Episode #575: Scaling Planet Fitness-Lessons in Execution and Growth from CJ Bouchard

1
00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:05,720
This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks nyc. I have the pleasure of bringing

2
00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:08,800
a friend of mine from the Planet Fitness Network,

3
00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:12,960
long time industry veteran like myself, cj

4
00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:16,560
Coming in from Excel Fitness, CEO of

5
00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:20,400
one of the largest Planet Fitness area developers. Cj, Good to have you

6
00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:24,120
on the show. Good morning, man. Good to be here. Appreciate

7
00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:27,910
it. Love the podcast. Love what you're doing, man. Awesome. Well,

8
00:00:27,910 --> 00:00:30,510
I had the pleasure of working with your team for a while, so you built

9
00:00:30,510 --> 00:00:33,790
a nice engine and corporate entity here,

10
00:00:34,190 --> 00:00:37,950
you know, as you continue to, to grow with your private

11
00:00:37,950 --> 00:00:41,790
equity firm, Olympus Partners. So, you know, what I'd love to

12
00:00:41,790 --> 00:00:45,510
do is, you know, you and I have spoken many times in person, over the

13
00:00:45,510 --> 00:00:49,190
phone, over text message. You know, I think people need to understand that,

14
00:00:49,190 --> 00:00:52,590
you know, where you started back in Connecticut and

15
00:00:53,110 --> 00:00:56,870
you know, some of the, some of the tougher times, you know, to actually get

16
00:00:56,870 --> 00:00:59,310
to a place where you are today. So maybe, you know, take, take it from

17
00:00:59,310 --> 00:01:02,830
the top, if you will, in Connecticut with the, with the

18
00:01:02,830 --> 00:01:06,670
Pepe. Yeah, right. Listen, I, I've been

19
00:01:06,670 --> 00:01:10,350
in the industry. I'm 55, right, so I've been in the industry since I was

20
00:01:10,350 --> 00:01:13,590
18. You guys could do the math. And I started,

21
00:01:13,990 --> 00:01:17,750
you know, as just a guy that wanted to work out, loved the gym

22
00:01:18,310 --> 00:01:21,750
and, and decided to, to, to really, you know, kind of go

23
00:01:21,750 --> 00:01:25,380
hardcore all in. Never went to college, started working in a

24
00:01:25,380 --> 00:01:28,780
club, wanted to do, you know, personal

25
00:01:28,780 --> 00:01:32,580
training, did the personal training, nutrition thing, did that for a

26
00:01:32,580 --> 00:01:36,420
while and it was fantastic. I was, I was in

27
00:01:36,420 --> 00:01:40,180
Connecticut, worked with Joe Pepe at his World Gym clubs up

28
00:01:40,180 --> 00:01:43,860
there. There were Golds and there were, well, they were Golds and Premier

29
00:01:43,860 --> 00:01:47,460
Health and Fitness and World Gym and, and so we

30
00:01:47,460 --> 00:01:51,260
switched all around and, and you know, built up a great, great following.

31
00:01:51,260 --> 00:01:54,140
Had a, had an awesome group of trainers that I work

32
00:01:55,170 --> 00:01:58,810
some worked under me and then sold my training company, went to

33
00:01:58,810 --> 00:02:02,130
North Carolina and that was in early, early

34
00:02:02,130 --> 00:02:05,330
2000s, and then found,

35
00:02:05,730 --> 00:02:08,530
found that Joe Pepe had, had

36
00:02:09,650 --> 00:02:12,890
transferred his clubs over to Planet Fitness in

37
00:02:12,890 --> 00:02:16,730
2004. And if Joe was doing that, something was

38
00:02:16,730 --> 00:02:20,130
up with that. So I went and looked into it and

39
00:02:20,450 --> 00:02:24,210
found out that Planet was franchising. They started franchising. And

40
00:02:24,380 --> 00:02:27,700
I had heard about Planet before. I kind of, I also had worked for Twin

41
00:02:27,700 --> 00:02:31,500
Oak Software. We had sold our software company to

42
00:02:31,500 --> 00:02:35,180
Twin Oaks. So I was with Twin Oaks for a year, but knew about

43
00:02:35,180 --> 00:02:38,940
Planet, but never really kind of knew about Mike, Mark and Chris until

44
00:02:39,180 --> 00:02:42,940
I went up there and checked it out, which was kind of cool.

45
00:02:43,740 --> 00:02:47,380
Saw those guys they were entrepreneurs, they

46
00:02:47,380 --> 00:02:50,940
were disrupting the industry. And everything I knew about fitness

47
00:02:50,940 --> 00:02:54,650
was, you know, kind of hardcore side everything and but you, when you looked at

48
00:02:54,650 --> 00:02:58,410
it from a 30,000 foot view, you're like, hey, this is, this is pretty cool.

49
00:02:59,050 --> 00:03:02,850
I mean the interesting part about, yeah, the interesting part about planning, I do this

50
00:03:02,850 --> 00:03:06,650
in my, in my Halo Academy case. But like these guys really stumbled upon

51
00:03:06,650 --> 00:03:10,330
this business model out of like extreme frustration and

52
00:03:10,330 --> 00:03:13,930
basically said hey, like you know, we were a Gold's Gym up in New Hampshire,

53
00:03:13,930 --> 00:03:17,530
we're losing money, you know, we're paying all these sales commissions out. Like what if

54
00:03:17,530 --> 00:03:21,370
we just take out everything that annoys the shit out of us and take out

55
00:03:21,370 --> 00:03:24,590
the group exercise. Let's get these personal trainers off the floor. Like we're not doing

56
00:03:24,590 --> 00:03:28,310
a pro shop because I thought I was making 100% of my supplements but

57
00:03:28,310 --> 00:03:32,070
like 80% of them get stolen from, from the front desk.

58
00:03:32,070 --> 00:03:35,790
And I'm paying 22 year old kids to, you know, to sell memberships

59
00:03:35,790 --> 00:03:39,350
and, and then sold like 500 memberships or some crazy number.

60
00:03:39,350 --> 00:03:42,870
Right? So you know, coming, coming from and, and, and for

61
00:03:42,870 --> 00:03:46,710
people's note here on the audience, at one point Planet

62
00:03:46,710 --> 00:03:50,560
Fitness actually acquired World Gym as a brand and then

63
00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:54,120
actually three years later sold it back because they couldn't convince a lot of World

64
00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:57,880
Gym owners that they should reflag to plan

65
00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:00,880
it. And I think Mark and Mike got really frustrated be like, dude, let's just

66
00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:04,440
get rid of this thing because like we can't educate people. But you on the

67
00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:08,040
other hand kind of said like, hey, I come from the personal training, I

68
00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:11,880
come from the results side. But like you understood the

69
00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:15,440
business model and not necessarily like the delivery

70
00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:19,330
of, of like a multi programming, you know, full amenity

71
00:04:19,330 --> 00:04:22,610
set that you know, is a complicated business when you come down to like a

72
00:04:22,610 --> 00:04:26,290
full service health club. So what was like, what was like the turning

73
00:04:26,290 --> 00:04:29,770
point there? And then you know, why'd you move down to North Carolina and then

74
00:04:29,930 --> 00:04:33,250
talk about some of your daily road trips and people know that you're not just

75
00:04:33,250 --> 00:04:36,970
like an entrepreneur sitting in your office with like a bookshelf behind you.

76
00:04:37,290 --> 00:04:41,130
Yeah, we thought we had that conversation. I think both

77
00:04:41,540 --> 00:04:45,260
know, quite frankly, you know, finding, finding Planet. When I saw Planet, I was like,

78
00:04:45,260 --> 00:04:49,060
okay, this is special. I didn't look. Nobody knew how special Planet

79
00:04:49,060 --> 00:04:52,860
was going to be, but we all knew it was different. It was

80
00:04:52,860 --> 00:04:56,580
Disruptor. We all knew that we had to do something because as you knew, like

81
00:04:56,740 --> 00:05:00,500
look back in those days, if you had, if you had 3,000 members and were

82
00:05:00,500 --> 00:05:04,180
breaking even or making some money. Like you were doing okay, right?

