--- title: "How Anytime Fitness Operator Baleo Hit 100" url: https://burnaze.com/article/6204eb1b-e17d-4376-812e-d43db0d4f036 source: "Franchise Times" original_url: https://www.franchisetimes.com/fitness-finance/how-anytime-fitness-operator-baleo-hit-100/article_f98c35fb-21b1-472a-a994-2d26943f66c0.html category: "Gym & HVLP" industry: "Fitness" segment: "Gym & HVLP" published: 2026-10-29T12:26:00.000Z modified: 2026-10-31T13:15:37.207Z image: https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/franchisetimes.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/98/f98c35fb-21b1-472a-a994-2d26943f66c0/6ae0d697085a7.preview.jpg?crop=1000%2C525%2C0%2C62 --- # How Anytime Fitness Operator Baleo Hit 100 **TL;DR:** Baleo Fitness, a large Anytime Fitness franchisee, has grown to over 100 locations in 15 states, with co-founders Michael Chere and John Christopher crediting their complementary skillset and focus on people and established systems for their success. The group has achieved an average unit volume of $480,000 and a monthly membership average of 840 people per gym, outperforming the company's averages. *originally published in Franchise Times on 2026-10-29. [Read the original](https://www.franchisetimes.com/fitness-finance/how-anytime-fitness-operator-baleo-hit-100/article_f98c35fb-21b1-472a-a994-2d26943f66c0.html).* ## Key facts - Baleo Fitness operates over 100 Anytime Fitness locations - Acquisitions account for 94% of the portfolio - Average unit volume is $480,000 ## Story Upon joining forces as business partners, Michael Chere and John Christopher heard the warning countless times: “Don’t work with your best friend.” Years later, the friends continue to prove their naysayers wrong. “‘It’s going to be the worst thing you’ve ever done,’” Christopher recalled of the sentiment he heard time and time again. “Four years into this, we’re still best friends.” ## Baleo fitness growth “This” is Christopher and Chere’s roles as the co-founders and managing partners of Baleo Fitness, a large Anytime Fitness franchisee that finished 2025 with 80 gyms. Today, the group operates more than 100 locations in 15 states. Christopher and Chere met on their first day of graduate school at Columbia Business School in 2017 and quickly bonded over their shared backgrounds as college athletes with military connections. (Chere is a West Point graduate and served in the military for about seven years as a combat engineer, and Christopher’s parents served.) Their friendship and business acumen only grew from there, as the pair sought the chance to build a business and execute against a playbook. Attracted to the fitness industry, Christopher said Anytime Fitness emerged as the frontrunner with its community-forward values. Anytime, which has more than 6,000 global locations, is part of the Purpose Brands platform, which also includes Orangetheory Fitness, The Bar Method and Waxing the City. “It really resonated with us, and I think the barriers to entry were lower relative to some of the [high-value, low-price gyms],” he said. “It was approachable both from a community perspective, but also for us as new entrepreneurs and new people entering the franchise space.” Thus, Baleo Fitness was born. The newly created group wrapped up 2022 by acquiring its first two units, in Greenville and Spartanburg, South Carolina. Acquisitions have been key in growing Baleo Fitness from two to 100-plus gyms—the group’s first 40 units were purchased from other franchisees. Acquisitions account for approximately 94 percent of the existing portfolio, with the remainder coming from new buildouts. Baleo Fitness has yet to accept any institutional capital or private equity backing. The pair credited a seed investment, money from friends, personal funds and access to a development line of credit with helping finance their growth over the years. While discussions about whether to bring in a PE sponsor to help fund growth have been had plenty of times between Christopher and Chere, they haven’t settled on an official decision. ## Unit level performance Though a fast-paced acquisition and development timeline has helped Baleo Fitness scale nationally, the co-founders said efforts around optimizing unit-level performance take precedent over growing just to grow. At Baleo Fitness, it all comes back to people and established systems. The managing duo hones their respective strengths, with Christopher handling the business development and financial responsibilities, while Chere leads operations. “We joke sometimes that if we were doing this on our own, [Christopher] would probably have 200 clubs, but they probably wouldn’t be performing. And if I did it, I might have just three clubs that would be the three best clubs in the system,” Chere said. “The complementary skillset has really enabled us to do well.” The group’s TEAM acronym—standing for trust, empowerment, accountability and mutual respect—is ingrained among longtime staff and new hires. The duo directed their focus to people from day one, leading new