When Australian franchise Fitstop founder Pete Hull is visiting Los Angeles—as he often is, lately, in preparation of the brand’s U.S. expansion—he misses his regular workouts. “I’ve not experienced anything like it in the U.S.,” Hull said. “I’m trying not to be biased, as the founder, but I actually miss it every time I come here.”
The fitness brand has more than 100 units open and, following a 30 percent investment in 2021 from Minnesota-based Lift Brands, is ready to expand into the United States. Life Brands is the parent company of Snap Fitness and FitnessOnDemand and has a minority share in 9Round. Fitstop’s first U.S. corporate-owned location is set to open in May, with plans for 10 locations open by the end of this year.
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Hull founded Fitstop in 2017, to reflect traditional strength and conditioning training in a group setting. Up to 36 people can fill a session, which is divided into teams of three. “Everything we do is heavily team based,” Hull said.
Fitstop is for the “everyday athlete,” he said. Whether someone’s end goal is simply to feel healthier, join a recreational sports league or run a half marathon, Fitstop can be integrated into someone’s routine. People who played a team sport when they were young, for example, and want to get back into working out regularly may find a support system in Fitstop, Hull said.
“Life gets in the way,” he said. A typical “Fitstopper” is 25-45 years old, “someone who’s moved their body before, that is looking for a new challenge, is looking to feel great again about themselves to get that mental clarity, to be a part of a team and something bigger,” Hull said.
The fitness sector and its clients have changed a lot in even the last five years, he said. It’s not all about aesthetics anymore.
“It was, ‘I want to lose the next five kilos’ or ‘I want to gain some muscle,’” he recalls. “The No. 1 thing our members say when they onboard with us is, ‘I just want to feel better.’”
There are many gym franchises, each with their own specialties or focuses, in the United States. There are boutique brands, like those under the Xponential Fitness umbrella, like CycleBar and Pure Barre. CycleBar made $75 million systemwide in 2021 across its 245 units and Pure Barre brought in $150 million across its 608 units the same year.
Then there are open-gym brands, like Snap Fitness—which had systemwide sales hit $300 million in 2021 across its 1,102 gyms. There’s also 5,000-unit Anytime Fitness, which had global sales top $1.7 billion in 2021. Planet Fitness’ sales hit $3.4 billion in 2021.
Richard Hopkins is Fitstop’s first U.S. franchisee, with a studio opening this year in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. An Australian native, Hopkins moved to the United States in November. He and his now-wife, who is from Cherry Hill, came to the United States to get married in August. They were visiting for a few weeks and couldn’t find anything like Fitstop.
“I said to my partner, ‘Well, if we do decide to move to America, could this be something you’d be interested in doing with me?’ And she said yes,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins has a history of working in investment banking, and was a member of the fitness brand back home. The New Jersey owner attributes two things to his interest in Fitstop ownership. “The actual product that was being offered was easily the best in the market,” he said.
The other, he said, is the business model. “It’s a very scalable business,” Hopkins said. He likes the gym’s membership model and app that clients use for scheduling.
Opening a franchise in a new brand country has its challenges, Hopkins said, but Fitstop corporate has been “side by side, working through the process,” he said. “that’s not a normal thing that a franchise owner does. I’ve been really, really appreciative of that.”