83
00:05:04,180 --> 00:05:07,100
Like, you're like, that's. Those are the guys running the gyms. Like, there was very

84
00:05:07,100 --> 00:05:10,590
few people with, you know, with substantial

85
00:05:10,590 --> 00:05:14,190
income from, From Fitness Concepts back then. Right. Like, there's a few

86
00:05:14,190 --> 00:05:17,590
guys, right. I was working with the average. Yeah. I was working with Gold's Gym

87
00:05:17,590 --> 00:05:20,790
guys at three or four thousand members who were like. Right. You know, like the,

88
00:05:20,790 --> 00:05:24,190
the, the. The person to talk to at the trade show. Right. In a regional

89
00:05:24,510 --> 00:05:27,430
franchise associate. And then. And also I used to go up there and say, like,

90
00:05:27,430 --> 00:05:31,230
hey. Because I used to do like, this industry update with the regional guys

91
00:05:31,230 --> 00:05:34,870
at the ggfa, they called it. And I would say, like, hey, this Planet Fitness

92
00:05:34,870 --> 00:05:37,630
thing, like, you better fuck. You know, better watch out. Like, they, they got something

93
00:05:37,630 --> 00:05:41,190
going on here. And the response, C.J. i used to get was

94
00:05:41,190 --> 00:05:44,550
like, oh, those guys gonna be out of business soon. Like, they can't. You can't

95
00:05:44,550 --> 00:05:48,390
price a membership, you know, and, and so to, to get in

96
00:05:48,390 --> 00:05:52,110
it and kind of like, bet your career and bet like, your personal financial

97
00:05:52,110 --> 00:05:55,910
statement on Planet. Just everybody knows, like, now it's kind of like, no, like,

98
00:05:55,910 --> 00:05:59,350
obviously. Right. But back in the day, it was kind of like, hey, I don't

99
00:05:59,350 --> 00:06:02,470
know if I could get this amount of people. And I'm not actually providing

100
00:06:02,950 --> 00:06:06,730
the results, I'm providing you access. And I don't know

101
00:06:06,730 --> 00:06:10,330
if, like, the market appreciated private equity, didn't appreciate it

102
00:06:10,330 --> 00:06:13,730
until, you know, really, like 12 years ago, not

103
00:06:13,730 --> 00:06:17,450
25 years ago. No, talk about that. Talk about

104
00:06:17,450 --> 00:06:21,090
that and like, how you change your mindset and then what you did to, like,

105
00:06:21,090 --> 00:06:24,810
make this work. Yeah, I think, listen, you're spot

106
00:06:24,810 --> 00:06:28,610
on. I think what people need to realize is that the guys, you know, that

107
00:06:28,770 --> 00:06:32,380
was the seventh, like, the seventh franchisee in the system. Right. And,

108
00:06:32,540 --> 00:06:35,580
and, and when I moved to North Carolina, it was to raise a family. Like,

109
00:06:35,580 --> 00:06:38,300
that was the deal. I didn't want to raise a family in Connecticut. And I

110
00:06:38,300 --> 00:06:41,220
looked at it and said, there's no way I could be an entrepreneur in Connecticut

111
00:06:41,220 --> 00:06:45,020
with the costs that are here. And we, you know, I visited North Carolina

112
00:06:45,020 --> 00:06:48,780
a lot. My ex wife's from, you know, basically from North

113
00:06:48,780 --> 00:06:52,060
Carolina, went to school there. So she. So, so we went there

114
00:06:52,460 --> 00:06:56,260
and, and looked to raise our son there. And, and then we had this

115
00:06:56,260 --> 00:06:59,820
opportunity came about. And then when you looked at Planet, the guys that started in

116
00:06:59,820 --> 00:07:03,330
the beginning, these are guys that are gym guys because that were grinders

117
00:07:03,650 --> 00:07:06,690
that just like, from day one,

118
00:07:08,210 --> 00:07:12,050
they knew the Business. They understand what it means

119
00:07:12,210 --> 00:07:15,890
to service the members. They

120
00:07:15,890 --> 00:07:19,570
really looked at the business as how do we take it to the

121
00:07:19,570 --> 00:07:23,010
next level? And most of these guys came from Worlds, came from

122
00:07:23,010 --> 00:07:26,770
Golds, came from Powerhouse. And they

123
00:07:26,770 --> 00:07:30,260
looked at it and said, okay, we, we've got to, we got to make some

124
00:07:30,260 --> 00:07:33,660
money in this industry, right? Like, we're putting blood, sweat and tears in this thing

125
00:07:33,660 --> 00:07:36,460
and we're not really making any money. In fact, a lot of them are on

126
00:07:36,460 --> 00:07:40,100
the brink of going bankrupt. So. True. They go to, they go to

127
00:07:40,100 --> 00:07:43,900
Planet. And Planet is like, listen, this, you know, change the model, buy

128
00:07:43,900 --> 00:07:47,620
in or don't do it. And you know,

129
00:07:47,620 --> 00:07:51,300
for me it was, it was, I wanted to, I

130
00:07:51,300 --> 00:07:54,100
wanted to get out of trading hours for dollars, right? I didn't want to do

131
00:07:54,100 --> 00:07:57,160
personal training anymore. I was looking to, to

132
00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:01,240
get to the point to where I could, I could service more people

133
00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,600
and, and make, make a bigger impact. And of course, yeah, I wanted the

134
00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:09,400
American dream. I wanted to be able to, to, to build something and to

135
00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:13,080
create something and then at some point in time get, get to the point like

136
00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,680
where I'm at today. But you know, the success, you know, it's like this

137
00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:20,440
overnight success that happened 20 years. You know, it took me 20 years to

138
00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:23,400
make it happen. I mean, it's, and we talk about this. I,

139
00:08:24,270 --> 00:08:27,790
I was in Wilmington, North Carolina and at the time

140
00:08:28,270 --> 00:08:31,910
I looked for opening up clubs in Wilmington and it didn't happen. So

141
00:08:31,910 --> 00:08:35,470
corporate basically turned around and said, look,

142
00:08:35,470 --> 00:08:38,790
you're gonna have to go to Raleigh. So I just built a house in

143
00:08:38,790 --> 00:08:42,470
Wilmington and Wilmington to Raleigh's two hours. So I was

144
00:08:42,470 --> 00:08:46,070
like, okay, screw it, I'll go to Raleigh, right? And I find a location in

145
00:08:46,070 --> 00:08:49,670
Raleigh. I take all the

146
00:08:49,670 --> 00:08:53,070
money that I had, which was, you know, at the time was a couple hundred

147
00:08:53,070 --> 00:08:56,390
grand. I was pretty good. You know, we saved some money and we built a

148
00:08:56,390 --> 00:09:00,230
house, sold that and built and bought some land and sold that, made

149
00:09:00,230 --> 00:09:03,950
some money and, and saved some money and I put everything into the first

150
00:09:03,950 --> 00:09:06,870
club, every dime. And

151
00:09:07,670 --> 00:09:11,390
quite frankly, it was, you know, it was challenging for the first, you

152
00:09:11,390 --> 00:09:14,310
know, first couple of years it was really challenging. And I

153
00:09:14,870 --> 00:09:18,670
drove from Wilmington to Raleigh basically five

154
00:09:18,670 --> 00:09:22,510
days a week. It was, I dropped my son off at 7:00am I would drive

155
00:09:22,510 --> 00:09:26,310
to Raleigh, two hours. I'd work for, you know, until

156
00:09:26,310 --> 00:09:29,670
5, 6:00 clock, depending on, you know, if, if, you know. At the time my

157
00:09:29,670 --> 00:09:33,510
wife was, was, was able to pick our son up. She was working as well.

158
00:09:33,510 --> 00:09:37,350
So, so we were just challenged with this operations but, but we

159
00:09:37,350 --> 00:09:40,910
just grinded it out and then it was 18 months later where I went and

160
00:09:40,910 --> 00:09:44,690
we decided to move to Raleigh and go all in. But, but

161
00:09:44,690 --> 00:09:48,330
I didn't take a paycheck for two years. Yeah, well, I started a

162
00:09:48,330 --> 00:09:51,130
company, software company. I didn't take a paycheck for three and a half years and

163
00:09:51,130 --> 00:09:54,970
like put 66,000 on credit cards because I didn't know what

164
00:09:54,970 --> 00:09:58,610
it was. Like, you know, I was in business school. You know, my grandma paid

165
00:09:58,610 --> 00:10:02,290
for it. Thanks, Grandma Helen. But like, they didn't teach you in business school.

