Animal Kingdom Gym (www.
animalkingdomgym.com.au) is one
of the recent 24-hour gym additions
to Sydney’s northern beaches. When
Owner, Mark Patience, looked at the high
demand for flexible opening times from
shift workers, and the ever-increasing
24-hour gyms entering the market place,
deciding his facility would be a 24-hour
operation was a no-brainer.
Mark Patience enjoys
having a 24-hour gym
because the automated Franchise option
Studies suggest that over 90% of new nonaccess system means
franchise businesses fail within the first
three years, and the fitness industry is not
he isn’t obliged to be
immune to this. Buying a franchise that is
built on a sound business model can help
onsite to open the
minimise the high risk of starting a new
business. In fact, research has found that
doors for the 5am
if the business system is adhered to then
franchises rarely fail.
crowd.
Although Ryan and his co-director
decided to take their business in another
direction and keep its individuality, he
still believes that 24/7 franchises offer a
‘great business model, are really easy to
run and set up, and don’t have much in
the way of overheads, so can be a great
way to go.’
‘I’ve been in the industry for 25 years and
looked at all the franchises, but none of
them really had exactly what I wanted for
my gym,’ he says. ‘In today’s world it’s all
about 24/7 so you have to move with the
times. People look at a gym membership
and want to have that option to come
whenever they want.’
Tony Doherty is the Owner of Dohertys
Gym (www.dohertysgym.com), which is
a chain of four 24-hour facilities across
Melbourne. In 1998, inspired by a late
night shopping trip to the supermarket,
Tony decided to convert his first gym to
24 hours, cementing him in fitness industry
history as one of Australia’s pioneers.
‘There are so many people working night
shifts, finishing work at two or three in the
morning; I saw there was a demand that
wasn’t being met,’ he explains.
Unlike many 24-hour facilities, which use
an automated access system, Dohertys
Gyms are staffed around the clock
because Tony is adamant about health
and safety issues in his clubs. ‘I think the
unstaffed 24/7 places are an accident
waiting to happen. It’s incredible that
they are allowed to operate and get
insurance,’ he says.
16
For newcomers to the fitness industry,
24-hour franchises are a great idea, but
Tony Doherty admits
there are challenges
in finding suitable staff
who are willing to work
around the clock.
Ryan and Jordon Cole are the Directors
of Zip Fitness in Sydney’s beachside
suburb of Manly. They took over an
existing gym 12 months ago and,
although they haven’t gone down the
24-hour route, they have reduced their
st affing overheads by introducing some
unmanned hours in the early morning
and late evenings, where members
access the gym via a swipe card system.
This system will allow them to extend their
unstaffed hours of operation if they do
decide to go 24 hours in the future; an
option they haven’t entirely ruled out.
Ryan found the hardest part of the
process was developing the access
system, primarily because information
about the systems used by other facilities
was so hard to come by. ‘It took a long
time for us to develop our own access
system that ensured we avoided
tailgating (i.e., where two people enter
on the one swipe card). That’s your
biggest worry with a 24-hour, unstaffed
facility; people attending without swiping
in and getting a free ride.’
WHAT’S NEW IN FITNESS - SPRING 2012