Franchise Marketing Radio: Workout Anytime Director of Franchise Development and Chief Brand Believer Details Navigating Pandemic and Growth of 24/7 Gym Concept

In a recent podcast for Franchise Marketing Radio, Terri Harof, director of franchise development and chief brand believer at Workout Anytime, talks about the early stages of the 24/7 gym concept becoming a franchise, how locations pivoted operations during the COVID-19 pandemic and what markets are ripe for expansion.

In the interview, Harof explains how founders John Quattrocchi and Steve Strickland got started in the fitness industry by opening a gym equipment sales company called Commercial Fitness Products. With their first location open as a showroom for their products the idea was born for a 24-hour, seven days a week gym in which members had keycards to gain access any time of the day.

While the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the fitness industry, Workout Anytime was able to get through it by making strategic pivots. “The great news is we didn’t close any of our clubs permanently because of the pandemic, which is huge,” Harof said. “We went from being open 24 hours to being only open staffed hours and we did that so we could absolutely monitor traffic and where people were working out and making sure there was social distancing.”

She goes on to explain that Workout Anytime has locations in larger cities but that real estate is more expensive in those markets. Harof says areas ripe for expansion tend to be in underserved markets that don’t have fitness clubs on every corner but have a population and demographics to support a Workout Anytime.