franchisee sp tlight
Peter
and Philip
Amato
Easy Mile Fitness
Number of clubs : 11 with four in development States your clubs operate in : Florida , Georgia and South Carolina
2020 Issue 3 | GearedUp
16
How did you become PF franchisees ? Philip : In the early days of Planet , our uncle , John Craig , worked for PFHQ as the head of brand management . Ultimately , John wanted to become a franchisee , so he connected with our father , Roger , and they became franchisees , owning a market in Georgia and South Carolina . Through that , Peter and I became familiar with the model of PF . An opportunity presented itself with a territory in southwest Florida in 2015 that John and Roger were aware of . They didn ’ t have an interest , but the stars aligned , and we were able to acquire the territory and dip our toes into the franchise system .
How did you meet your business partners ?
Peter : It ’ s a family business , which was important for us to have that control and trust . Our parents had a lot of entrepreneurial experience . It makes board meetings and family dinners really interesting .
Tell us a little about yourselves and your professional backgrounds prior to PF .
Philip : My background is in marketing / sales and operations . Post-college , I spent a few years at Microsoft . I was responsible for creating , designing and implementing new marketing and sales programs across the organization . I was able to get an expansive view of the ways business was conducted , since it is a global company .
Peter : I came from a finance background . After college , I spent several years working in New York City in investment banking at Barclays Capital . I worked specifically in the power and energy sector , focusing on mergers and acquisitions . After a couple years , I moved over to Boston and was working at Audax Group . Their focus was working with smaller companies to structure acquisitions , acquiring companies and building up the team , operations and company .
You both volunteer time within the PF system . How important is it for you to give back to the brand and fellow franchisees ?
Philip : That ’ s a large part of what sets Planet apart and something near and dear to us . When we got into PF in 2015 , we were one of the last true , independently owned franchise groups to get involved . There were several franchise owners who reached out to us , gave us the keys to the kingdom and showed us their best practices , tips and tricks on how to be successful . A large part of the success we have today we owe to those early conversations , visits and time we took with those franchise groups . As we ’ ve built our organization and gotten to a more stable level , we feel a big responsibility to pass what we ’ ve received on to other franchisees . The reality is , we are where we are today because of the help we received from others who volunteered their time , energy and resources when we were starting out .
Peter : As far back as our uncle and dad introducing us to the other PF operators , you could see they had the best intentions and wanted the best for the brand . As small as we may be , we love to try to offer our two cents and collaborate with others , and we like to be involved and be active contributors in guiding where the brand is going and helping other franchisees .
With a background in marketing , Philip , particularly in the social and digital arenas , how do you see those areas becoming increasingly important , particularly post-COVID-19 ?
Philip : What historically worked with marketing has shifted . The name of the game right now is social and digital .
We used to spend and over-index our dollars in OOH and mass media with radio and TV . We ’ ve shifted our dollars and marketing strategy to be social and digitally focused for two key reasons . The first is flexibility . Today , it feels like every week