franchisee sp tlight
2020 Issue 4 | GearedUp
26
Scott Majkrzak , Alex Mortensen & Alex Majkrzak
Franchisees join the Planet Fitness ® family from different paths and grow their businesses in various ways . The story behind PF Baseline and the journey of CEO Scott Majkrzak , Chief Operating Officer Alex Mortensen and Vice President of Operations Alex Majkrzak shows how a Planet Fitness franchise comes into existence and how it evolves and grows . Baseline Fitness currently has 53 locations across seven states including , California , Illinois , Iowa , Minnesota , Nebraska , North Dakota and South Dakota .
In the beginning .
In his time pre-Planet , Scott Majkrzak worked for a professional Supercross team . He was a part of business development there and points to this experience as being the first time that he saw a PF ® logo , as they were a sponsor of the Supercross team he worked with . Wanting to do real estate and business development , Scott Majkrzak moved back to Fargo , North Dakota , and got into construction , real estate and restaurant franchising . Mortensen ’ s background is in marketing and sales , as he worked for a consumer packaged goods company when he finished college .
Backgrounds aside , the story of PF Baseline goes back to 2007 . Scott Majkrzak ’ s uncle , Jeff Majkrzak , served on the corporate board of directors for Planet Fitness , and he ’ d been in that role for a few years .
Jeff Majkrzak wasn ’ t shy about talking about Planet Fitness , either . “ He was constantly telling me about this new concept and how great it was ,” Scott Majkrzak said . He and Mortensen knew they wanted to go into business together eventually ; both were in California at the time and even worked at a previous job together . “ We had the luxury of hearing about it from a board member and seeing how strong the idea was .”
From there , Scott Majkrzak and Mortensen did some research and quickly found that they loved what they saw . Mortensen recalls being able to spend time at locations in the Northeast and being excited about the opportunity following a meeting with Chris Rondeau , Planet Fitness CEO .
The pair opened their first location in Fargo , North Dakota . “ We were in the middle of nowhere compared to where the rest of the franchisee base was , so we knew we had something when it took off !” Scott Majkrzak joked .
Business partners : Growing the team .
When the business first started out , it was Scott Majkrzak and Alex Mortensen in Fargo . They cashed in retirement accounts , maxed out credit cards and brought in Bob Majkrzak , Scott ’ s father , as an investor for that first club . The second location , which was in Sioux Falls , South Dakota , led to Jeff Majkrzak seeing the opportunity that existed on the franchisee side . Jeff and his son , Alex Majkrzak , joined the team before the opening of the group ’ s third location , bringing the total up to five business partners .
“ It was a relationship that we three had established together well before our Planet Fitness years ,” Alex Majkrzak said . “ When I joined Scott and Alex in 2010 , our roles were already established , and we knew the level of expectation it took from our group to grow quickly but in a responsible manner .” Before PF Baseline , Alex Majkrzak had experience working for GEICO , which helped him grasp the workings of large companies and the corporate world .
The business grew quickly over the next several years , and before the team knew it , they had 22 locations on their hands . That was when the group started to see a need for the next stage in the company ’ s growth : bringing on a private equity partner . Thankfully , Jeff Majkrzak had a relationship with Freeman Spogli , which would prove to be very helpful . Scott explained that they were very skeptical to be partnering up with a private equity firm , a sentiment that Mortensen echoed . “ We weren ’ t ready to take that big first step with private equity , but it allowed us to resource our business properly ,” Mortensen said . “ We had a lot of apprehension , but it ’ s been a fantastic partnership .” Scott Majkrzak agreed , saying that the partnership far exceeded their expectations and that it was “ probably the best thing that we ’ ve ever done .”
Rewarding aspects of working with PF .
Scott Majkrzak and Mortensen pointed out that it is a unique thing in the business word to be able to positively impact lives on a daily basis .
“ We ’ re tapping a customer base that was previously untapped because they were unable to access this kind of facility at these rates ,” Scott Majkrzak said . “ From a business perspective , it ’ s
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