) Visit Website To Know More Planet Fitness Number of Franchises 15 Headquarters Sydney, NSW Founded in 1992 Franchise Cost $936,600 – $4,558,000 Revenue $224.4 million (Source: ClubIndusry) Planet Fitness (PF) is a US-origin ?tness club which was founded in 1992 in Dover, New Hampshire, USA. Platen Fitbness has a unique business model that revolutionised the gym and ?tness industry. Starting, PF acted on the same gym model as the rest of the clubs in the US.  A regular gym space that always attracted hard-core weightlifters who had somehow dedicated their lives to it.  And as per the gym’s calculation, it constituted only 10-15% of the general population.  So, they sat down and tried to ?gure out why the rest of 80-85% of the people did not join the gym. As per PF’s ?ndings, the answer to that question was the shyness of the new or casual gym-goers. They hated the “look at me” attitudes and behaviours in typical gyms. Another main reason was the cost of the membership. Many people do not want to pay huge sums of money for a membership they do not like to be a regular user of. So, the brand acted on its ?ndings and brought many changes in response to them.

9. They made their gym environment non-intimidating and affordable.  They started calling their clubs “Judgement Free Zone”, meaning to be a welcoming and friendly community where people can feel comfortable regardless of their muscle size, body shape, or the level of activity they indulge in. The club’s membership price cut was also drastically reduced to reduce competition with other health and ?tness clubs. PF is present in many countries, including the USA, Australia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Panama, and Mexico. In Australia, Planet Fitness signed an agreement with Bravo Fit Holdings Pty Ltd in November 2019 (Bravo Fit Holdings is a joint venture of two US franchisees and an Australian ?tness operator, Dallas Rosekelly’s Galactic Fitness Pty). (Sources: Wikipedia, PF) Visit Website To Know More Crunch Fitness Number of Franchises 18 Headquarters Parramatta, NSW Founded in 1989 Franchise Cost $304,500 and $2,129,500 (Source: Crunch) Revenue $33.7 Million Next up is a gym franchise that was founded in 1989 in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood of New York City. The club had in its roots the ambition to welcome people of diverse groups. Like our last entry on the list, Crunch Fitness also claims to be a “No Judgement” ?tness club. The club’s ‘no judgement philosophy’ aims to remove the intimidation factor from going to the gym and combine this model with entertainment and diverse offerings, keeping members inspired to work out. The gym’s franchise operation in Australia was started in 2007 by a couple in the heart of Sydney. The couple has 45 years of experience in the health and ?tness industry.  Their passion for ?tness activities is matchless; they call it “living with mana”. And their “mana” certainly shows in the brand’s success.

10. As with every premium gym franchise, Crunch also has a set of ?tness programs they advertise for ?tness programs meeting the needs of various ?tness enthusiasts. (Sources: CrunchAustralia, Wikipedia, CrunchUSA) Visit Website To Know More Orange Theory Fitness Number of Franchises 8 Headquarters Boca Raton, Florida Founded in 2010 Franchise Cost $488,405 – $994,360 Revenue $179.6 Million The next ?tness club franchise on the list is quite a unique one. Orangetheory Fitness (OTF) is a US-based boutique ?tness studio franchised and headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.  The club was founded by exercise physiologists Ellen Lathan, Jerome Kern, and David Long in 2010. The club builds on its predecessor Pilates studio, called “Ellen’s Ultimate Workout”, founded by Latham in the late 1990s. What makes the ?tness club unique is its high-intensity interval training, alternating between short periods of intense exercise and long recovery periods. Their sessions are typically an hour long and are designed in a way to generate excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). What in God’s name is EPOC, you must be asking. Well, it is a physiological concept that occurs after an elevation in oxygen consumption as the body returns to its pre-exercise state. OFT’s success can be gauged from the fact that it was ranked #415 in Inc. magazine’s “Fastest-Growing Private Companies” list. The brand also features among the “Franchise 500” of the Entrepreneur magazine. (Sources: OTF, Wikipedia) Visit Website To Know More