166
00:10:02,290 --> 00:10:05,850
Like, well, like, this is what you do. Like, this is how you wind down

167
00:10:05,850 --> 00:10:09,490
a company. This is how you, like, you elegantly fail. Right? So I'm just like,

168
00:10:09,490 --> 00:10:13,170
dude, I'm all in. And yeah, I mean, while you're going through that, just to

169
00:10:13,170 --> 00:10:16,790
like get into the psyche of an entrepreneur, Ye know, when you were

170
00:10:16,790 --> 00:10:20,590
going from, from Wilmington to Raleigh, I'm sure like during

171
00:10:20,590 --> 00:10:24,070
that ride you weren't like, one day I want to have a private equity firm

172
00:10:24,070 --> 00:10:27,870
and 166 clubs. You're like, no, dude, I gotta make sure I meet payroll.

173
00:10:27,870 --> 00:10:31,470
I gotta look for the next location, I gotta meet my milestones. I gotta make

174
00:10:31,470 --> 00:10:34,030
sure I get my kid picked up and I got food on the table and

175
00:10:34,030 --> 00:10:37,230
I got like $0 in my savings account. Like, you're

176
00:10:37,470 --> 00:10:41,190
crazy entrepreneur at the time, you know, that wasn't that long

177
00:10:41,190 --> 00:10:44,380
ago, right? No, no, no, this, I mean, you're talking to

178
00:10:44,380 --> 00:10:48,020
2004 to 2006, right? So yeah,

179
00:10:48,020 --> 00:10:51,820
you know, I, I, I was putting payroll on credit cards, like literally. I

180
00:10:51,820 --> 00:10:55,180
mean, it was, it was one of those. And look, I did everything. I was

181
00:10:55,180 --> 00:10:58,140
the, I was the payroll guy, I was the HR guy, I was a bad

182
00:10:58,140 --> 00:11:01,940
HR guy. I, you know, I, I, I did everything. I

183
00:11:01,940 --> 00:11:05,620
cleaned the toilets. We, you know, we, we put up signage, we moved

184
00:11:05,620 --> 00:11:08,660
equipment. We, you know, it was

185
00:11:09,560 --> 00:11:13,360
that, that's what you did. And quite frankly, you know,

186
00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:17,040
there's a little bit of that grit that, you know, you

187
00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:20,800
miss a little bit of that because you get separated. You get, you

188
00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:24,640
know, four lines of separation. But my team knows I still have guys that work

189
00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:28,200
for me since day one. I gotta, I gotta, guys work for me. Two guys

190
00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:32,240
that have been with me over 20 years from Raleigh, another, another that's been

191
00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:35,600
with me, you know, in Texas. He's been with our company for over 20 years

192
00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:39,300
as well. So these guys have seen it, they've seen it from the ground

193
00:11:39,300 --> 00:11:42,980
up. And that's, that's what I love and I Love seeing them

194
00:11:43,220 --> 00:11:47,020
where they're at today. Which, you know, again, you're

195
00:11:47,020 --> 00:11:50,580
right. Nobody knew we were going to have private equity backed business. Nobody knew we'd

196
00:11:50,580 --> 00:11:54,260
have a, you know, today we're 167 clubs will be 174

197
00:11:54,260 --> 00:11:57,620
by the end of this year, you know, possibly more.

198
00:11:57,940 --> 00:12:01,340
We're, we're going to, we've got 15 under, under, under

199
00:12:01,340 --> 00:12:04,900
construction right now. We got a massive team, we got 3200 employees.

200
00:12:05,350 --> 00:12:09,070
Nobody knew that was going to happen. All we knew was that we

201
00:12:09,070 --> 00:12:12,750
had a, we, we had a lease payment on equipment coming up soon and how

202
00:12:12,750 --> 00:12:15,910
the hell we were going to pay it, right? Like that's, that's what the deal

203
00:12:15,910 --> 00:12:19,630
was. That's why like, you know, there's like two types of people that come

204
00:12:19,630 --> 00:12:22,630
and call me up there. There's someone who comes and says like him. And I

205
00:12:22,630 --> 00:12:26,070
built 10 clubs. I basically built them with my hands, my blood, sweat and tears.

206
00:12:26,070 --> 00:12:29,110
I lived in these, these clubs for a period of time. I could do everything.

207
00:12:29,110 --> 00:12:32,470
I know where everything is. Like when I to go on a club tour with

208
00:12:32,470 --> 00:12:36,290
somebody like you, okay, usually you're like picking up like small

209
00:12:36,290 --> 00:12:39,890
pieces of paper or like in the parking lot, you pick it up like a

210
00:12:39,890 --> 00:12:43,530
cup, right? Or when you go into a club, like you don't put it in

211
00:12:43,530 --> 00:12:47,330
the fucking GPS because you actually know exactly where it is. I've been with guys

212
00:12:47,330 --> 00:12:51,050
that travel around be like, oh, let me put the gps. Like, dude, don't you

213
00:12:51,050 --> 00:12:54,450
go here every day? How do you, what do we need a GPS for to

214
00:12:54,450 --> 00:12:57,690
get to this club? Like, and those are the guys that come in from the

215
00:12:57,690 --> 00:13:01,530
industry, from the top and don't really like understand like what it

216
00:13:01,530 --> 00:13:05,130
took to build this thing. They don't really know exactly where it is. And then

217
00:13:05,130 --> 00:13:07,950
you walk the club and they're like shaking hands with people and people like, I

218
00:13:07,950 --> 00:13:11,510
don't know who this guy is, right? You go in there, you're like, dude, I

219
00:13:11,510 --> 00:13:15,270
hired you. I probably have trained with you. Like we closed the club, we

220
00:13:15,270 --> 00:13:18,990
opened the club together. I'm like, whatever you need me to do. Like, there's no,

221
00:13:19,150 --> 00:13:22,670
my title is relevant to what, to what the deal is.

222
00:13:22,990 --> 00:13:26,390
So I get those guys and then, and then you get an operator that comes

223
00:13:26,390 --> 00:13:30,070
around and like when you walk a club with somebody like you, you know,

224
00:13:30,070 --> 00:13:33,670
like you actually get insight into. Let me show you how this thing was built.

225
00:13:33,670 --> 00:13:36,430
Let me tell you what I did with this, you know, with this wall. Let

226
00:13:36,430 --> 00:13:39,100
me tell you, you know, where other guys come in, they'd be like, yeah, this

227
00:13:39,100 --> 00:13:42,100
club has X number of members and X number ebitda. And I'm like, do you

228
00:13:42,100 --> 00:13:45,340
know anything about the history? Like, oh, I. No, I don't. I think it might

229
00:13:45,340 --> 00:13:48,500
have been a grocery store. I'm like, what the. How do you not know, like,

230
00:13:48,500 --> 00:13:51,620
the history of, like, this box? Right. So

231
00:13:52,100 --> 00:13:55,620
how do you. How do you think you know? Yeah. So many

232
00:13:55,620 --> 00:13:59,060
stories, man. I mean, just. I mean, quite frankly. Listen, we. We went.

233
00:13:59,300 --> 00:14:01,740
Planet was supposed to be in the. You know, in the beginning, it was like,

234
00:14:01,740 --> 00:14:04,620
oh, just build it, and they're going to come. I was like, well, that didn't

235
00:14:04,620 --> 00:14:07,420
happen because they were in Dover, New Hampshire at the time. I'm in Raleigh, North

236
00:14:07,420 --> 00:14:11,230
Carolina. Nobody knew us. Nobody. So I had people coming up

237
00:14:11,230 --> 00:14:14,790
to us, and we took over an old gym, and the gym was called Big

238
00:14:14,790 --> 00:14:18,470
Ape Gym. Okay? That was the name of the gym, Big Ape Gym in

239
00:14:18,470 --> 00:14:21,950
Raleigh. And the guy that owned it was. His name was Todd. So we're selling

240
00:14:21,950 --> 00:14:25,750
memberships, and people would come up to us and be like, hey, where's Todd? He

241
00:14:25,750 --> 00:14:29,350
owes me money. And I'm like, we're Planet Fitness. I don't know where Todd is.

