Anytime Fitness

Anytime Fitness is a franchise of 24-hour health and fitness clubs that is headquartered in Woodbury, Minnesota, United States. The company operates over 4,000 franchised locations in 50 countries. The gym facilities are open 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.[3][4] Chuck Runyon, Dave Mortensen, and Jeff Klinger founded Anytime Fitness in 2002. Runyon is the CEO of the company.[3][5] Anytime Fitness was the fastest growing health club franchise in 2014.[6] In 2015, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked Anytime Fitness first on its global franchise list.[7]

Anytime Fitness
TypePrivate
GenreFitness
Founded2002 (2002)
FoundersChuck Runyon
Dave Mortensen
Jeff Klinger
Headquarters
Woodbury, Minnesota
,
United States
Number of locations
4,520[1] (2019)
RevenueUS$1.45 billion[2]
Websiteanytimefitness.com

History

2002–2004: Background and founding
Anytime Fitness co-founders Chuck Runyon and Dave Mortensen

Chuck Runyon, Dave Mortensen, and Jeff Klinger first met in the early 1990s while working for a fitness club in St. Paul, Minnesota.[8] In 1995, they jointly purchased and ran Southview Athletic Club for seven years. During their ownership of the club, its membership rose from 500 to 4000. They sold the gym in 2001. During their ownership of Southview Athletic Club, they worked for a consulting firm focused on improving under-performing athletic clubs across the United States. They developed the idea for Anytime Fitness after surveying the expectations that long-term members of large gyms had for their fitness clubs.[8][9]

Runyon, Mortensen, and Klinger founded Anytime Fitness in 2002.[10] Eric Keller, a former employee of Southview Athletic Club was interested in their business concept and agreed to become the first franchise owner of Anytime Fitness. They provided Keller with support in choosing a site location, marketing strategies, equipment selection, and membership sales.[8]

The first franchise location opened in Cambridge, Minnesota later that year.[9] They chose the site because of the lack of other fitness clubs in the immediate area and a population large enough to support a fitness club. Shortly after, two more locations were opened by former Southview Athletic Club employees in Duluth and Albert Lea, Minnesota. Runyon, Mortensen and Klinger sold 29 franchises before they opened their own corporate-owned location in Bemidji, Minnesota.[8]

2005-2010: Growth and international expansion

In February 2005, Anytime Fitness opened its 77th club, the first location outside of the United States, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. By 2008, the company was approaching 700 franchisees in 45 U.S. states and Canada. At that time, the company also operated 12 corporately owned locations.[9] In January 2009, the company opened its 1000th club in Wake Village, Texas.[11]

By October 2009, the company had more than 1,200 clubs with around 800,000 members.[12] In December 2009, Jeff Klinger, who had been the company's CEO since inception, sold his shares in Anytime Fitness and stepped down from his role as CEO. Chuck Runyon took over the role as CEO upon his departure.[13]

In mid-2010, the company announced plans to open clubs in Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. At that point, it had already expanded into Mexico and India.[14][15]

2011-2014: Further expansion

In 2011, Anytime Fitness expanded into Qatar, Poland and the Netherlands.[16] By 2012, the franchise had opened locations in Australia, Canada, Grand Cayman, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, New Zealand, Qatar, and the United Kingdom.[8]

In November 2012, Anytime Fitness bought Waxing The City, a small chain of waxing and hair removal salons.[17][18] Runyon and Mortensen converted Waxing The City into a franchise model similar to Anytime Fitness.[18]

In October 2013, the company hired celebrity tattoo artist and Anytime Fitness member, Jimmy Hayden, to tattoo its purple running man logo on nearly 200 franchisees, corporate employees, club managers, and personal trainers at an annual conference.[19][20] Members and employees have a history of getting the logo tattoo, with an estimated 4,000 individuals inking their bodies, including CEO Chuck Runyon. Anytime Fitness provides a tattoo artist at its monthly training events and covers all expenses.[21][22] The company will also reimburse anyone who submits a photo of their tattoo of the logo and describe why they wanted the tattoo.[20]

In December 2013, Anytime Fitness purchased a 38-acre site in Woodbury, Minnesota to build new company headquarters.[23] Roark Capital Group acquired a large minority share in Anytime Fitness in March 2014.[10] Erik Morris and Steve Romaniello, two directors from Roark, joined the board at Anytime Fitness after the acquisition.[24] Mortensen and Runyon remained the company's primary holders and continued to run the business.

2015 to present
Exterior view of Anytime Fitness headquarters in Woodbury, Minnesota. Image taken in 2016.

On October 12, 2015, Anytime Fitness opened its 3,000th club in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England.[25][26]

The company moved its headquarters from Hastings to Woodbury, Minnesota in April 2016. The new location contains 80,000 square feet of office space with a tattoo parlor and running trail.[27]

In June 2017, Anytime Fitness became the first U.S.-based fitness chain to be granted a franchising license in China. The company entered into a master franchise agreement with Maurice Levine, who had previously opened franchise locations in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines.[28][29]

In 2019 the Anytime Fitness franchise started to provide passengers on the cruise ship, Magellan Explorer, with a gym to exercise travelling to and from Antarctica.[30]

Operations

As of 2018, Anytime Fitness had over 4,200 gym locations and 3 million clients in more than 32 countries.[28][31] Each location is open 24 hours a day, 365 days out of the year.[24][32] Members have secure access to all facilities (including during unstaffed hours) with a computerized key fob.[33] There are gym locations in all 50 US states, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland, Grand Cayman, Poland, the Netherlands, Spain, Qatar, South Korea, India, Italy, Chile, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.[32][34] In 2016, the company had 188 employees, but its new Woodbury office can hold up to 300.[35] Each club has a security system in place that contains cameras, recorded card swipes, and the ability to notify a security company if a patron is injured or feels unsafe. ProVision Security, an Anytime Fitness-related company, provides security.[8][9]

