New York GGFA Convention Shines Light On Gold’s Brand & Franchise System

From Bryan O'Rourke - GGFA Conference In New York City - September 27, 2011 full disclosure - I sit on the GGFA Think Tank and Represent Star Trac and Michael Bruno personally.

Its been an interesting few weeks for me that's been steeped in the Gold’s Gym brand. After spending time with the GGI executive team in Dallas a few weeks ago and participating in a GGFA related diabetes golf benefit in New York with friends Bill Austin, Mike Epstein and his partner Art, among others, I arrived in New York last Sunday for the GGFA convention. Gold’s has been in the news lately and so it was fortuitous for me to hear from the brand’s leaders both on the franchise and company side.

As always Ginger Collins and the entire GGFA team put together a great show and I was thrilled to spend time with so many of our GGFA friends as well as Michael Bruno, owner of Star Trac, Stairmaster and Land America, my partner Robert Dyer and Sal Pellegrino of Star Trac, among many other wonderful health club industry leaders. (Let me put in a special mention for the “Godfather” and my friend Bill Austin).

Gold’s is facing a lot of changes but here is what I took away from the largely positive event:

GGI has a new sophisticated and impressive real estate location model for its system;
Financing prospects have improved and several franchisees are expanding;
While differences exist between GGI and GGFA meaningful dialogue is happening;
Upgrades are in the plans for many franchisees; and
GGI is very focused on the express model as part of its growth strategy.

With rumors of a possible Bally’s acquisition still heard faintly in the background, I wonder what the next few years holds for the Gold’s brand. Based on what I saw it could be very positive. So tell me, Bryan O’Rourke, what do you think about the Gold’s brand, the GGFA and the future for this storied health club chain ? I’d love to hear your feedback and thanks for reading the post !

About the author Bryan O’Rourke:

Bryan O’Rourke is a health club industry expert, technologist, financeer, shareholder and executive in several fitness and health club business service companies. He is also a partner in The Health Club For Women and Chairman of the Medical Fitness Association’s Education Committee. To learn more contact Bryan here today .

How Are Changing Consumers Impacting The Health Club Business ?

US Consumers have been going through a lot during the past few decades and namely this: the middle class is getting squeezed and the implications are significant. As a recent Deloitte Consulting Review, "Mind The Gap" noted, "Given the expectation of essentially two different types of consumers (affluent consumers with rising income versus low and middle income consumers with stagnant incomes), companies could target them separately." Indeed they could and that explains what's up in the health club biz.

A Wells Fargo Quick Market Update "Bifurcation Of The Consumer" by Matt Wittmer also recently reported: " ...while consumers in all income brackets remain cautious in their discretionary spending, the severity and persistence of spending habits between the two groups (low income and wealthy) continue to diverge. Furthermore, we are also observing a change among middle-income earners, who are becoming more value driven in their consumption patterns."

The bifurcation trend is here and its impacting every consumer sector. Therefore, it should be no surprise that Gold's Gym's Jim Snow is moving forward aggressively with the new Gold's Gym Express format , Equinox with Blink while Planet Fitness continues its aggressive growth plans. As Michael Scudder recently pointed out during our recent interview, there is a lot of change coming to the health club industry and I think the bifurcation trend is a KEY driver behind that change.

Do you understand what the bifurcation trend is ? Watch the interview below with Scott Galloway, a thought leader in consumer trends and digital innovation (he's with L2 Think Tank), as he explains the implications of bifurcation and please tell me, Bryan O'Rourke, what do you think of the bifurcation trend in the health club industry ? How do you think it is and will affect the health club industry ?

About the author:

Bryan O’Rourke is a health club industry expert, technologist, financier, and shareholder and executive in several fitness companies. He consults with global brands, serves as a member of the GGFA Think Tank is Chair of the Medical Fitness Association’s Education Committee, is President of the Fitness Industry Technology Council and a partner in Fitmarc, Integerus, Fitsomo and the Flywheel Group. To learn more contact Bryan here today .

Michael Scudder Interview On The Health Club Industry [VIDEO Part 2]

In this second of a three part interview, I speak with 35 year health club veteran Michael Scott Scudder . In this part of our series we discuss technology, social media and other trends and the implications to the health club industry. This was filmed in Arlington, Texas in August of 2011. Tell me Bryan O'Rourke, what do you think about the technology trends Michael and I touch upon ?

BIO: Bryan O'Rourke is an expert on the Health Club Industry and CEO of Integerus, LLC and CSO of Fitmarc. He is a frequent speaker and published writer who advises leading global brands on strategy, technology, finance and marketing.