hire calls twice a month to build relationships and maintain consistent communication, accountability and structure across the system. The group encourages internal growth, regularly promoting staff and providing ample opportunities to move up in the company. A positive environment and work culture also go a long way. Christopher and Chere give inspiration credit to feel-good television show “Ted Lasso,” a connection made to them on their first day of franchisee training years ago. “It was something that really resonated with [Christopher] and I on the energy of how we want to build the organization: being curious but courteous, and bringing a great energy but being fair,” Chere said. “We’ve tried to think about being true to ourselves with the culture of the organization. Sure, we can leverage new tools or new spreadsheets or whatever in the process, but having the right people and having the right culture is really the main driver.” This approach seems to be paying off for the group, which reported an average unit volume of $480,000 across the portfolio. Anytime’s AUV was $446,814 in 2025, according to the company’s franchise disclosure document. Baleo Fitness is dominating the membership game, with a monthly membership average of 840 people per gym, notably higher than the company’s average of 660 members. ## Membership success People, process and performance continue to be the drivers for strong unit-level results. Don’t overlook the basics, advised Chere, who credits the membership retention success in part to having clean, well-maintained facilities led by personable general managers and staff. The group typically operates in gyms ranging from 5,000 to 6,000 square feet. “It builds an actual community for the members that feel like it’s a second place, a second home, a place that everybody feels welcome,” Chere said. “Having a friendly environment, which starts with the general manager, [provides] a place people want to be. You end up keeping people more.” Though the group celebrates its wins, Christopher and Chere recognize the often-uphill battle caused by macroeconomic headwinds and industry competition. ## Industry competition “The competitive landscape is evolving so rapidly, so we’re making sure we’re delivering an excellent product in that overlay of so much capital coming into the fitness space,” Christopher said. “With the broader macroeconomic environment, you open the news every day and it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, what happened in the world?’ It’s navigating uncertainty around that and what it looks like more recently with borrowing costs and budgeting a resilient business that’s not keeping you up at night.” Even with those concerns in mind, Christopher is still optimistic about the brand’s position in fitness. “Anytime Fitness is in a bit of a renaissance right now,” he said, “where there’s the new redesign they’ve been going through with ‘Real AF’ and the remodel efforts.” Baleo Fitness has since taken a proactive approach to driving the revitalization push on a national level. Highlighting the brand’s smaller gym membership count acts as a personalized, human-forward differentiator in the age of artificial intelligence and HVLP concepts drawing thousands of people per club. The brand doesn’t lack opportunity to innovate, said Christopher, noting he and Chere often speak with the franchisor about ways to optimize technology offerings while maintaining a human touch. “It’s a blessing and the curse of a brand that’s been around for as long as Anytime Fitness has been,” Christopher said. “There’s a resilience and a durability and a recognition of Anytime Fitness. The flip side of that is a lot of these systems are the same systems that were there 30 years ago.” “But I think this is something the brand is working on,” Chere chimed in. “They’re making a lot of progress, which is encouraging.” Baleo Fitness is on pace to add between 25 and 30 gyms annually, made up of five new builds and the rest acquisitions. As they look to extend development with Anytime, the best friends say their passion for leading Baleo Fitness is just as strong now as it was years ago. “The trust the team has put in [Christopher] and I, we take serious of trying to build a solid organization, not just an accumulation of clubs,” Chere said. “We’re building a great organization that people can grow their careers in. We take a lot of pride in that.” ## Entities - unit expansion (topic) - franchise growth (topic) - Fitness (sector) - fitness industry (topic) - private equity (topic) - Franchise Times (publication) - Anytime Fitness (company) - Purpose Brands (company) - Baleo Fitness (company) - Michael Chere (person) - John Christopher (person) - Columbia Business School (location) --- Originally reported by Franchise Times (https://www.franchisetimes.com/fitness-finance/how-anytime-fitness-operator-baleo-hit-100/article_f98c35fb-21b1-472a-a994-2d26943f66c0.html). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/6204eb1b-e17d-4376-812e-d43db0d4f036).