Franchise watch: A new era for Lift Brands

Lift Brands is the parent company of innovative fitness concepts such as Snap Fitness, Fitness On Demand, and the minority partner for boutique boxing brand 9Round – put simply, the organization understands the entire gamut of what workouts can mean to people. But even with this knowledge and experience, the franchisor wasn’t exempt from the challenges presented by COVID-19.

It’s fortunate, then, that since June 2020 Lift Brands has been helmed by global CEO Ty Menzies: a man deeply immersed in the fitness industry, having opened his first of many health clubs in his early 20s. Menzies has used this experience to help guide the organization’s network over the past 12 months, and despite having to close a number of clubs in various regions, Lift Brands is coming out the other side swinging.

“It’s been a challenging 12 months for sure, but the big thing I’ve led on has been very heavily focused on culture: on what we can do to help our franchisees, whether that’s through financial abatements, deferrals, investment in the business in certain areas, or taking that financial pressure off where we can,” says Menzies.

“We made some very heavy investments in the business to bring on significantly more support. In fact, we were one of the only health and wellness franchises anywhere that hired more people in every single one of our regions, even though we had basically removed all of our revenue streams.

“Short-term financial improvement isn’t going to work; it’s going to be a marathon. So we doubled our U.K. team, went from 35 to 43 in our APAC business, and recruited almost 15 new support people in our U.S. and Canadian business during COVID.”

Repositioning strategy

REPOSITIONING FOR SUCCESS

As well as providing its network with unparalleled levels of support, Lift Brands used the past year to take a step back and revisit where it stands within the competitive fitness market, particularly for Snap Fitness. This self-reflection led to an ambitious repositioning strategy, which involved a strong focus on technology through its Snap Fitness concept.

“One of the things we heard in a lot of feedback was that people are a bit lost with how they get started in fitness and track their progress,” explains Menzies. “Snap Fitness is focused on a fun, supportive environment to help those intimidated by gyms in getting started. We’re heavily invested in technology with a bespoke member app to help in aggregating and making sense of all the detail required to stay motivated and focused on a fitness journey.”

The app is set to launch in September and represents the forward-thinking approach that Lift Brands is taking to its future growth. The fitness industry may be very well established, but this organization isn’t resting on its laurels; the Lift Brands of tomorrow is embracing the most popular trends today and leading the way for the future of fitness.

Lift Brands is a master developer for 9Round in Europe and is seeking master franchisees for Snap Fitness globally and 9Round in Europe.

Snap fitness details

AT A GLANCE SNAP FITNESS

Number of units: Over 1,000

Location of units: 20+ countries

Investment range:

• Single unit: $350,000 – $750,000

• Master franchise: $2m – $5m

Minimum required capital:

• Single unit: $75,000+ (varies by country)

9round details

AT A GLANCE 9ROUND

Number of units: Over 600

Location of units: 15+ countries

• Single unit: $150,000 – $250,000

• Master franchise (Europe): $1.5m – $3m

• Single unit: $50,000 (varies by country)

• Master franchise (Europe): $1.5m