242
00:14:29,350 --> 00:14:32,230
I don't know who he is. Like, I don't care. Right? Like, this is the

243
00:14:32,230 --> 00:14:35,270
kind of, like, stuff that we dealt with right in the beginning. And I'm thinking,

244
00:14:35,270 --> 00:14:38,340
I'm building this beautiful new club for you, and all you want to do is

245
00:14:38,340 --> 00:14:41,620
talk to some dude that, you know, stole your money before. I'm like, that's not

246
00:14:41,620 --> 00:14:45,460
me. Right? And, you know, we build the first club, you build the second club,

247
00:14:45,460 --> 00:14:48,460
build a third club. And quite frankly, we built three clubs. And I was like,

248
00:14:48,940 --> 00:14:52,220
they're not performing. And I'm like, well, what's going on? Why aren't they

249
00:14:52,220 --> 00:14:55,740
performing? Well, come to find out, like, I.

250
00:14:55,820 --> 00:14:59,380
I realized at a very early time in our career building, thank

251
00:14:59,380 --> 00:15:03,020
goodness. But it was in three, 36 months that we were

252
00:15:03,020 --> 00:15:06,840
underserving the market. We were building our clubs too small. We had no

253
00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:10,600
idea that it was going to be as popular. But

254
00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:13,680
when people came through and they started joining and more people came in, it was

255
00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:17,280
like, well, there's just. It's not that same effect. So I went and visited a

256
00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:21,080
couple of the big planets that were doing really well, took a tour, and

257
00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:24,800
I was like, all right, I get it. We got to build them bigger. And

258
00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:28,360
that's when we built our fourth club, which, you know, at the

259
00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:32,200
time we were building that club, and we eventually made it

260
00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:35,940
20,000 square feet, which, which even today's standards, not

261
00:15:36,100 --> 00:15:39,780
giant, but it was better than what we were doing. How small were the other,

262
00:15:39,780 --> 00:15:43,500
how small were the first? 3:12. Oh, okay. Like

263
00:15:43,500 --> 00:15:46,900
a bad 12,000 square feet, you know, so,

264
00:15:47,380 --> 00:15:51,060
so we just, we just thought we were doing the right

265
00:15:51,060 --> 00:15:54,780
thing. We just, you know, we didn't, we didn't realize, you know, the

266
00:15:54,780 --> 00:15:58,580
market wanted bigger and better and, and more and.

267
00:15:58,580 --> 00:16:02,130
But it taught me a really valuable lesson, like, I wouldn't take anything

268
00:16:02,130 --> 00:16:05,770
back, like, from where I sit today. Like, I learned so

269
00:16:05,770 --> 00:16:09,610
much from building our business up the way that we did. You know,

270
00:16:09,610 --> 00:16:13,130
instead of like building from, from, you know, the, the

271
00:16:13,130 --> 00:16:16,810
inside out of like Raleigh, you know, we, we,

272
00:16:16,810 --> 00:16:20,570
you know, we did, we did a better job building from the outside in, quite

273
00:16:20,570 --> 00:16:24,250
frankly, in some other markets, you know, and there's some, there's a lot of learnings,

274
00:16:24,250 --> 00:16:27,830
I would say, along the way where we're just like, man,

275
00:16:27,830 --> 00:16:31,590
it, it was a, it was a struggle, but I'm glad where

276
00:16:31,590 --> 00:16:34,750
we're at today, you know. Well, I, I use this quote that a guy told

277
00:16:34,750 --> 00:16:38,310
me a long time ago, Peter Brockway. He's like, experience is what you get when

278
00:16:38,310 --> 00:16:41,790
you don't get what you want. And I always like, kind of think about the

279
00:16:41,790 --> 00:16:45,070
only reason why, you know, what, you know, or when I, when someone's like, hey,

280
00:16:45,070 --> 00:16:47,430
can you advise me on this and you know, how much you have to pay

281
00:16:47,430 --> 00:16:50,710
or whatever. I'm like, look, dude, I've seen this movie so many times. Like, I

282
00:16:50,710 --> 00:16:53,990
will tell you every different, like, rabbit hole that this thing may go down and

283
00:16:53,990 --> 00:16:56,350
I'm going to tell you how we get out of it or we avoid it.

284
00:16:56,590 --> 00:17:00,410
So like, what's that worth Club? Like, you could go look at a club,

285
00:17:00,410 --> 00:17:03,250
be like, hey man, this site's not gonna work. You know, it might not show

286
00:17:03,250 --> 00:17:07,010
up on a Buxton report, but you're gonna be like, look, the egress, you

287
00:17:07,010 --> 00:17:10,730
know, like egress, egress thing here or like traffic patterns or like

288
00:17:10,810 --> 00:17:13,730
all the houses on this side, you gotta cross over this road. No one's cross.

289
00:17:13,730 --> 00:17:16,530
You know, like that kind of stuff is like, you don't, you can't train somebody

290
00:17:16,530 --> 00:17:20,290
on that. You gotta live it. That's funny. I just had that conversation with

291
00:17:20,290 --> 00:17:23,570
one of the other franchisees the other day and we were talking about the systems

292
00:17:23,570 --> 00:17:27,400
in place and you know, we mentioned a different, a different franchise, non fitness

293
00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:31,240
franchise on how well they're doing with their, you know, with their site selection. I'm

294
00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:34,880
like, yeah, because actually they've got some planet guys that are in there

295
00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:38,720
at an early stage, and they knew what we did in the beginning and what,

296
00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:42,240
what did work and what didn't work. And that's how they put it in. Put

297
00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:46,040
it in their new systems for this other franchise. Right. And the thing is, is

298
00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:49,440
that what, like today when you look at it,

299
00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:53,080
there's these guys that come in. You're 100% right. These guys that come in that

300
00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:56,090
don't have that knowledge. I can go. I can go to any one of my

301
00:17:56,090 --> 00:17:59,930
markets, doesn't matter what market. And I can go to anybody's market and be like,

302
00:18:00,010 --> 00:18:03,530
oh, that's a prime spot, that spot. You need to put a club right there.

303
00:18:04,010 --> 00:18:07,250
And. And I can look at another. Look at another market and look at another

304
00:18:07,250 --> 00:18:10,810
location and be like, you're gonna get out here, you're gonna get out

305
00:18:10,810 --> 00:18:13,810
position pretty quickly. If you put a club. Yeah, you know, I mean, you got.

306
00:18:13,810 --> 00:18:17,130
You got clubs in Dallas as well. We'll go through the

307
00:18:17,290 --> 00:18:20,370
territories. Yeah. But one thing in Dallas, that's a great story. I gotta get it

308
00:18:20,370 --> 00:18:23,570
on, get it on recording. Cause I don't know if I've ever recorded this, but

309
00:18:23,570 --> 00:18:27,140
I was at a meeting with a guy and he was bringing in private equity

310
00:18:27,140 --> 00:18:29,980
money. I was working with the private equity group and they bring in the head

311
00:18:29,980 --> 00:18:32,700
of real estate. And they had a real estate guy. This is like 15 years

312
00:18:32,700 --> 00:18:36,540
ago. He's like, our software on the real estate is so good that I

313
00:18:36,540 --> 00:18:40,220
actually don't have to visit the location. And I'm thinking to myself, bro,

314
00:18:40,220 --> 00:18:43,660
that is the worst thing you could say. Like, it costs like

315
00:18:43,660 --> 00:18:47,340
300 bucks on Southwest to get to this, to Dallas. Whenever you

316
00:18:47,340 --> 00:18:50,740
want to, love, feel like, go and visit the location. So we end up getting

317
00:18:50,740 --> 00:18:54,320
money from another private equity fund. Not the one that I was working with, fortunately

318
00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:57,520
or unfortunately, because I told him to stay in his territory. And he ends up

319
00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:01,280
putting in a location. And in Dallas, you can attest

320
00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:04,880
to this. Like, all the freeways in Dallas, like, have hundreds of

321
00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,280
thousands of cars. But if there's no exit, then this

322
00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:12,080
location that's down here, that's got 300 cars, you can't get to it.

