L’Express: How did the Fitness Park group come into being?
Philippe Herbette: We are an offshoot of the Moving group, a historic player in the world of fitness, created 35 years ago. In 2019, the latter took the name of its main brand, Fitness Park Group, created in 2009. Personally, I had been an independent player in this sector for many years when I bought the group in 2015. oday we have 260 clubs, 16 of which are in Spain. We have just opened 2 additional ones in Morocco and two other creations are planned in Portugal. In total, we have 900,000 members.
What is your business model?
Basically, people want to exercise every day, to feel good, to take care of their physical form. And this is true all over the world. Our concept is therefore sustainable. From the start of the adventure, we adopted a low price policy, with a maximum price of 30 euros per month. To maintain our dominance in the market, our offer must remain attractive at all times. That’s why we focus on innovation. We have thus installed in our rooms the first spaces dedicated to cross-training, fit’boxing, cycling… We were also the first, in France, to use the most sophisticated gym equipment in the world.
“Finished, the membership card that we can lose!”
How have you developed your rooms?
By adopting the most advanced technologies. One of our latest devices, for example, allows our members to create an avatar, which allows them to virtually project themselves on a muscular level and perfect their training journey. We also took the digital shift very early on, with a strong acceleration during the Covid period, when distance management took hold. Thanks to our applications, our members are almost autonomous in their relationship with the room. Finished, the membership card that we can lose. Thanks to a QR code, it is possible to go through the entrance gates of our clubs, to buy drinks, to chat online with our teams, to book a coach, to do your session at home, to have access to an extensive course library…
All these innovations aim to bring comfort to our members. Taking care of your physical health is entering a virtuous circle. 50% of our members also have another membership in a club or gym different from ours. This proportion was only 10% in 2015. The activity practiced in our clubs is certainly less fun than a sporting event, but this lack of competition is oh so relaxing in such a tumultuous world.
Has the health crisis upset the situation in your activity?
Due to health restrictions, fitness enthusiasts – there are 6 million in France – have been deprived of their favorite activity around the world. According to experts, it is the younger generation who have suffered the most from the successive closures of cinemas. However, 70% of our customers are under 30 years old. We are therefore particularly attentive to this issue. During the pandemic, on several occasions, I personally went to plead the cause of the police officers at the Ministry of the Interior because many of them come to train with us. In vain… Our activity was not considered a priority, which we regret.
In terms of results, at the start of the year, however, we have regained our pre-Covid attendance and turnover. And yet, we only really restarted our activity in April 2022, after the suspension of the vaccination pass. Even though we have received a lot of help from the government and some of our landlords have offered us several months’ rent, we have lost 2/3 of our turnover during these 3 years of health crisis. Fortunately, even if we are in debt, we are solid financially because we have reliable investors: the Banque PubIique d’Investissement and two private equity funds, Momentful and M Capital. The latter have reinjected funds into our group in recent months.
Why did you choose the franchise model?
When I bought the group, I was convinced that this was the best model for developing the brand. The development trajectory of a brand is infinitely longer and more perilous if you only have branches. At the start of my adventure, in 2015, the group had 20 franchises and 40 clubs. Today, the franchisees number 120, some of them owning several rooms.
How do you support your associates?
Our support begins as soon as they enter the network and continues thereafter. We support them in the preparation and in the launch of their club. They take advantage of material means and devices that they could not obtain on their own: purchasing conditions, innovations, digitization, winning over customers, choice of service providers, advertising… Our help is particularly valuable to them – they themselves recognize this – for identify future settlement areas. The real estate procedures that we carry out – appointment of the architect, issuance of the permit, management of the construction sites – are particularly strategic for the success of their projects. Finally, our training centers allow them to acquire the fundamentals of managing a sports hall.
“Our partners can generate an annual turnover of one million euros”
What are the entry requirements to obtain a Fitness Park franchise?
You have to be able to invest 1 million euros. But I reassure the candidates: fitness being a sport of the future, the banks are ready to support them. Before the Covid crisis, an entrepreneur who wanted to engage with us had to provide 200,000 euros of his own for the bank to lend him funds. At the start of the year, this sum is more like 350,000 euros, for the same amount of investment. Credit conditions have tightened due to the health crisis and the war in Ukraine. In addition, entry and training fees amount to 45,000 euros per zone; the royalty at 6% of turnover, while 2.2% of this same turnover is paid under the brand’s national marketing policy. At the same time, our partners can generate an annual turnover of one million euros on average. In other words, the amount of their investment.
What is the profile of your associates?
The vast majority are entrepreneurs who previously owned franchises. Some have already made a fortune in trade or in their profession and want to invest in a market with a future. In the regions, they often forge multiple partnerships with hospitals, firefighters, town halls, large companies, in order to be part of a local dynamic and win new members.
What are your medium-term development objectives?
We want to continue our march forward. At the beginning of 2023, 150 rooms were ordered from us, even if all these projects will probably not be able to materialize because it is not always easy to find the best location and the appropriate premises. In total, we are aiming for 70 openings in 2023. Compared to the competition, we want to maintain our lead in terms of innovation, improve our customer experience while maintaining a reasonable price offer. Within 5 years, we would like to have 750 clubs and 3 million members. In addition to our franchises, we own 70 resorts. Either we buy these branches from our franchisees, or we create them from scratch.
And what about internationally?
We don’t want to develop haphazardly. From the outset, we bet on proximity, namely Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Within 3 years, we will no doubt be established in one or two other countries. Abroad, we support our associates through a master franchise contract (1). Very often they are former French associates whom we know well and in whom we trust. On site, they have to adapt to local conditions, which is not always easy. But we bring them all our expertise. In fact, we are one big family!
(1) The master-franchise consists in ceding to a local partner the right to develop a brand in a territory determined by a contract.
An article from the “Franchise” Special Edition of L’Express. On sale from March 16.
