Challenges and Opportunities

Fitness business owner Mel Tempest

Challenges

and Opportunities

Health club owner and business leader Mel Tempest assesses the contradiction of overseas interest in Australian fi tness at a time of unprecedented stress

Coronavirus lockdowns over the past 16 months have created unprecedented suffering for the operators of fitness businesses with untold amounts of revenue gone, some operators closing their doors for good and the mental health and physical health of our members wiped out.

Of all states, Victoria has, until now, been most impacted - enduring six lockdowns that have resulted in an almost broken industry, with business owners living day to day, with no cashflow, borrowing money where they can, with overdrafts and credit cards maxed out.

Increasingly, there is not a day that passes where I don’t receive a call from a distressed business owner explaining their plight.

After the fourth lockdown was introduced, Tim Schleiger, spokesperson for VIC Active - the industry lobby group formed to back fitness operators during the COVID-19 crisis - called the ongoing lockdowns “a monumental kick in the guts to all Victorians.”

VIC Active has taken a proactive role in meeting with Government, highlighting that fitness centres are COVID-19 Safe and must reopen if Victoria is to avoid a physical and mental health catastrophe and lobbying for the industry to not be the first to be closed and last to be reopened during lockdowns.

Despite academically and scientifically collected evidence showing that fitness centres are COVID-19 Safe, the sector has been consistently overlooked, so much so that, during easing measures in early June, brothels were allowed to reopen under similar conditions to those that apply for gyms, aquatic facilities and entertainment venues!

With harsh lockdown measures being applied to Melbourne often also extending to regional Victoria, even when there are no active cases outside the Victorian capital, I believe operators in regional Victoria need stronger representation to try and secure a rescue package for the industry from the Federal and Victorian Governments.

The Federal/State Government needs to come to the industry’s rescue with a national relief package. Without it, the industry will shut down and this will cost us all in the long run as without new financial support clubs will close, mental health problems and suicide will increase, chronic illness will grow, and our health care system will crumble under the already existing strain.

The fitness industry is more than a selfie on Instagram and the days of steel plates dropping in clubs are gone. We need to eliminate this poor image and promote what and who we are, ‘a lifeline for many’ and we need new representation and the fitness professionals of today to stand up to represent the next generations, so they have an industry to go to.

Associations have done what they can, but it’s not enough to get us across the line.

I have repeatedly engaged with Victorian politicians and have gained the support of opposition state members Louise Staley and David Hodgett who have thrown their support behind the fitness industry.

But wait … Remarkably, despite the lockdowns and restrictions that the industry is facing, not only in Victoria but also across the rest of the country, that hasn’t stopped the high interest of foreign brands making their way to these shores.

FitXponential Fitness’ Club Pilates chain, the world’s largest Pilates brand, has entered the Australian market (above and opposite).

With much of the fitness market in the USA operating at a near normal level, as evidenced by Jason Abucejo, Head of Major Accounts at MXMetrics (MXM), the fitness/wellness operational customer experience management platform is among many overseas businesses with Australia in its sights.

MXM’s business model turns members’ thoughts and feelings into real data and insights - driving economic growth and resiliency to competitors - to make every member visit exceptional by supporting member retention and club loyalty at gyms.

US-based Xponential Fitness, the owner of multiple exercise brands including Club Pilates, CycleBar and Pure Barre, and which is currently looking to list on the New York Stock Exchange, also has an interest in Australia.

In May it announced that leading assisted stretching franchise, StretchLab, has signed a master franchise agreement for Australia, which gives the master franchisee the right to license at least 50 StretchLab studios to potential franchisees in the country over the next several years.

The Australia agreement is a collaboration between StretchLab and Stretch X Operations Pty Ltd., a privately owned company started by Perth-based entrepreneurs Matt, Bill, and Candice Gordin.

The family team have extensive experience with Xponential Fitness, having signed a Master Franchise Agreement with respect to CycleBar, another Xponential Fitness brand, last year and opening the first of up to 45 studios to follow.

StretchLab’s arrival in Australia follows a similar agreement, announced earlier this year, for its Club Pilates chain, the world’s largest Pilates brand, to enter the local market.

The Club Pilates deal is in collaboration with two Queenslandbased husband-wife duos, Brendan and Jessica James, along with Lawrence and Sandy Boyle. The master franchise agreement gives the master franchisee the right to license at least 50 studios to potential franchisees in the country over the next decade. Other popular USA franchise brands such as Regymen, New York Rumble boxing and The Covery Wellness, along with gym designers David Barton and Cuoco Black are also looking to shake up the Australian fitness business landscape. And even though international travel is at a standstill business virtual meetings are held daily with some of the biggest names and brands seeking a piece of Australian real estate. From Asia, I personally saw that