What’s New

Fitness identity converts three clubs to Genesis health + Fitness in WA

The Genesis Health + Fitness franchise

network is adding three new sites in WA, with high profile fitness personality Adam Bailey confirming he will convert his three existing Bailey Fitness facilities to Genesis Health + Fitness clubs.

adam owns a chain of health clubs and martial arts schools in Wa and across australia and is a former World middleweight muay Thai champion.

The clubs, located in southern river, morley and Baldivis will be re-branded genesis.

adam, who qualified as a fitness trainer at just 17, said he chose to align with genesis Health + Fitness because it is a trusted brand within the industry.

“after 12 years of running the business, it is time to put some more focus into the martial arts brand,” said adam.

“my goals for 2022 are lofty indeed but by partnering with a group responsible for the growth of national brands such as genesis, coaching Zone, ninja parc and jump! swim schools, to name a few, i’m very confident the year ahead will be prosperous!”

genesis Health + Fitness ceo ian jensen muir welcomed adam to the genesis family and said simultaneously adding three locations to the genesis footprint in Wa was a big win for the genesis network and members.

Art demand boom sees Fantastic FraminG australia open new store in Sydney’s eastern suburbs

Despite the pandemic, lockdowns and closing of retail stores, the Australianowned art framing franchise Fantastic Framing has opened the doors of a new store at Rose Bay in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

The store opened on monday, 17 january 2022 and comes at a time when retail begins to flow again in spite of omicron challenges and after eastern seaboard lockdowns last year. avi efrat, the owner of the Fantastic Framing franchise, is excited to help bring colour and spirit back into people’s lives through his art framing services. efrat says renewed demand was what prompted him to open the new store in rose Bay and the support from the local community over lockdown made all the difference to the business’s survival.

efrat says “The eastern suburbs is an area that keeps up with interior design and art trends, and with my experience specialising in interior design and art, i am excited to share my services and knowledge with my customers.”

an integral part of efrat’s business is giving back a large percentage of profit back to artists and giving loyal employees shares in the business.

“We wouldn’t be where we are today without our incredible artists and hardworking staff.” The opening of the rose Bay store is a stepping stone in efrat’s dream of transforming the art world. He hopes that through his franchise he can help clients, artists and other small businesses thrive after the uncertainty of the past two years.

Pivoting in a pandemic doubles fitness franchises for Fitstop as they set up in NZ

Functional fitness franchise Fitstop’s quick adaption to home-led fitness has seen a 60% growth in franchises in the last 6 months - despite a pandemic. Here’s why. lockdowns and staff shortages have not brought fitness to a stop for this functional fitness franchise, who have grown from 48 to 71 in the last six months a further 50 in the pipeline ready to open. Fitstop who received a 30% stake in their company six months ago from us-global fitness and wellness company, lift Brands, have continued to see expediential growth, even during covid-19 with their membership numbers from 10,000 to 14,000 since – despite constant lockdowns, and a nation regularly in isolation. Fitstop founder peter Hull credits their success to quickly delivering fitness outcomes for members and their business partners, providing “well needed, quality and permanent” online membership alternatives, helping to ensure constant health and wellbeing. “i think as an entire fitness industry we all had to stop and think about how we can adapt for our members and provide value beyond just our centres. it meant delivering the same type of support and motivation, no matter where our fitness community might be located.” “at the same time, we built this into a sustainable model that means members can continue a combined way of working out at home, outdoors or online well into the future as well.” such success has seen them adapt their business to a combination of outdoor community sessions as well as regular daily online “sweat” sessions. “just 12 months ago our head office had 11 employees, we’ve had to build on such support for our network and we’ve now grown to 23 employees since.” The first asia-pacific franchise will launch in Hamilton new Zealand next month, with further franchises already sold into the constantly adapting functional fitness brand across the pacific.

australian Franchised businesses

PoSitive ABout 2022

Business is looking up in 2022 according to many of the more than 1000 individual businesses representing 83 franchise systems in the first national survey of Australian franchisees.

The australian Franchisee survey conducted by Frandata for the Franchise council of australia confirms that a growing number of franchised businesses saw an income turnaround in the closing months of 2021 and further improvement is expected over the next six months.

almost half (49%) of respondents expected better trading performance in 2022. The most optimistic industries included convenience stores, retail food outlets, retail stores, pet services and home services. Thirty six percent (36%) anticipated conditions to remain “about the same”.

more than 70% of respondents indicated they hoped to increase employment numbers over the coming twelve months. Thirty percent of these businesses hoped to employ an additional 2-4 people, 21% an additional 5- 25 people and 3% more than 25 people. eighty (80%) per cent of respondents found their franchisors supportive over the past twelve months.