Awards

In 2010, the International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association named Anytime Fitness the fastest growing fitness club. Franchise Chatter titled Anytime Fitness as the franchise with the best business model in 2011.[36] The Star Tribune called Anytime Fitness one of Minnesota's top workplaces in 2011, 2012, and 2013.[37] The company ranked first in Minnesota Business Magazine's best company to work for in 2012 and 2013.[38] Forbes ranked the company 14th as America's most promising companies.[39] In 2014, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked Anytime Fitness number one on their franchise 500 list.[40][41] In 2015 and 2016, Anytime Fitness was ranked first on the publication's top global franchises list.[42][43] In 2020 Anytime Fitness was ranked twenty-second on the publication's franchise 500 list.[44]

References
  1. "Anytime Fitness location count". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  2. "Revenue of the Anytime Fitness health club company from 2012 to 2017 (in million U.S. dollars)". Statista. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  3. "Anytime Fitness". Forbes. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  4. Andrew Kade. "Survival of the Fittest". Business in Focus. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  5. Stuart Goldman. "Klinger Leaves Anytime Fitness". Club Industry. Archived from the original on 14 April 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  6. J. Maureen Henderson. "Meet The Boomer Father And Millennial Son Building A Fitness Franchise Empire". Forbes. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  7. "2015 Top Global Franchises". Entrepreneur. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  8. "Anytime Fitness: The Fastest-Growing Club". Twin Cities Business. 21 August 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  9. Bjorhus, Jennifer (22 March 2008). "No-frills gyms take off". Twin Cities Pioneer Press. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  10. Neal St. Anthony. "Anytime Fitness secures 'significant' investment from Atlanta firm". Star Tribune. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  11. Walker, Tom (24 February 2009). "1,000th club for Anytime Fitness". Health Club Management. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  12. Raymer, Marjory (4 October 2009). "Davison man sheds 260 pounds at Anytime Fitness". MLive. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  13. Goldman, Stuart (4 January 2010). "Klinger Leaves Anytime Fitness". Club Industry. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  14. "Anytime Fitness Heading to Japan". Club Industry. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  15. Walker, Tom (29 July 2010). "Anytime Fitness to expand into Europe and Japan". Health Club Management. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  16. Carlson, Scott (15 February 2011). "Anytime Fitness to flex its muscles in the Middle East". Finance and Commerce. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  17. Ed Stych. "Anytime Fitness buys hair-removal company". Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  18. Rob Olson. "Co-founders of Anytime Fitness buy waxing chain". Fox 9. Archived from the original on 14 April 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  19. John Vomhof Jr. "Anytime Fitness hires Lebron's tattoo artist to ink franchisees". Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  20. Susanna Kim. "Gym Chain Anytime Fitness Offers Reimbursements for Tattoos of Logos". ABC News. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  21. Lewis, Al (May 18, 2010). "Lewis: Love for fitness franchise more than skin deep". Denver Post. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  22. Thibodeaux, Wanda (8 December 2017). "How This Company Got 4,000 People to Tattoo Themselves--With the Company Logo". Inc. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  23. John Vomhof Jr. "Anytime Fitness to build new HQ in Woodbury". Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  24. John Vomhof Jr. "Anytime Fitness lands private-equity investment". Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  25. Cave, Andrew (December 31, 2015). "America's Biggest Fitness Club Franchise Aims to Be Not Just For New Year Resolutions". Forbes. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  26. "Working Out Well: Chuck Runyon on the Rise and Rise of Anytime Fitness". British Franchise Association. December 24, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  27. Painter, Kristen Leigh (13 April 2016). "At the new headquarters of Anytime Fitness, there's room to work, play and grow". Star Tribune. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  28. Michaels, Laura (29 August 2017). "China's next as Anytime Fitness tackles world". Franchise Times. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  29. "Anytime Fitness Gets the Green Light to Franchise in China". Club Industry. 21 June 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  30. "Anytime Fitness makes history as the first franchise with locations on all seven continents - Australasian Leisure Management". www.ausleisure.com.au. Retrieved 2020-01-11.
  31. Tascarella, Patty (30 May 2018). "Tecum takes stake in gym franchisee". Pittsburgh Business Times. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  32. "Anytime Fitness Receives Investment from Roark Capital Group". Reuters. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  33. Rebecca Omastiak. "Anytime Fitness Receives A "Significant" New Investment". Twin Cities Business. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  34. Enriquez, M.C. (14 June 2016). "Gym offers anytime-fitness opportunities". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  35. Baden, Mathias (7 June 2016). "Anytime Fitness opens international HQ in Woodbury". RiverTowns. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  36. "Franchise Chatter's 10 Franchises with the Best Business Models (and 1 with Possibly THE Worst)". Franchise Chatter. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  37. "Anytime Fitness Inc". Star Tribune. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  38. "100 Best Companies to Work For 2013: Large Companies". Minnesota Business Magazine. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  39. "America's Most Promising Companies: The Top 25". Forbes. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  40. Jason Daley. "Meet the Top Franchise of 2014". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  41. Ashley Scoby. "Anytime Fitness Ranked No. 1 on 'Franchise 500' List". Club Solutions. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  42. Herold, Tracy Stapp (12 July 2015). "The Top Global Franchises". Entrepreneur Magazine. Entrepreneur Media, Inc. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  43. "2016 Top Global Franchises". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  44. "2020 Franchise 500 list". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
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