11. Gold's Gym Number of Franchises 6 Headquarters Sunshine Coast, QLD Founded in 1965 Franchise Cost $1,483,000 – $3,602,000 (Source: GoldGym) Revenue $580.0 million Gold’s Gym is probably one of the most recognisable ?tness brands included in the list. The gym is also probably one of the oldest in this industry. Gold’s Gym was founded in 1965 as a small gym in Venice, California. It has now spread to 6 continents of the world, with more than 600 locations the world over. But the gym’s ?rst franchise in Australia in 2005. It is interesting to note that the club calls its franchises “co-ed ?tness centers” and not speci?cally a gym. Being one of the oldest gyms it used homemade equipment and was dubbed “the Mecca of bodybuilding”. Gold’s Gym boasts of its association with the legends of the bodybuilding world, like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dave Draper. The gym has quite an interesting story behind its international fame. By 1975, the gym was proving to be an almost failing operation and its founders decided to sell it to a regular gym visitor, Ken Sprague. turning it into an antique shop. Sprague kept the gym running despite all odds. It turns out that Sprague had connections with the ?lm industry. These connections allowed him to offer his gym as a primary studio for the ?lming of the movie Pumping Iron. After the release of the ?lm, Gold’s Gym rose to phenomenal success and by the 1979s became the world’s most famous gym. Later, the gym was owned by Peter Grymkowski, a Mr World bodybuilding champion, and his partners. Among its many ?rsts, Gold Gym was one of the ?rst companies in the health and ?tness industry to the franchise. Its franchising started back in 1980. With more than 3 million plus members, the brand claims to be the number 1 full-service ?tness franchise in the world. It is present in more than 29 countries and has more than 700 franchises.

12. (Sources: Gold’sGym, Wikipedia) Visit Website To Know More Plus Fitness Number of Franchises 250 Headquarters Narellan, New South Wales Founded in 2008 Franchise Cost $350k to $550k* plus GST Revenue $32.2 million Plus Fitness is an Australian-origin gym franchise founded by John Fuller. Fuller initially launched the ?rst four franchises of the business being the sole owner of the club, but later formed a partnership with Nigel Miller to run the future business together. Although the gym started franchising in 2009, it soon realised the need to change the orthodox ‘big box gyms’ franchising model. Their gym had to adopt a low-priced, convenient, and 24 hours access model to cut through the market competition. The signi?cant change to the franchising model adopted by the partners was to follow a low-staff model and an exclusive territory for each franchisee.  The exclusive territory model had a dedicated aim of protecting the franchisees from future market saturation. Along with these measures, the owners ensured that they developed a real turn-key franchise operation that offered a lucrative package to investors, including gym equipment, franchise training, and marketing support. These speci?c measures aimed at making their franchising more lucrative for investors paid them real dividends, and their efforts ?nally made the gym a true ‘Australian Success Story’.

13. On the of?cial launch of its 24/7 ?tness club model at the Sydney Franchise Expo in 2011, the brand sold ?ve franchises right ‘off the stand’ in three days. So, as you can imagine, the gym’s franchising model is its real strength.  The company’s website lays out eight steps process to own their franchise. Plus Fitness is also big on using innovation and technology.  (Sources: PlusFitness, Of?cial Website) Visit Website To Know More Fernwood Fitness Number of Franchises 70+ Headquarters Richmond, Victoria Founded in 1989 Franchise Cost $500,000+ Revenue $54.9 million Another unique club in the list. Fernwood Fitness is a women-only health and ?tness club with a mission to ‘empower women to shine’. Opened in 1989 in Bendigo by Diana Williams, Fernwood boasts a proud history of more than 40 years of successful experience. The founder, Diana Williams, is a successful businesswoman, proud mother, and weightlifting champion. Being a female-friendly ?tness club, the gym has tailored its ?tness routines to best suit its members’ needs.  They have curated a ?ne balance of strength and weight training, cardio supported by state-of-the-art equipment, high-intensity exercise, and group ?tness classes. But these are not all the activities. The club also offers FIIT30, Tai Chai, Zumba, yoga, Pilates, meditation, and mindfulness classes. And as you would expect, being a women-dedicated ?tness club, it also offers hair products, hair dryers, and straighteners in its equipment inventory.  Most of their clubs do offer childcare services as well to let the moms cater to their ?tness needs without having to worry about dropping their kids somewhere else or hiring a nanny for them.

14. (Sources: FernwoodFitness, StartupGrind) Visit Website To Know More Stepz Fitness Number of Franchises 16 Headquarters Dapto, New South Wales Founded in 2009 Franchise Cost $200,000 to $250,000 Revenue $3.5 million (Source: StepzFitness) Stepz Fitness is a ?tness club with a noble mission behind its business strategy. The club aims to play its role in making “1 million Australians become healthier, ?tter and happier.” The brand markets its clubs as “24/7 boutique gym” franchises.  While the 24/7 gym operation has almost become a necessity for the gym to do a decent business, Stepz Fitness tops it up with another one of its marketing slogans. The Stepz Fitness clubs are advertised as a ‘non-intimidating’ gym that is open to all – whether you are 17 or 70 years old. As with other gym brands, this club also has a unique business philosophy to make them stand out from the rest. So, their strategy was to combine a tiered pricing model by incorporating Functional Group-Training and 24/7 gym facilities under one roof. The club claims to be a pioneer in this approach. This approach, as per the club’s claims, has given them on average higher revenues than other successful clubs, but with half the members. Quite an impressive feat, to be honest! And to support this claim, the company shows a yearly revenue that exceeds $3.5 million. (Source: Company’s Of?cial Website, Stepz) Visit Website To Know More Curves

