W
hat began as a single gym in
Dover, New Hampshire, has, over
the course of 25 years, become
the industry leader by single-handedly
revolutionizing fitness. When Michael and
Marc Grondahl founded Planet Fitness® in
1992, gyms were catering to the 15 percent
of the United States’ 256.5 million citizens
by Jessica Loeding
who worked out. By changing the model,
PF® turned the tides on fitness.
“In the early days, we were a typical club. We had heavy
dumbbells. We had juice bars. We had Olympic benches and group
exercise and day care, you name it,” Chris Rondeau, who took over
as CEO in 2013, said. “The stat back then was that 15 percent
of the population had a gym membership in the United States.
Because New Hampshire was so rural, we were opening our first
and second store but struggling. Even if we had all 15 percent of
people, we still weren’t going to make money, so we had to figure
out a way to cater to the 85 percent who didn’t work out and figure
out what were some of the key factors why they didn’t.”
The trio went to work on fine-tuning the model, adding the
Judgement Free Zone® in 1997. To make room for cardio, circuit
training and light free weights, the company removed the heavier
free weights, group exercise and day care. To top it off, they
dropped the price to $10 a month.
“We used a term back then: It was like putting all the animals
in the same cage, putting the lions in with the lambs. We had to
figure out how to get the lions out, because, while the first-timers
were attracted to the price, the environment was still intimidating,”
said Rondeau.
By 2003, Planet Fitness had expanded to five locations in New
Hampshire. Then came the big bang: franchising. The first franchised
location opened Sept. 1, 2003, in sunny Florida, and the brand was
off and running. In the 14 years since, Planet Fitness has grown to
include over 10 million members at more than 1,400 locations in the
United States, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Canada and,
most recently, Panama. And, there’s no end in sight.
eastern Canada while McGuiness worked for a start-up in Rhode
Island. What Dore saw in the New Hampshire Planet Fitness
locations piqued his interest. “Anytime I went to the Planet Fitness
clubs, any time of day, they were always busy. They seemed to have
something different, although I wasn’t really sure what,” Dore said.
As he got to know the Grondahls and Rondeau, they shared
the business model financials with Dore. One look and Dore and
McGuiness began thinking about where they’d like to open their
own location. The warmth and Dore’s familial connection to
Florida drew the duo southward. Sunshine Fitness Management
opened its first location in Altamonte Springs, Florida. Today the
franchise group has 31 clubs across several states.
The early days were not without challenges. At that point
in time, the fitness industry had opera ted by different standards.
Unethical practices plagued the industry. “We had to break down
those barriers and get people to realize that when we say $10
a month, it’s $10 a month with no strings attached,” Rondeau
said. “Landlords didn’t like gyms; the banks didn’t like gyms.
Throughout those first 11 years, we had to get people confident in
our brand and unique model. When you are selling gym member-
ships for $10 a month and having free pizza nights once a month,
you can imagine the banks and the landlords didn’t think it was
ever going to work. The industry itself thought we were a one-trick
pony, it wasn’t going to work, and we’d be out of business in a few
years. There were always nay-sayers that didn’t like what we did
because we were making fitness affordable.”
Although they had bought into the franchise, 1,500 miles
Continued on page 28
THE EARLY DAYS
Eric Dore and Shane McGuiness have been best friends since
age 6. The pair grew up in New Hampshire and had ventured into
the business world at the end of their senior year in high school.
As McGuiness recalls, the pair profited $600 from a summer
spent operating an
ice cream truck.
Although the venture
didn’t work out so
well, the pair knew
they wanted to travel
the entrepreneurial
route together at one
point or another.
Fast forward
several years. Dore
was selling fitness
Shane McGuiness, left, and Eric Dore take part
equipment around
in the auction during the Planet Fitness 25th An-
New England and
niversary Gala.
Planet Fitness CEO
Chris Rondeau
addresses those who
gathered for the
Planet Fitness 25th
Anniversary Gala on
Sept. 30 in Boston.
27