Chuze Fitness is a privately owned and operated low-cost fitness center chain, operating 23 locations in California, Arizona, and Colorado. The corporate headquarters is located in San Diego. Chuze Fitness began operations in 2008 when it opened its first location in Carlsbad, California, adding an average of approximately three locations annually until 2015, when a new investor funded more rapid expansion plans: four to six locations per year across the American Southwest.
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History
Chuze Fitness was cofounded by former Souper Salad restaurant business partners Ray Barshick and Charles Brightwell; Ray's son Nick Barshick; Ray's son-in-law Kris Peterson; and Charles' son Cory Brightwell. Kris Peterson, Nick Barshick, and Cory Brightwell initially looked into restaurants as a entrepreneurial venture. "We ended up coming across this low-cost gym model and knew that it had not been present on the West Coast. It wasn't in San Diego...and so we started to take a look at it," explained Peterson in an interview. None of the founders had any background in the fitness industry and viewed this lack of expertise as a strength, since they believed established gyms in the area had garnered bad reputations, and their lack of prior knowledge would provide a fresh perspective that would help set them apart from their competition.
The first location opened October 2008 in Carlsbad, California. The business was originally opened under the name "Fuse Fitness," but the founders discovered that trademark was already in use, so they changed the name to Chuze Fitness before opening any more locations. In December 2009 they opened two more gyms in Escondido, California and Santee, California, and by 2012 they had a total of six gyms, all within in the San Diego area.
In 2013, Chuze Fitness added three new clubs in Tucson and three in Orange County. In September 2016, the San Diego Business Journal reported Chuze Fitness was operating 17 locations in Southern California, Arizona, and Colorado and had two franchise locations. The Journal and fitness club industry magazine Club Industry also reported that Chuze Fitness had accepted an investment from private equity firm Main Post Partners, allowing the company to add between four and six locations a year over the next five years. While the amount of the investment was not disclosed, Main Post Partners described its standard investment range as being between $25 million and $75 million.
May 2017, Colorado business publication BizWest reported Chuze Fitness was operating fitness centers in Thornton, Westminster, and Littleton and in the summer of that year was opening two new gyms in Broomfield and southeast Denver.
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Operations
Business model
Chuze Fitness operates under a low-cost membership model. The low-cost model wasn't prevalent in the market prior to Chuze's entry. Memberships have been available for $9.99 and $19.99 since the first location opened. In response to increased competition, a $39.99-per-month option was added in 2016, offering extras like team training.
The original locations cost between $1.2 million and $1.5 million to build. Such low pricing requires Chuze Fitness to bring in many more customers than its larger competitors in order to cover the cost of the buildings. As Chuze Fitness has expanded beyond its initial offerings of cardio and free weights, new locations have more than doubled in size (and cost), requiring even more customers.
Company culture
The Chuze Fitness tagline is "Less Attitude, More Fitness." Brightwell puts a high value on company culture, and together with Nick Barshick has established an extensive hiring process to increase the probability that new hires will fit the company culture, which emphasizes an "everybody does everything" attitude among employees, maintaining immaculately clean facilities, and providing superior customer service. All new hires attend a four-hour seminar that trains them on Chuze Fitness' customer service standards. An annual training/competition dubbed the "Chuze Olympics" tests those skills with role-played scenarios, maintaining staff proficiency in superior customer service delivery.
Chuze Fitness caters to its majority-female membership by maintaining a warm, inviting, enjoyable atmosphere. Not only is the atmosphere (designed to make the gym a comfortable place for women to work out) reflected in their customer service, facility cleanliness, and their policies against slamming weights or grunting, but Peterson has stated it is even reflected in the available gym equipment: their dumbbells only go up to 75 pounds and they don't offer squat racks.
Service offerings
Chuze Fitness gyms offer cardio and strength equipment, free weights, a "kid's club" (child care), lap pools and Jacuzzis, and hydro-massage beds, as well as a steam room and infrared sauna facilities. The company also provides team training, group fitness (such as barre, yoga sculpt, kickboxing and cycling, and branded classes like P90X boxing), tanning, a cardio cinema, a turf training area, a smoothie bar, and locker rooms. It also offers personal training services.
Awards
Chuze Fitness locations have received a number of awards:
- City Beat Magazine: "Best Workout Gym" by in 2011 and 2016 with honorable mentions in 2012 and 2015.
- Men's Fitness: "Best Gym in Arizona" in 2015
- Arizona Daily Star: "Reader's Choice Awards Winner, Best Gym" in 2015 & 2016
- Club Industry: Top 100 Health Clubs of 2016
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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