franchisee sp tlight
Michael Turner served as a panelist for
Navigating the Valuation and Sale of a PF at the
2016 PFIFA Franchisee Convention.
Michael Turner
Excel Fitness Holdings, LLC
Partner(s): Altamont Capital Partners;
Greg and Kimberly Attwood
Total Number of PF clubs: 19 open and two under
construction
State(s) in which you operate clubs: Texas
2016 Issue 2 | GearedUp
How did you become a PF Franchisee?
In 2006 as I was going through some financial hardship after
leaving World Gym, Mike Grondahl ask me to come work at the
PF® Corporate office when they were trying to buy World Gym.
As I was working with Chris Rondeau to help with the World
Gym acquisition, I let Chris know my desire to learn and understand the PF model. After only a few months, I asked Mike and
Chris if I could become a PF owner/operator. As a bonus, they
gave me my first franchise to open anywhere in the country I
wanted to go that was undeveloped. I chose San Antonio, Texas,
because it had the closest demographics to El Paso, Texas, which
had the highest EFTs at that time out of the 100 locations that
existed.
16
If you have business partners, how did you meet?
Greg Attwood and I first met about 20 years ago; he was
a World Gym owner in Austin and I owned a couple of World
Gyms in Central Florida. In 2008 before opening Planet Fitness®
locations in Austin, Greg and Kimberly came down to see the
Planet Fitness in San Antonio, which I happened to co-own. My
partner in San Antonio decided to sell after opening only one
location, and that is when Greg asked me to move to Austin to
become his COO/operating partner to help develop the Austin
market. This February, after a yearlong process to sell the majority
share of our company to a private equity group, we were very
fortunate to have Altamont Capital Partners become our new
partner.
Tell us a little about yourself and the company’s
background.
I was born and raised in Winchester, Virginia, and received
my Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Central
Florida. I lived in Orlando for almost 20 years where I opened my
first World Gym in 1993 through 2006. I opened my first Planet
Fitness in San Antonio in 2007. My partner, Greg Attwood,
purchased the ADA to Austin, Texas, and we opened our first
Planet Fitness in 2008. Since that time, we purchased an ADA in
Dallas/Fort Worth and have been blessed to open 19 locations in
less than eight years.
In your opinion, what stands out about the Planet Fitness
brand?
In my opinion, the thing that stands out the most about the
Planet Fitness brand is that we provide the most affordable place
in the world for people to change their lives for the better. Planet
Fitness has helped fill this void that existed, so there’s no excuse
for anyone not to at least give it a try.
You recently partnered with a private equity firm. What
lessons did you learn through the process?
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago at the inaugural PFIFA
Franchisee Convention in Atlanta in our discussions on navigating the sale, there were roughly seven key points and lessons I
learned through the process over the 12 months it took from start
to finish:
1) Reach out to others who have been through the process
that you know and trust, including corporate. I’m always available
to help anyone.
2) Be transparent and forthcoming with your employees. Be
open and honest with your team once you have committed to sell.
3) Surround yourself with really smart people you can trust.
Find a great attorney and CPA to help navigate and advise you,