Long-time Larkin Hoffman client Anytime Fitness was featured in a recent Entrepreneur Magazine article discussing its international expansion strategy. When we met them about a dozen years ago, they had fewer than 100 locations. Today, Anytime Fitness and its franchisees have opened more than 4,000 locations, including more than 1,100 gyms in 30 foreign countries. Anytime Fitness has plans to continue its ambitious growth by adding 400 more gyms in 2018. Most of those will be in international markets.
In the article, Chuck Runyon, co-founder and CEO of Anytime Fitness, discussed the international franchising strategies that have propelled the company to enormous success, including earning Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Top Global Franchise” award in 2015 and 2016 and most recently receiving accolades from Ernst & Young. Earlier this month, the global professional services firm awarded Runyon and Anytime Fitness co-founder and President Dave Mortensen its Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 Heartland Award. Also in the article, Runyon described Anytime Fitness’s international master franchise model and how that model has helped the company to capitalize on local market conditions.
Having worked in-house for Anytime Fitness for two years, I had the privilege of having an inside view of how the company became one of the fastest growing franchisors in the fitness industry, and perhaps in any industry. Runyon and Mortensen built a high-engagement and high-performance culture that resonates throughout the Anytime Fitness franchise system based on their “four p” philosophy: people, purpose, profits and play. In short, Anytime Fitness found that by investing in people and providing them with a collective purpose and an opportunity for a better lifestyle, while also having fun at what they do, the profits have followed.
Congratulations to Chuck, Dave and the rest of the Anytime Fitness team, both at corporate headquarters and in each franchised club, on your most recent feature in Entrepreneur Magazine and our best wishes on your continued successes.