HOTSEAT NICK COUTTS
After a long and successful career at Holmes Place and many years’ experience in the Iberian market, Nick Coutts tells Julie Cramer why the time is right to launch his Fitness Hut chain of clubs in Portugal
Why did you to launch your own chain of fitness clubs?
For a long time I’d wanted to work on a brand that was my own creation. In my last couple of years as CEO of Holmes Place Iberia I’d become disillusioned. The wheels had fallen off the Spanish and Portuguese economies and we were under a great deal of pressure to deliver results in a chal- lenging economy. One thing became very clear to me – a higher-end, higher-priced product was no longer right for this type of environment.
How would you describe Fitness Hut? The brand will be based on a premium low cost model, but we are not going into the market solely to be the cheapest on price. We want to exceed expectations at every level – in terms of the design, quality of equipment, fi tness instructors and class schedules, as well as the club’s social element. But we’ll be a third of the price of the high-end brands and half the price of the middle market chains. Fitness offers in
Portugal have always been very expensive – people can pay €55 a month just for a municipal club.
Who’s involved? There are three directors – myself and two ex-colleagues from Holmes Place. Andre Groen is expansion and develop- ment director focusing on design and build, JP Carvalho is in charge of sales and marketing. My focus is on product. Our fi nancing bank is Banco Popular, and we also have backing from a Portuguese private equity and real estate fi rm, EDGE Capital, who also happens to be the landlord of our fi rst site.
FITNESS ON THE NET
Coutts and his team are developing a Portuguese website called Fitness Net which is due to go live later in 2011. Coutts says: “I want to create a platform where PTs can share opin- ions and develop critical mass – a database that is constantly growing but is self-managed/policed via peer group and end-user feedback. “Fitness Net will be a space where all key stakeholders within the indus-
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A specialist company will supply inspirational fi lms for the gym
What stage are you at? Our fi rst club in central Lisbon is due to open in October, with a further two sites due to open by the end of 2011. After that we are looking to open six to ten clubs each year – to start with in the greater Lisbon area and also in some other Portuguese cities.
What was the inspiration behind the brand? I spent a lot of time researching the concept, going to events like SIBEC and IHRSA and talking to as many people as possible. I love hearing about new ideas and networking with others in the industry. I did a tour of European clubs in Holland, Germany the UK, where the premium low cost
try can meet, contribute ideas and leverage benefi ts from one another. Only the suppliers will be paying a fee for registering.” Fitness professionals will be able to display their profi le, upload exer- cise videos, promote themselves to clubs and end-users, contribute to forums and benefi t from attractive deals on services such as account- ing, medical insurers, mobile phone companies etc, from a wide range of registered suppliers.
Read Leisure Management online
leisuremanagement.co.uk/digital
Clubs can have a profi le, advertise jobs, search the PT database and for an additional fee, use the ‘Marketing Wizard’ to create high-quality market- ing material for a budget price. Fitness fans can have a profi le page, contact PTs directly, ask fi t- ness questions and access online nutritional stores. The site uses Google Maps, so all parties can zero in to areas of geographical rel- evance, and all registered users will receive a bi-weekly email newsletter.
ISSUE 4 2011 © cybertrek 2011
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