interview
FITLane currently has five clubs open on the Côte d‘Azur, with plans to expand to around 12 clubs there
which time Gary had moved on – a company called First Pacific Davies bought a large chunk of our company and was pushing me to build larger clubs. We got to know Ray Wilson, whose Family Fitness Centres chain – 110 clubs in California – was eventually sold to 24 Hour Fitness. We came together with Ray in a 50:50 joint venture to build, develop and manage a chain of clubs called California Fitness Centres. “We started building big, American-
style gyms in Hong Kong – Ray with his expertise and us with the local knowledge. There was strong emphasis on sales and marketing, which I learnt a lot from. In fact, everything I know today I’d say I learnt from them. “Our relationship didn’t last very long
though. We got up to about 10 clubs, but there was a bit of a culture clash and we ended up selling our stake in the business.” California Fitness ultimately became part of 24 Hour Fitness, until 24 Hour sold the clubs in mid-2012. “I eventually also sold my shares in the
Sportathlon Group to First Pacific Davies, who subsequently sold Sportathlon to Fitness First to create Fitness First Asia. Once the Sportathlon adventure was over, I decided to move to France.”
France beckons So was the intention always to pick up where he left off, building and operating health clubs in the Côte d’Azur? “When I got to France, I actually wanted to play golf and have a different life. I was dabbling in antiques, a bit of real estate, but the temptation grew and
an opportunity presented itself with a one-club test.
“It was a little facility in Mandelieu –
run down, but in a super location and with the possibility to expand. I took it over, built a second floor and applied what I had learnt from California Fitness. That meant proper marketing – we now spend 6 per cent of our revenue on marketing, really pushing to build a brand. It meant proper sales, separating sales from admin, putting everyone in uniform, having meetings, measuring everything, implementing direct debit for memberships. It might all sound obvious, but nobody else was doing that here. “The club took off and got to 4,500 members. I realised this was complete virgin territory – even better than Hong Kong, and even easier. Bit by bit we started building more clubs, under the FITLane brand, growing at the speed the company could afford – we have little or no debt and use internal cashflow to build our facilities. “There were all sorts of little clubs
down here, but no really big health clubs offering extensive, clean, well-equipped facilities, and with a good marketing and sales team. And that’s all it took to be honest. People now come all the way from Monaco to use the Nice club, for example – there’s just nothing else like it around here.”
34 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
Expansion plans Franklin continues: “FITLane now comprises five, soon to be six, fitness centres with a turnover of l10m. We have some 25,000 members – around 2 per cent of the entire Côte d’Azur population – primarily on direct debit at an average of about l50 a month.” In the Côte d’Azur, this places the brand firmly at the budget end of the scale – or value, as Franklin prefers to call it. In fact, FITLane offers a range of options depending on length of contract and whether you want access to just one or all of its clubs – monthly fees start at l49, going up to l74. But although people have then committed to anything up to a two-year contract, those contracts are transferable – if you need to leave, you can pass what remains of your contract on to a friend without the clock then starting again for them. The Nice club, which opened in July
2010, is the best example of where Franklin sees the brand going forward. Measuring 2,500sq m, and with cleaning staff on the floor at all times, Nice offers a very large cardio and resistance floor. There are several hundred pieces of kit, all supplied by Star Trac, as the close relationship originally forged by Franklin in Asia has continued – Franklin is majority owner of Star Trac France, which operates as a sister company to FITLane.
october 2012 © cybertrek 2012
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