323
00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:14,920
It was. And he put it next to a methadone clinic. So I'm like, dude,

324
00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:18,760
like, come on, man. Like, go down there and figure this out. So

325
00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:22,630
location selection will either. It'll either make you or break

326
00:19:22,630 --> 00:19:26,470
you. And quite frankly, to me, that's the

327
00:19:26,470 --> 00:19:29,830
most fun thing I could do is go travel in my

328
00:19:29,830 --> 00:19:33,510
markets, go look at new sites and then go visit the other

329
00:19:33,510 --> 00:19:37,190
clubs and talk to members and team members. Like, that's the

330
00:19:37,190 --> 00:19:41,030
most fun I could be doing on a daily basis instead of answering, you know,

331
00:19:41,030 --> 00:19:44,710
five, you know, major issues that I got to deal with on a

332
00:19:44,710 --> 00:19:47,790
daily basis. I'd much rather be doing that stuff. Foreign.

333
00:19:50,670 --> 00:19:54,310
This is Pete Moore. I want to let you in on a little secret. There's

334
00:19:54,310 --> 00:19:57,630
this company called Promotion Vault. And what they do is they give. Out rewards

335
00:19:58,030 --> 00:20:01,710
from retailers that allow you to incentivize your

336
00:20:01,710 --> 00:20:05,550
members without having to do zero down and one month free

337
00:20:05,790 --> 00:20:09,550
or giving away shakes or giving away T shirts. What you want to

338
00:20:09,550 --> 00:20:13,390
do is build a rewards program that lasts, that people value

339
00:20:13,850 --> 00:20:17,650
and that doesn't discount your own products and services. So here's the deal.

340
00:20:17,650 --> 00:20:21,330
There's something called Rewards Vault. The Rewards Vault is going to

341
00:20:21,330 --> 00:20:25,170
allow a member to set up their own profile. They are going to

342
00:20:25,170 --> 00:20:28,570
answer questions, you. Are going to get those answers. You're going to be able to

343
00:20:28,570 --> 00:20:32,250
target those members, and you're going to reward them inside your club,

344
00:20:32,650 --> 00:20:36,130
inside your spa, and outside of the club and outside of the

345
00:20:36,130 --> 00:20:39,850
spa to get them to become loyal, to get them to pay their

346
00:20:39,850 --> 00:20:43,620
monthly dues and to be rewarded properly for the

347
00:20:43,620 --> 00:20:47,260
actions. A lot of companies are cutting back on rewards. You shouldn't be.

348
00:20:47,340 --> 00:20:50,300
Promotion Vault, your answer, trust me, this is real.

349
00:20:54,860 --> 00:20:58,220
So from a standpoint of the markets that you went into, talk about,

350
00:20:58,700 --> 00:21:02,460
you know, from Raleigh, right. You get, you take over North Carolina

351
00:21:03,660 --> 00:21:07,500
and then where'd you jump to next? And just

352
00:21:07,500 --> 00:21:11,240
talk a little bit about the market territories that you have right now, what

353
00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:14,920
you're trying to build through Greenfield or acquisition. Yeah.

354
00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:18,640
So 2000, 2005, we opened our first club, and

355
00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:22,320
that was in the Raleigh market. And then 2016, we did an

356
00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:26,000
acquisition of a couple of clubs in Virginia and. And

357
00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:27,960
then in 2018,

358
00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:32,680
strategically sold our company to Excel Fitness.

359
00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:36,910
So we operate, we operate clubs in,

360
00:21:36,910 --> 00:21:40,670
in three of the top five population growth markets. So you

361
00:21:40,670 --> 00:21:44,350
look at Dallas, Austin, Raleigh, and then you

362
00:21:44,350 --> 00:21:48,150
throw in, you know, Northwest Arkansas, you throw in, you know,

363
00:21:48,150 --> 00:21:51,990
Tulsa, you know, some of these other

364
00:21:51,990 --> 00:21:55,830
markets that we have, just great markets. They really are. They're fantastic

365
00:21:55,830 --> 00:21:59,670
markets. We're so, we're so fortunate to be that. But strategically,

366
00:21:59,990 --> 00:22:03,350
you know, we didn't go to market to sell the company in North Carolina. We

367
00:22:03,430 --> 00:22:07,150
wanted to align with Excel Fitness. At the time they were, it was being

368
00:22:07,150 --> 00:22:10,490
run by a good buddy of mine, and he and I wanted to work together,

369
00:22:10,490 --> 00:22:14,130
and I knew he wanted to exit at some point as the CEO.

370
00:22:14,130 --> 00:22:17,210
So it was, it was a, it was a good fit. Like, operationally, I was

371
00:22:17,210 --> 00:22:20,890
dialed in, be able to take over. They had 39 clubs at the time. We

372
00:22:20,890 --> 00:22:24,610
had 17. So we, we. We merged everybody so we didn't

373
00:22:24,610 --> 00:22:28,050
lose any one of our team members. I mean, everybody from my side came over.

374
00:22:28,050 --> 00:22:31,770
We ended up having, you know, kind of like an east west operation thing

375
00:22:31,770 --> 00:22:35,370
there. And right now, like I said, we operate

376
00:22:35,370 --> 00:22:39,210
100 and there's 167 clubs, and we got, you know, a few more under,

377
00:22:39,210 --> 00:22:42,850
but. But the Dallas market skews for us. It's ground

378
00:22:42,850 --> 00:22:46,530
zero. Everybody's there. We get it. And I

379
00:22:46,530 --> 00:22:49,850
think, I think, quite frankly, you know, I'm talking about everybody being there.

380
00:22:50,090 --> 00:22:52,810
Like, that's making us better. That's making our

381
00:22:53,050 --> 00:22:56,770
franchisor look at, look at our, our business and say, how do we

382
00:22:56,770 --> 00:23:00,620
be better? Look, we don't. We don't want to be everybody else. We just. We

383
00:23:00,620 --> 00:23:03,780
just want to beat everybody else. It's that simple. Okay, Right.

384
00:23:04,180 --> 00:23:06,900
Like, we just, you know, I don't, I don't look at it and say, I

385
00:23:06,900 --> 00:23:10,620
don't have to be these guys. I don't need to be, you know, our competitors.

386
00:23:10,620 --> 00:23:13,500
We don't want to be the competitors. What we want to do is we want

387
00:23:13,500 --> 00:23:17,260
to be able to provide, you know, the, the members with the best, best service

388
00:23:17,260 --> 00:23:20,660
and the best opportunities. Right. And the best product. So

389
00:23:21,460 --> 00:23:25,180
we work on that every single day. And I think, I think the nice thing

390
00:23:25,180 --> 00:23:28,020
about it is that people need to understand, like, I,

391
00:23:28,900 --> 00:23:32,620
I'm involved in this business on a daily basis, right? I

392
00:23:32,620 --> 00:23:35,820
may be the visionary of the company and look at it and say, hey, we

393
00:23:35,820 --> 00:23:38,820
want to, we want to try to acquire this or go over here. We're going

394
00:23:38,820 --> 00:23:42,459
to build clubs here. We're gonna, we're gonna buy land. We're gonna build buildings like

395
00:23:42,459 --> 00:23:45,780
that. Yeah, we may be, you know, that, that may be what I do. But

396
00:23:46,020 --> 00:23:49,700
on a daily basis, the biggest thing that I could do is make sure that

397
00:23:49,700 --> 00:23:53,140
I provide clarity and vision to my team so that they can go

398
00:23:53,140 --> 00:23:56,820
execute underneath what I feel is a

399
00:23:56,820 --> 00:23:59,860
good moral compass of how we want to provide

400
00:24:00,420 --> 00:24:04,260
fitness, which is we want to build communities through fitness.

401
00:24:04,580 --> 00:24:08,180
That's the goal. That's the goal for Excel Fitness. We want to impact

402
00:24:08,340 --> 00:24:12,140
lives and create opportunities for people, and we want to do

403
00:24:12,140 --> 00:24:15,060
that by building communities through fitness, period.

404
00:24:15,860 --> 00:24:19,660
So what's going on on my business side? So people that listen here know

405
00:24:19,660 --> 00:24:23,180
that my day job is to help people buy and sell companies in the halo

406
00:24:23,180 --> 00:24:26,920
sector. Mostly health club chains and boutique fitness ch. What's going

407
00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,120
on right now is that a lot of the Gold's Gym operators and guys that

408
00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:33,760
I met 25 years ago, they were in their 40s when they started.

409
00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:37,560
30s. 40s. Right. And a lot of those guys are now in men and. Men

410
00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:41,040
and women and families that own this business. Their kids aren't in the business.

