How fitness enthusiast revved up business returns?

Fitness in India has emerged as a key market as people wish to be hale & hearty and this changing attitude is creating brighter prospects for new business entrants. Mumbai-based fitness chain Your Fitness Club (YFC) run by a fitness enthusiast Rizwan Sayed, is looking ahead to replicate his business success by seeking partners pan-India. Read on to know his fitness mantra in franchising.

How and when your brand started operations?

Investing in a fitness industry is regarded as a great business proposition as owning a membership in a Fitness Club is nowadays considered as a niche lifestyle for many of us. Aiming to provide world class fitness club experience with state-of-the-art facilities and motivating people to achieve a fit body and a healthy lifestyle, I started my journey in fitness industry way back in 2009 at Colaba, Mumbai with a team of eight people. We are now aiming to be present in every corner of the country by providing affordable quality fitness clubs to inspire people towards better quality of life through our scientific fitness coaching along with health and nutrition guidance.

What’s your brand’s USP?

Strong brand recognition pan-India, tried and tested biz model, early payback and high returns on investment is what that makes YFC a preferred choice for franchisees for making safe investments.

Enlighten about the business model that your brand is following for expansion.

YFC is the only brand in the fitness industry that follows a franchise-owned company-operated (FOCO) model and offering unparalleled support and training to franchisees to multiply its growth. We prefer to seal the franchise deal with real estate developers, hotel chain owners, facility owners, pure investor, corporate profile or an experienced candidate who has know-how of fitness industry. With an amazing success rate in just six years of its operations, our vision is to provide a superior fitness club experience to the masses at affordable price points.

Who would you prefer as your business partner?

For us, the preferred franchisee is the one who has capital to invest and should have 3,000 sq.ft carpet area either owned or rented near residential, ground or first floor and has to be main road facing.

What are your company’s expansion plans?

YFC expects to achieve an annual turnover of Rs 150 crore five years down the line. We strongly believe that franchising model is the best way to accomplish our vision of clocking an aggressive growth by adding 250+ clubs to our network in the next five years. Our plan is to open 200 franchise and 50 company-owned units with an aim to cover all states pan-India. This fiscal, we have six new projects in the pipeline already including Tardeo which we will be opening by the end of January, 2016. And our goal is to take our count to total of 50 clubs including company-owned and franchise by the end of December, 2016.

Quick facts:

Annual turnover: Rs 20 crore

Present number of fitness clubs: 22

Area: Tier II & III cities – 2,000 sq.ft & Metro cities – 3,000 sq.ft

Investment: Rs 65 lakh – Rs 1.5 crore (varies as per size & location)

Expansion: 250+ clubs in the 5 years

RoI: 30-40%