Snap Fitness to have more than 100 centres by next year

Bangalore-based Snap Fitness India, the Indian master franchisee of Minneapolis, US-based fitness chain Snap Fitness that operates round-the-clock, is looking at an initial public offering (IPO) after a year when it completes 100 centres across the country.

Snap Fitness entered India in 2008 with its first centre in Bangalore. At present, there are about 50 Snap Fitness centres in India, of which 33 are located in Bangalore. The company is now plans to open centres in tier-I, tier-II and tier-III cities to take the number of total centres to 300 over the next three years. Of these, about 30 would be company owned. However, if the company gets external funding, they will open 100 company owned centres. While the company operates 24 hours a day, it may look at keeping centres in smaller cities closed at night.

Snap Fitness centres, in sizes of 3,000 sq ft, 4,000 sq ft and 5,000 sq ft, typically entail an investment of between Rs 1.2 crore and Rs 1.5 crore each. It follows a 'hub-and-spoke' model, where it will have one company-owned centre and close to four franchise-run locations built around that area. Over the next three years, the company and its franchises will spend about Rs 350 crore.

Its flagship stores earn about Rs 1.6 crore to Rs 1.8 crore annually, while about 50% of the earning goes to meet operational expenses.

The fitness industry in India is estimated to cross Rs 6,000 crore by 2015 while more than 95% of the sector is still unorganised. Organised brands like Talwalkers, Gold's Gym and Snap Fitness contribute the remaining.

Ozone Fitness n Spa to open 50 luxury clubs in five years; seeks franchisees

Feb 23, 2011

New Delhi-based premium fitness club and spa group Ozone Fitness n Spa has announced its expansion plans pan-India through franchise route. The company is planning to open 50 new fitness clubs and spas in tier I and II cities over the next 5 years through franchising. It is also open for joint ventures at some selective locations. Presently, Ozone is operating five boutique health clubs and spa in New Delhi, Gurgaon and Hyderabad, each one of the health clubs has been designed in an approximated area of 12,000 square feet and more.

Naveen Kandhari, managing director, Ozone Fitness n Spa, said, “We have the distinctive expertise to have been managing successfully the health clubs at large magnitudes. We stay significantly ahead from our competitors in terms of rendering world class health club and spa services, our member’s list includes CEOs, senior executives of renowned corporate houses, celebrities, who come to pursue their fitness and well being goals”.

Kandhari further added, “Our major focus would be to offer an exhaustive business support mechanism to our franchisees so as to enable him achieve his business objective by attaining the overall market leadership position in the given geography, the company has earmarked a comprehensive marketing plan to augment company’s business presence in unrepresented areas. But without compromising the size (area) and quality of the franchisee outlet. As we believe that franchisee Ozone are as good as company owned when it comes to customer satisfaction.”

The specialty of the Ozone club lies in its state-of-art infrastructure facilities which include spacious and aesthetically designed cardio and strength zones (in built touch screen personalised entertainment system), dedicated spinning studio, spacious studios, steam rooms, massage suites, wet zones replete with sauna, steam, hot and chill showers and supplemented by toiletries and laundry facile, shower and change rooms with lockers facilities.

The club has also been endowed with some extraordinary facilities such as valet parking (in selected clubs), cafeteria, and 100 per cent power back up, music channels for personalized entertainment and mineral water plant, etc.

Talwalkars opens health club in Raipur

Feb 18, 2011

Health club chain Talwalkars Better Value Fitness Ltd has launched a health club in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. At present, the company has 91 health clubs in 43 towns across India.

Speaking on the inauguration, CEO Prashant Talwalkar said, “We are extremely happy to open our health club in Raipur. This city has the potential to become a major commercial hub and we hope we can spread fitness to residents of this vibrant city.”

Anant Gawande, chief financial officer and whole time director, Talwalkars, said, “With the Raipur opening, we have further consolidated our leadership position in the health and fitness industry in India.”

The company, Gawande said, was looking at aggressively expanding into other cities of the northern and eastern regions, including tier II and III cities. Talwalkars, though, is not looking at expanding through the franchise route.