411
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:44,840
Right. They went and did something else, and there's really no succession

412
00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:47,520
plan. So they come to me and say, hey, do you think I could sell

413
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:51,240
my business? And, you know, not just, like, wind down my

414
00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:54,820
lease, but, like, who's a good strategic buyer? And

415
00:24:54,820 --> 00:24:57,900
obviously, there's a lot of private equity out there right now in a couple of

416
00:24:57,900 --> 00:25:01,660
different brands. If somebody's got a, you

417
00:25:01,660 --> 00:25:05,460
know, a Gold's Gym or a World Gym or an old powerhouse or an

418
00:25:05,460 --> 00:25:09,220
independent club, and they're saying, like, come to me, or they come to you directly

419
00:25:09,220 --> 00:25:12,340
and say, hey, we want to turn this into a planet, you know, and buy

420
00:25:12,340 --> 00:25:15,940
me out. How does that. How has that gone? Because you've done the Texas Family

421
00:25:15,940 --> 00:25:19,420
Fitness deal, which I was involved in a while ago. We got a couple of

422
00:25:19,420 --> 00:25:22,980
things that you and I are working on now on, you know, buying some clubs

423
00:25:22,980 --> 00:25:26,670
from independent operators that are. That were good guys that,

424
00:25:26,670 --> 00:25:30,390
you know, serve their community and for them to turn

425
00:25:30,390 --> 00:25:33,430
into a planet. Obviously, some of the. The programming might change,

426
00:25:33,910 --> 00:25:37,670
but, you know, you're dialed in on, like, what I'm providing, and I might

427
00:25:37,670 --> 00:25:40,990
not have everything that you used to have, but, like, I'm going to be on

428
00:25:40,990 --> 00:25:44,390
the. The front end of equipment, I'm going to do services,

429
00:25:44,630 --> 00:25:47,670
and. And like, Planet's here to stay. So what's the.

430
00:25:47,990 --> 00:25:51,640
Besides what I just reeled off, like, what are some of the things that

431
00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:55,320
you have a conversation with, like Texas Family Fitness or people

432
00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:58,960
like that to say, look, like, just trust me with this asset, obviously you're gonna

433
00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:02,640
get paid, like, a fair price. Right? But, like, what. Why

434
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:06,400
should I do this deal with you? Well,

435
00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:10,320
I look at it, if I was on the other side and. And

436
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:14,040
because I've been there before, right? I. I was there. I actually had

437
00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:17,520
a small operating gym. It was about 6,000 square feet.

438
00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:21,520
And my. My business partner for a very long time,

439
00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:25,320
Joe Pepe, actually put me out of business. And I

440
00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:29,080
went to him, you know, hat in hand, and was like, hey, man,

441
00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:32,680
I need. I need a job. You know, like, all my members came here, what

442
00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:35,840
I needed, you know, what can I do now? So I think about that often

443
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:40,280
as we're Having these discussions, which is a difficult conversation to

444
00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:43,850
have with somebody who has, has served the community,

445
00:26:44,010 --> 00:26:47,770
has put their blood, sweat and tears into their business. And, and I

446
00:26:47,770 --> 00:26:51,450
think, I think they need to understand that I, that I do, I have that

447
00:26:51,450 --> 00:26:55,170
compassion. I have the sympathy for them. I've been there, you know, I had

448
00:26:55,170 --> 00:26:58,810
a bankruptcy early on in my, in my life, so I get it. And,

449
00:26:58,810 --> 00:27:01,970
you know, that was, you know, I'm not afraid to say, like, I had these

450
00:27:01,970 --> 00:27:05,690
major failures and, and, and I've been there. So I want to

451
00:27:05,690 --> 00:27:09,540
protect the asset as much as possible. I think

452
00:27:09,540 --> 00:27:13,300
that there's a couple of different ways of looking at it, right? Like, we could

453
00:27:13,300 --> 00:27:16,220
go there, steamroll it and be like, we're just going to open up a club,

454
00:27:16,380 --> 00:27:19,660
you know, two miles down the road or across the street or something like that.

455
00:27:20,220 --> 00:27:23,540
I can't look at myself in the mirror and say, I want to build communities

456
00:27:23,540 --> 00:27:27,340
through fitness and be opening up clubs like across the street from somebody.

457
00:27:27,340 --> 00:27:30,300
I don't love that. That's just not what I want to do.

458
00:27:31,820 --> 00:27:35,580
So the conversation is, although it's difficult, it's one of those,

459
00:27:35,580 --> 00:27:39,330
that I am private equity backed. I do have to have these discussions. We

460
00:27:39,330 --> 00:27:43,010
are growing, right? So it's a real business discussion and

461
00:27:43,010 --> 00:27:46,730
saying, look, we want to have this discussion

462
00:27:46,730 --> 00:27:49,650
with you. We want to take care of the members. We want to make sure

463
00:27:49,650 --> 00:27:52,610
that we don't skip a beat.

464
00:27:53,570 --> 00:27:56,690
We're going to look to switch it over to a planet. They're going to be

465
00:27:56,690 --> 00:27:59,930
able to have. People are going to be able to have access to

466
00:27:59,930 --> 00:28:03,660
2,800 units, you know, with a black card membership. They can,

467
00:28:03,900 --> 00:28:07,140
they can use all of those clubs. We're going to, we're going to provide newer

468
00:28:07,140 --> 00:28:10,700
equipment, we're going to update the clubs, you know, so all of those

469
00:28:10,700 --> 00:28:14,380
things matter. And I think a good legacy is,

470
00:28:14,380 --> 00:28:17,140
look, we're going to, we're going to allow you to, you know, ride off into

471
00:28:17,140 --> 00:28:20,540
the sunset and your white horse and say, hey, I did it the right way.

472
00:28:20,540 --> 00:28:24,220
I, you know, executed a deal with a group

473
00:28:24,220 --> 00:28:27,500
of good people that care about their team members,

474
00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:31,880
care about the members. And, you know, I feel, I feel good about it. I

475
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:35,120
don't, I don't love the situation because I'm out of the business that I love.

476
00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:38,880
And sometimes, quite frankly, maybe there's a spot for somebody that

477
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:42,560
we can plug and play into our business. And we love that.

478
00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:46,320
That's great too. Yeah. You know, like before private

479
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:50,080
equity got into this business, people used to finance the sale

480
00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:53,680
of their Club to their general manager or to a, a

481
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:56,760
member used to have to take a big seller note and basically say like hey,

482
00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:00,430
I'm going to get paid out over time. And they basically never really got any

483
00:29:00,430 --> 00:29:04,150
upfront cash. I think just as like a commercial for private equity,

484
00:29:04,150 --> 00:29:07,430
like they actually come in with real money, you get a real wire transfer

485
00:29:07,750 --> 00:29:11,030
and you know, you might have some residual value or

486
00:29:11,270 --> 00:29:14,950
earn out or what have you on the back end. But I think

487
00:29:14,950 --> 00:29:17,990
people really need to realize like you don't have to post your business up on

488
00:29:17,990 --> 00:29:21,350
like a biz by sell or like for sale by owner

489
00:29:21,510 --> 00:29:24,790
when a planet comes in. The other thing I want to, I want to mention

490
00:29:24,790 --> 00:29:28,570
because I think it's important for the audience to understand like

491
00:29:28,570 --> 00:29:31,850
when a, when a Planet Fitness area developer buys

492
00:29:31,850 --> 00:29:35,450
territory from Planet Corporate or a crunch group

493
00:29:35,530 --> 00:29:38,650
buys territory from corporate, it's not like,

494
00:29:39,610 --> 00:29:42,970
it's not like they, they, they have the option of

495
00:29:42,970 --> 00:29:46,330
developing. Like I have a, I have a mandatory

496
00:29:47,450 --> 00:29:50,890
responsibility to, to find a location in this county,

497
00:29:51,130 --> 00:29:54,820
right? There's like a dot on the map that if you don't develop that county

498
00:29:55,060 --> 00:29:58,820
it either gets removed or you get defaulted on your area development agreements.

499
00:29:58,820 --> 00:30:02,540
What I tell a lot of independent operators is like right, if Planet Fitness calls

500
00:30:02,540 --> 00:30:06,380
you, it says hey, I'm coming into your county, do you want to try

501
00:30:06,380 --> 00:30:10,180
and do a deal with me? They're not coming in, in like a bully mentality.

