LEADERSHIP
Fitness with flex Did you know 80 per cent of Aussies don’t use a gym? And that’s why two big names in fitness are targeting this market with their brand new concepts.
T CLUB W
he latest offerings are focusing on wellness, aiming to attract the reluctant gym goer. Fernwood Fitness is unveiling Fernwood Fusion, and former Fitness First boss Tony De Leede is launching Club W.
This wellness concept has a clear goal: to attract the 80 per cent of Aussies who don’t go to the gym, with senior citizens, particularly women, the target market for membership. Tony De Leede tells Inside Franchise Business, “The people we will attract have never been to a class and will embrace this; all of our instructors are over 40s, it will be a place to meet friends. This is wellness for everybody, every day.” The Club W idea has been trialled as a multi-activity wellness centre in Caringbah, in Sydney. Club W combines three concepts in the one venue: Wellness Lounge, Wellness Collective and Wellness Coworking. The fitness element is focused on two major activity streams, Move 123 and Mind 123. The bite-sized classes are designed to appeal to reluctant exercisers who are daunted by the idea of a long gym session. The 123 stands for 10, 20 and 30 minute sessions and activities include dance, cardio, yoga, Pilates, breathing, meditation, stretching and chi. “It’s all about small bites,” says Tony. “We feel for a comfortable environment the 50+ age group is the target, with movement and activity delivered in immersive rooms on screens – a yin and yang
room (for breathing, meditation, stretching and chi) and a cardio space, with all sessions pre-recorded.” Digital content can also be accessed by members in their own time, and Tony suggests Club W could stream live classes in the future. The introduction of quiet rooms for one or two people is partially driven by Covid, he adds. “You can pick your content, pick your time, pick your LED lights, pick your scent (we have a symphony of scents) and curate your own personal private workout. It’s a new element to what we’re doing.” The concept also includes wellness pods featuring equipment such as massage recovery chairs, infrared meditation and salt bricks. Tony compares it to pricier hands-on spa and wellness treatments. “Club W is tech-enhanced wellness, touchless treatments which provide a different experience, and it’s one third of the price,” he says. Suburban co-working is already becoming the norm, he points out, and the wellness co-working space seats about 35 people at individual desks; there are two-people offices, and hot or flexi desks – all available on a co-working wellness membership. Tony is hoping to reassign the all-Aussie
idea of a smoko with what he calls a wello – a wellness break in the wellness lounge, which includes a cafe. “The concept of a break is more relevant than ever,” he says. The franchise model suits sites of about 500 square metres and elements can be bolted on to the basic model in larger sites. Franchisees can expect to invest at least $400,000 in a Club W business.
WHO IS TONY DE LEEDE? Tony has plenty of fitness and wellness business experience. In addition to leading Fitness First Australia for eight years from 2000, he launched Gwinganna, the luxury lifestyle retreat near the Gold Coast, a surf retreat, yoga and wellness resort Hotel Komune, the Fit n Fast gyms and the YogaBar.
NOV/JAN 2021-2022 | 22 | WWW.FRANCHISEBUSINESS.COM.AU
