New Pathway.
The health club franchise Planet Fitness announced in January, 2016 the opening of three new clubs – two in Mississauga and one in Etobicoke – in the coming weeks. As Planet Fitness Canada president, Taso Pappas, told the New Pathway, the franchise differs from the mainstream traditional fitness clubs. Mr. Pappas continued: “The vast majority of fitness clubs are geared towards serving 15% of the population, or people who know what they are doing when they go to the gym, are not intimidated to go to the gym, don’t mind signing a one year contract and spend $50-$100 a month on a membership.”
Usually what happens, believes Mr. Pappas, is that membership becomes more expensive and for many people with time it gets more difficult to see results. Thus, ultimately, the group of people, which use the gym, starts to narrow. “Somebody, who is a non-serious fitness enthusiast, usually encounters something like a fashion show – people are dressed in tight gym gear, all are in incredibly good shape, lifting heavy weights, making loud noises, banging stuff around. This kind of things scares a lot of people and creates a false sense of not belonging there,” said Taso Pappas.
As an opposite concept, Planet Fitness' model of the Judgement Free Zone® and affordable prices allows the other 85% of population to access the fitness life in a more comfortable and non-intimidating way. Planet Fitness “caters to the average Jo or Jane,” said Mr. Pappas, and continued, “Our customers are people who work out a little bit, who could go into the gym a couple days a week for 30 minutes, but don’t aspire unreasonably to be a supermodel or Canada’s next hulk. All they want to do is to extend their lives, get a little more energy, and lose a little bit of weight in an environment with other people like themselves – which is the vast majority of customers.”
The Planet Fitness environment is set up to help people who tried to live a healthier lifestyle, but whether it’s because of time, accessibility or cost, have never belonged to a fitness club long term and never been able to see results. Planet Fitness has become the non-conventional solution to provide the highest quality affordable fitness club. It’s the kind of club that people would expect to pay from $50 to $70 per month – with change rooms, showers and granite countertops, but it only charges $10 for membership, month to month without any contract. Members can even join Planet Fitness for just $1 down and then $10 a month with no commitment.
The new Planet Fitness locations in the GTA will be between 15,000 and 25,000 sq. feet each, and will offer brand new cardio machines, new fully equipped locker rooms with showers, 22 full size flat screen televisions, a 30-minute express circuit and 12 minute ab-circuit, HydroMassage beds, four tanning booths/beds and a Total Body Enhancement booth. Membership includes unlimited small group fitness instruction by a certified trainer through the pe @ pf ® program. In addition, as a member appreciation gesture, Planet Fitness provides free pizza on the first Monday of every month, and free bagels on the second Tuesday of every month. The PF Black Card® membership, which is $19.99 a month, includes the ability to bring a guest every day at no additional charge, access to all 1,000+ clubs in the Planet Fitness chain, as well as the use of massage chairs, HydroMassage beds, tanning, Total Body enhancement booths, and 50% off select cooler drinks. The clubs will be open 24 hours, seven days a week. The atmosphere in Planet Fitness clubs is also more relaxed due to the absence of high-pressure upselling.
Each Planet Fitness club features the brand’s iconic “Lunk Alarm” – a purple and yellow siren on the wall used (albeit not too often) to gently remind people that grunting, dropping weights or judging others is not permitted. Taso Pappas said to the New Pathway that when somebody joins a Planet Fitness club, they go through the mission statement with one of the employees, which explains what is deemed appropriate behaviour. If something goes wrong, somebody will ring the alarm and then an employee will come out and talk to the customers about their behaviour. Taso Pappas told us that the Lunk Alarm is a very good deterrent against people misbehaving or acting aggressive and in an unfriendly manner. “So far it has been extremely well received in helping to protect what we call the Judgment Free zone,” said Mr. Pappas.
The Planet Fitness franchise has been very successful. Presently, it has over 1,100 locations in the USA, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Canada. In Canada, there are currently six locations, all of them in southern Ontario, with three more locations to be opened in the coming weeks. Taso Pappas says that this growth is continuing based on “the incredible response that we have seen to all of the Canadian locations that have been opened so far.” The franchise is also planning to open clubs in Alberta and British Columbia by the end of the year.
Share on Social Media