502
00:30:10,180 --> 00:30:14,020
It's like look, I'm now, you know, my, my corporate entity is

503
00:30:14,020 --> 00:30:17,300
obligated to build a location because I made an agreement

504
00:30:17,620 --> 00:30:21,210
with my private equity fund to the franchisor which is a publicly

505
00:30:21,210 --> 00:30:24,850
traded five plus billion dollar business that I'm going to,

506
00:30:24,850 --> 00:30:28,250
to, to to build a planet on their

507
00:30:28,250 --> 00:30:31,970
behalf effectively and on my behalf to go into this territory because

508
00:30:31,970 --> 00:30:35,530
it's available territory based on serving that community. So I feel like

509
00:30:35,530 --> 00:30:39,090
sometimes people think like oh shit, plan is coming into my area. Like what the

510
00:30:39,090 --> 00:30:41,770
fuck, right? But at the end of the day it's like dude, I don't really

511
00:30:41,770 --> 00:30:45,450
have a choice in the matter. Like I have to come there and I'm

512
00:30:45,450 --> 00:30:49,250
coming. So like do a deal with me and I'll be fair about it, compassionate

513
00:30:49,330 --> 00:30:52,170
and I'll try and get a fair deal with you. If not, I have to

514
00:30:52,170 --> 00:30:55,170
open up, you know, in your area. What Would you comment to that?

515
00:30:56,290 --> 00:30:59,490
Yeah, I think. Well, let me, let me say first and foremost I've been very

516
00:30:59,490 --> 00:31:03,090
blessed with two great private equity firms.

517
00:31:03,090 --> 00:31:06,930
Altamont, who owned us previously, was, was awesome. I have

518
00:31:06,930 --> 00:31:10,290
some really good friends of Mine that are still there. And, and I

519
00:31:10,290 --> 00:31:13,970
enjoyed working with, with that group. And they're, they're a

520
00:31:13,970 --> 00:31:17,610
very sophisticated group. The group that, that, that bought us in

521
00:31:17,610 --> 00:31:21,090
22 Olympus Capital Partners couldn't be happier with them. They,

522
00:31:21,170 --> 00:31:24,050
they came right in and we're like, hey, what can we do? What's the best

523
00:31:24,050 --> 00:31:27,530
thing that we could do? I was like, listen, man, can, you know, can we

524
00:31:27,530 --> 00:31:30,330
do some M and A work? Can you open it? And they're like, absolutely, let's

525
00:31:30,330 --> 00:31:33,490
do it. And, and, and never, not once

526
00:31:34,050 --> 00:31:37,810
has, has our group said to me, hey, you gotta cut this

527
00:31:37,810 --> 00:31:41,130
out, you gotta cut that out. Or, or you can't do this, you can't do

528
00:31:41,130 --> 00:31:44,330
that. They're like, dude, you're the, you guys are the

529
00:31:44,330 --> 00:31:48,090
professionals, run the business. Yeah, we got our, we got

530
00:31:48,090 --> 00:31:51,810
our, our weekly meetings that we have to have, which, you

531
00:31:51,810 --> 00:31:55,050
know, at this point, like, you look forward to having those discussions. It's like, hey,

532
00:31:55,050 --> 00:31:58,410
here's what's going on, right? And we've, we've built this really good bond with our

533
00:31:58,410 --> 00:32:01,690
private equity group who is, you know,

534
00:32:01,930 --> 00:32:05,410
they're, they're a large, they're a large group, large cap group, but they have a

535
00:32:05,410 --> 00:32:09,170
small office. But they're not, they're not the group that's,

536
00:32:09,170 --> 00:32:12,800
that's looking to, you know, put two or three people in your business and

537
00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:16,080
have you, you know, report to them. It's just not how it works.

538
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:18,960
So even though we're, we're leveraged with PE

539
00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:23,920
has nothing to do with the way we operate our business. I mean, and,

540
00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:27,520
and there's some other planet guys, it's not the case.

541
00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:31,600
So we've been like, so I say we've been very, very blessed with the group

542
00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:35,360
that we have. I can't say enough good things about it. So I

543
00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:39,040
would say, you know, when it comes to, you know, operating the business and developing

544
00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:42,780
territory, like, we have a minimum of

545
00:32:42,860 --> 00:32:46,300
clubs that we have to open in certain markets in our area development

546
00:32:46,700 --> 00:32:50,380
agreement is broken up into different markets. So you got to open up X amount

547
00:32:50,380 --> 00:32:53,780
of clubs in Dallas, X amount of clubs in North

548
00:32:53,780 --> 00:32:57,340
Carolina, X amount of clubs in northwest Arkansas. So

549
00:32:57,500 --> 00:33:00,540
all of that stuff matters. And then what also matters

550
00:33:01,820 --> 00:33:05,540
is the refurbishing of the equipment. So I

551
00:33:05,540 --> 00:33:09,220
think that plays into your area development agreements as well.

552
00:33:09,220 --> 00:33:12,920
Are you keeping up with equipment reallocations? Are

553
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:16,320
you, you making sure that you're, you know, you're retrofitting your

554
00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:20,160
clubs? All of those things matter. And obviously as you get to

555
00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:23,720
scale, that's even more difficult. So,

556
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:27,760
so the best thing that we could do in our business, the most value to

557
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:31,600
our business is opening up good new clubs. So if I know

558
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:35,440
I can open up a good new club and it's going to be two miles

559
00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:39,240
down the street from a competitor opening the club,

560
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:43,600
yeah, it's gonna happen because that club pays for the next club and the

561
00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:47,440
next club pays for the next club. So, you know, we, we have

562
00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:50,920
a very, like, we have a very low leverage model in our business

563
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:54,440
and we look at that and like, we just, we want to continue to open

564
00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:58,240
up good new clubs. And whether that's through M A or

565
00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:02,080
whether that's through opening clubs, like, if, if we do, if we do say, listen,

566
00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:05,510
we're coming to your market, we're, we're coming like it's happening

567
00:34:06,710 --> 00:34:10,390
Real estate team that's out there, that's, that's putting it together,

568
00:34:10,390 --> 00:34:13,750
you know. Right. And if the location that that owner has

569
00:34:14,070 --> 00:34:17,830
makes sense to turn into a planet and it fast tracks your

570
00:34:18,070 --> 00:34:21,630
entry into the market and somewhat seamless because now you guys know how to do

571
00:34:21,630 --> 00:34:25,310
this, you know, based on experience, you know, it's good for everyone.

572
00:34:25,310 --> 00:34:29,110
I think the point that I'll leave with, with the entrepreneurs and the

573
00:34:29,110 --> 00:34:32,470
independent operators, like, once you build that location two miles

574
00:34:32,850 --> 00:34:35,610
down the road, like, the only thing that you could ever want to do for

575
00:34:35,610 --> 00:34:39,130
the next 10 years is do a member transfer. Right. And give you like a

576
00:34:39,130 --> 00:34:42,770
percentage of the revenue of that. So my point of this, of

577
00:34:42,770 --> 00:34:46,530
going through this segment is to say there's a lot of private equity capital.

578
00:34:46,610 --> 00:34:50,450
There's, there's significant area development opportunities that people

579
00:34:50,530 --> 00:34:54,130
are now forced to and want to and are excited

580
00:34:54,130 --> 00:34:57,930
about executing on. And if you could fit into that filter as an

581
00:34:57,930 --> 00:35:01,630
independent operator and get liquidity at a good price for your club,

582
00:35:02,350 --> 00:35:05,990
don't dismiss it. Is, is the, the short answer, like, take that call.

583
00:35:05,990 --> 00:35:09,750
Right. And then I want to close out. Yeah, good. I was

584
00:35:09,750 --> 00:35:13,310
just gonna say too, like, I, I think the other thing is that, like, if

585
00:35:13,310 --> 00:35:17,070
Excel Fitness is calling, like, I've

586
00:35:17,070 --> 00:35:20,430
been in the meeting, I've made that decision and I'm,

587
00:35:20,670 --> 00:35:24,390
you know, I'm a gym guy that, that is, is been turned into this

588
00:35:24,390 --> 00:35:27,770
entrepreneur. Entrepreneur and turned into, you know, this executive

589
00:35:28,010 --> 00:35:31,810
running Excel Fitness at this point in time. But if we've identified this

590
00:35:31,810 --> 00:35:35,370
location and we've looked at it and we've said that we're gonna, we want to

591
00:35:35,370 --> 00:35:38,970
do this, I've been in that conversation and I've approved it and,

592
00:35:39,050 --> 00:35:42,849
and, and I want to make sure that People understand, like, we're going

593
00:35:42,849 --> 00:35:46,370
to take care of it. Like, we're going to. We're going to either build the

594
00:35:46,370 --> 00:35:50,090
right club there, we're going to, we're gonna, we're gonna try

595
00:35:50,090 --> 00:35:53,490
to take care of all the members that are there, take care of the team

596
00:35:53,490 --> 00:35:56,100
members who can take care of. That's. That's the goal.