15. Number of Franchises 367 franchise Headquarters Melbourne, Victoria Founded in 1992 Franchise Cost $45,595 – $75,295 Revenue $20.4 million Well if it isn’t obvious from the name itself, the Curves is a women-dedicated health and ?tness franchise; the second one in the category to make it on our list. Curves’ business philosophy is to allow women their personal space in a women-only environment to pursue their ?tness goals. The workouts of the Curves combine strength, cardio, and stretching. But the interesting thing is that all these exercises are con?ned to a 30-minute workout session. Almost as old as Fernwood Fitness (it is only 3 years younger), Curves is among the leaders in the women’s ?tness business. Curves boast a ?tness impact affecting millions of women across the globe through their famous 30-minute sessions. Catering to women’s needs, the gym also offers at-home workouts through their apps to the paid membership program. In their clubs, the workouts are always led and supervised by a trained professional and you are given dedicated support throughout your ?tness journey. Their membership plans have a tiered regime that allows you to choose in-club or at- home membership with and without a coach to guide you. (Sources: Curves, Fitness, CanStarBlue, WellnessLiving) Visit Website To Know More Vision Personal Training Number of Franchises 57

16. Headquarters Randwick, New South Wales Founded in 1999 Franchise Cost $250,000 – $350,000 (Source: VisionPersonalTraining) Revenue $50.2 million Well, we couldn’t let you go with the last entry being a boring old plain gym like the average clubs out there. Not at all. In the same way as the rest of our list, this one also runs its franchise business in a unique way. The Vision Personal Training takes a holistic approach to ?tness.  It is surrounded around all the elements of a ?tness package, not just “fad” high-tempo and short-span exercises. The four pillars of their holistic ?tness approach include Emotions Education Eating Exercise Only by working and improving on all these four aspects, as per the brand’s philosophy, that one can really achieve long-lasting and rewarding ?tness. Well, that does sound convincing, doesn’t it? If you are wondering, the man behind the philosophy is the founder and owner of the gym franchise, Andrew Simmons.  Simmons has earned many titles in the ?tness industry of Australia, one amongst them being voted as “National Personal Trainer of the Year” in 2003. Being a ‘?tness-philospher’ (no pun intended) Simmons is also the author of two books on ?tness and has sold thousands of copies of each book. He is also passionate about decreasing the Type 2 Diabetes and obesity epidemics in Australia.  In pursuit of this mission, he is providing passionate health and ?tness professionals with long-term careers. Their ?tness philosophy also emphasizes the order of priority in following their four pillars of ?tness. All this talk of philosophy may sound dull and boring, but they do have a surprising twist to pique your interest. If you really hone in on their philosophy and do mindfulness as guided and do your eating and exercises as guided, for 9 weeks and still do not achieve your ?tness goals, guess what?  They not only give you your money back, but they would also give you the rest of the guided sessions free until you reach your goal!  They call it the Vision promise. Well, at least I am sold on that promise. Are you?  

17. Visit Website To Know More Keep happy to lurk around our Small Business website and blog to check other related lists bringing you the top franchise businesses in Australia in multiple industries. Or better yet, drop us your email id and we’ll bring it right to your inbox. Happy Franchising with Lessons At Startup Let's Spread the Joy - Share! Jasmeet Singh Jasmeet has been a part of multiple Ventures. He earns his bread and butter by hanging onto his ?rst venture, a Software Company located in India. He is at present working on a new startup idea which like all startups will be "Disruptive" (at least he thinks so ) Looking for regular franchise news or entrepreneurship insights? Subscribe to newsletter and also get a free copy of ’the entrepreneurship guide’ Name Email Subscribe GUIDES LATEST BLOGS CONTACT INFORMATION mail: info@lessonsatstartup.com Free Entrepreneurship Development Course 15 Pro?table Food Business Ideas in 2024 Address: Melbourne, Australia The Only Online Business Directory Website Resource You Will Ever Need 8 Best Car Wash Franchises in Australia

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