“The fact that a majority of survey respondents indicated they felt being part of a franchise system provided an advantage over operating an independent business shows that the franchising model provides a strong framework for small businesses,” said Fca ceo mary aldred. The full survey is available at: australian Franchisee survey. if you have any questions, please contact survey leader Darryn mcauliffe at Frandata on 0412 789 027 or dmc@frandata.com.au

If you want further comment from FCA CEO Mary Aldred regarding the survey, please contact Sean Dignum on 0418 586 587 or sean.dignum@franchise.org.au

Young Australian power couple launch Flave

Flave is a plant-based restaurant start-up which recently launched their first venue in Bondi Beach, with plans to build 1,000 locations over the next decade through a combination of company owned territories, franchise partnerships, cloudkitchens, and outpost models around the world. Initial capital raising saw an investment of $3 million injected into the business, as it rides the wave of rampant growth in the plantbased market.

Flave was founded by samantha and stuart cook. stuart is the former ceo of Zambrero, and samantha was previously the ceo of non-profit one Disease. Flave executive chef scott Findlay trained under gordon ramsay, before working as a private chef to sir paul mccartney and a multitude of celebrities including rihanna, Beyonce, madonna, and elton john. seeing a gap in the rapidly growing plant-based market - making delicious, healthy plant-based dining options more accessible and affordable for the masses - Flave was developed into a scalable business plan. The next step was to build a board of people who shared the same values and brought with them a wealth of experience. This team include jessica gleeson, who specialises in operations, training, and building world-class systems. she joined starbucks when they had 50 locations, and by the time she finished 16 years later, they were at more than 17,000 locations. chairman of the Board, Harry Debney has run two separate billion-dollar businesses, previously serving as the chief executive officer of Visy and costa group and sits on the Board of Kogan.com. Flave is born from Bondi to the world, building on the sought-after australian lifestyle and a rapidly growing market segment.

FASteSt GRoWiNG WeLLNeSS CeNtRe iN tHe WoRLD oPeNeD 26 NeW CeNtReS iN 6 MoNtHS

City Cave Float & Wellness Centre, an Australian-owned company, has established 26 additional locations in less than 6 months, bringing their total to 47 from 16 at the start of 2021. Despite covid currently at its peak in australia across eastern seaboard states, city cave are still preparing for their most successful year yet. The city cave Headquarters team were split between QlD and nsW to ensure they were able to keep a close eye on centre openings and be available to new franchisees. co-founder jeremy Hassell said the key to successfully pulling off a chain of new centres in the midst of a pandemic revolved around planning, focus and collaboration. “opportunity meets availability. city cave is the fastest growing franchise in australia and also the fastest growing health and wellness franchise in the world,”

“The beauty is, at the moment some of the best territories are still available. While QlD is sold out, nsW, melbourne and sa have plenty of great locations on offer.” The expected annual growth of the Health and Wellness spas sector in australia is 6.6% between 2021-2026, with it already attracting $451.6m of annual revenue.

accor welcomes 2022 with a diverse array of spectacular new properties

MORE THAN 300 NEW DESTINATIONS TO DISCOVER AROUND THE WORLD

Accor is pleased to reveal some of its newest properties and upcoming destinations that guests and world travelers can look forward to visiting in 2022 and beyond. many of the world’s most exciting destinations – such as london, Doha, and moscow – will welcome multiple new accor hotels this year, while several accor brands have sought out exotic, unexpected or new horizons to explore, such as pangkalan Bun in indonesia; copenhagen, Denmark; and casco Viejo in panama city. in australia and new Zealand accor has 3 new properties

the porter house hotel, Sydney – Mgallery (early 2022) The 1870s heritagelisted porter House in sydney will connect to a new 36-story tower, offering a mix of hotel and residences, pool and fitness center, two restaurants, a fourth-floor bar with roving art gallery, meeting and private dining facilities and a business center.

hotel Morris, Sydney (early 2022) The historic West end Hotel, built in 1929, will reopen as Hotel morris following an extensive refurbishment. The 82-room hotel will feature a ground floor restaurant and bar on pitt street, and a spectacular rooftop bar.

the Sebel Wellington Lower hutt, new Zealand (mid 2022) overlooking the Hutt river, this stylish apartment-style hotel features 60 fully serviced studios and onebedroom apartments, along with a lively restaurant and bar called Biscotti.

Gelato and calypso manGoes united For the ultimate road trip!

Gelatissimo recently hit the road and partnered with Calypso® mango to tour Australia in a custom kombi van to bring the ultimate summer treat to Aussies far and wide –

With their signature juicy texture, sweet fragrance and that delicious mango taste, calypso® mangoes delivered the perfect hero flavour for this creamy gelato which is further enhanced with waves of wattleseed infused, mango ripple. like the mangoes, the wattleseed is 100% australian grown and is harvested wild, before the seeds are removed from the pods, roasted and ground. “Taking a road trip in a custom kombi to deliver an iconic taste of summer was an exciting way for us to kick off 2022,” says gelatissimo ceo, Filipe Barbosa. “We are flavour obsessed, and so being able to utilise fresh produce at the peak of its season is what we’re all about.”