597
00:35:59,940 --> 00:36:03,780
This is Pete Moore. Here's the last tip for you of the podcast.

598
00:36:04,020 --> 00:36:06,980
We are partnered up with a company called higher dose

599
00:36:07,140 --> 00:36:10,500
higherdose.com they are the leader in

600
00:36:10,820 --> 00:36:13,700
workout recovery products. Infrared technology,

601
00:36:14,420 --> 00:36:18,100
LED light masks, neck enhancers, and

602
00:36:18,100 --> 00:36:21,860
other products such as PEMF mats and sauna

603
00:36:21,860 --> 00:36:25,060
blankets. If you have not gotten on the workout

604
00:36:25,060 --> 00:36:28,500
recovery train yet, your time and your stop

605
00:36:28,660 --> 00:36:32,220
is now. You got to get these products in there before these workout

606
00:36:32,220 --> 00:36:35,460
recovery and spas end up saturating your market.

607
00:36:35,780 --> 00:36:39,380
Having your members walk out of the club and going into one of their locations

608
00:36:39,380 --> 00:36:43,020
for 200 bucks per month, where they're paying 39 to

609
00:36:43,020 --> 00:36:46,860
you. Let's become an expert in workout recovery. If we

610
00:36:46,860 --> 00:36:50,220
are already an authority in workouts, Higher dose,

611
00:36:50,620 --> 00:36:54,300
check it out. There's a wholesale code. And we look

612
00:36:54,300 --> 00:36:57,580
forward to helping you augment your products and services

613
00:36:57,980 --> 00:37:01,780
to meet the demands of your members. And hey, let's get people

614
00:37:01,780 --> 00:37:05,620
happy, healthy, and sweating. And the recovery should be

615
00:37:05,620 --> 00:37:06,860
just as good as the workout.

616
00:37:10,540 --> 00:37:14,340
Okay, so let's close out the. The podcast on. You know, something that

617
00:37:14,340 --> 00:37:17,260
I said to you one of the first times we met, I'm like, bro, hope

618
00:37:17,260 --> 00:37:21,060
is not a strategy. And then you, like, give me the forearm and show

619
00:37:21,060 --> 00:37:24,700
me that you actually got it tattooed. Hope is not a strategy. I love that,

620
00:37:24,780 --> 00:37:28,140
bro. There's a labubu that somebody gave me, and the name of the labo was

621
00:37:28,140 --> 00:37:31,860
Hope. So I brought it to this fitness technology summit last month and

622
00:37:31,860 --> 00:37:35,300
I said, you know, hope is a labubu, not a business strategy. Can ask my

623
00:37:35,300 --> 00:37:38,660
boy cj. So, you know, talk about why you got that

624
00:37:38,660 --> 00:37:42,140
stamped on your arm here and like, how it kind of guides you.

625
00:37:43,220 --> 00:37:46,900
Yeah. So listen, I'm, I'm big on execution. Like, like,

626
00:37:46,900 --> 00:37:50,460
to me, like, my. This year, like last year, my. My

627
00:37:50,460 --> 00:37:53,900
word of the year was recovery. I wanted to recover right? This year. My, My

628
00:37:53,900 --> 00:37:57,500
year, this year is. Is execution. Like, my word of the year is

629
00:37:57,500 --> 00:38:01,300
execution. So nice. So, so I look, I look at that and I'm

630
00:38:01,300 --> 00:38:05,020
like, to execute, you gotta have a strategy, right? And, and

631
00:38:05,020 --> 00:38:08,860
every. Listen, everybody excel Fitness. Since I've been here since day one, probably

632
00:38:08,860 --> 00:38:12,100
for the last 20 years at Planet, they've all heard me say this. I've been

633
00:38:12,100 --> 00:38:15,600
saying this forever. I've been saying two things. Preparation

634
00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:19,240
plus opportunity equals success. Right? And

635
00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:22,840
I say that to my team all the time. If you're prepared, the opportunity comes

636
00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:26,520
about, will be successful. And the last thing is, like, hope is

637
00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:30,000
not a strategy. Hope makes you feel warm and fuzzy, but if you don't have

638
00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:33,440
a strategy, you can't execute. You have to be able to

639
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:37,080
execute. And so to me, like, it's all about execution.

640
00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:39,720
So I put it on my arm. So every time I'm in a meeting and

641
00:38:39,720 --> 00:38:43,400
I'm sitting there across from my team, they look across and they're like, oh, shit.

642
00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:46,660
Like, it's right there in front of. You know. And,

643
00:38:47,220 --> 00:38:50,740
you know, my girl, she doesn't love it because she loves hope. And. And

644
00:38:51,380 --> 00:38:55,180
she's like. She's like, I don't know. She's like. And I'm like, it's good to

645
00:38:55,180 --> 00:38:58,940
have hope when you don't have anything else. That's. That's the way I look

646
00:38:58,940 --> 00:39:02,660
at it. Right? And it's not. Not a bad thing. Yeah. And the last

647
00:39:02,660 --> 00:39:05,820
thing about the tattoo is it's awesome that you have it where, like, the person

648
00:39:05,820 --> 00:39:08,740
can see it where it's not like sometimes people. I look at people's tattoos and

649
00:39:08,740 --> 00:39:11,980
it's like a note to themselves. I'm like, dude, you can write a post it

650
00:39:11,980 --> 00:39:14,390
note to. To yourself, but if you actually have it on your arm in a.

651
00:39:14,390 --> 00:39:18,230
In a meeting, like, that's actually. It's actually more powerful. All right, man. Well, great

652
00:39:18,230 --> 00:39:22,070
to have you on the podcast. Awesome to talk to you. As always. Excel

653
00:39:22,070 --> 00:39:25,790
fitness growing in the territories we discussed. We'll have all that information up there.

654
00:39:25,790 --> 00:39:29,630
Integrity Squares work with CJ and his awesome team to. To help

655
00:39:29,630 --> 00:39:33,070
grow the planet brand. We're excited to work with them and to a

656
00:39:33,390 --> 00:39:37,230
strong 2026 brother. Thank you very much. Thanks for all you guys

657
00:39:37,230 --> 00:39:40,320
do, man. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me me on the podcast. Awesome.

658
00:39:48,240 --> 00:39:51,960
This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks. Your captain speaking. I am

659
00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:55,600
the founder and managing partner at Integrity Square. We've been around

660
00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:59,440
now for 15 and 1/2 years. We have been helping

661
00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:02,920
people like yourselves get capital, do mergers and

662
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:06,500
acquisitions consulting strategies, strategic advice in the health,

663
00:40:06,500 --> 00:40:10,260
active lifestyle, and outdoor halo sector. Trying to

664
00:40:10,260 --> 00:40:13,540
help as many entrepreneurs as possible get to the next level

665
00:40:13,940 --> 00:40:17,540
and take that inflection point and be the. Force behind your growth.

666
00:40:18,100 --> 00:40:21,740
We are helping companies that have at least $3 million of

667
00:40:21,740 --> 00:40:25,220
EBITDA, around $10 million of revenue, and

668
00:40:25,300 --> 00:40:28,740
we are positioned to help you get institutional growth capital

669
00:40:29,380 --> 00:40:33,160
or to negotiate deals with strategic partners. If

670
00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:36,960
you go to integrity.com isq

671
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:40,520
you can see our capabilities. Deck Happy to set up a consultation at any

672
00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:44,120
time that is free of charge and we look forward to you

673
00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:47,760
helping solve obesity, loneliness and diabetes.

674
00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:48,800
Go Halo.

675
00:40:56,170 --> 00:41:20,090
Sam.