Why fitness training is becoming the new brushing of teeth - An interview with 'Just Fit' founder Frank Böhme
(c) Just Fit
Bar ohne Namen
Entschlossen verweigert sich Savage, der Bar einen Namen zu geben. Stattdessen sind drei klassische Design-Symbole das Logo der Trinkstätte in Dalston: ein gelbes Quadrat, ein rotes Viereck, ein blauer Kreis. Am meisten wurmt den sympathischen Franzosen dabei, dass es kein Gelbes-Dreieck-Emoji gibt. Das erschwert auf komische Weise die Kommunikation. Der Instagram Account lautet: a_bar_with_shapes-for_a_name und anderenorts tauchen die Begriffe ‘Savage Bar’ oder eben ‚Bauhaus Bar‘ auf.
Für den BCB bringt Savage nun sein Barkonzept mit und mixt für uns mit Unterstützung von Russian Standard Vodka an der perfekten Bar dazu.
No music, no showers, hardly any trainers - at first glance, the new 'Next Door' concept from 'Just Fit' does without many of the selling points of successful fitness studios. But why the new concept is so successful and has already reached break-even after only three months, founder and idea giver Frank Böhme tells us in an interview.
FIBO: Please describe 'Next Door by Just Fit' for us. How did your concept come about and what makes it so special?
Böhme: Our concept was developed after, with and through Corona. We are currently seeing a change in training, in the behaviour of the athletes. People of all kinds come to train more often, well over twice a week, and they want to do it in an urban environment, close to where they live. So the accessibility of the gym is becoming all the more important. In addition, people now know how to train and come to the gym to do their own training. They no longer need or want a trainer by their side. So our Next Door Studios are almost staffless. We also don't have music or showers. 70 percent of the studio visitors come with their headphones on anyway, the other 30 percent celebrate us precisely because there is no music. They come directly to us, without travelling by car or public transport and leave again, without the shower afterwards. Just like on holiday, in a hotel and so fitness training becomes like brushing your teeth. Afterwards, you start your day or even build it in briefly in between. People want it to be as uncomplicated as possible.
And that's how our fourth concept after Premium, Classic and Discount came into being: For Next Door, we are building clubs in the hotspots, in people's residential areas, with around 300 square metres and a standard that has a premium character. The centrepiece is an equipment park, very important in open mode with a hub that is self-explanatory. We have deliberately used a large dumbbell area up to 45 kilos and the best cardio equipment with all the bells and whistles such as e-mail programmes and connectivity to EGYM. In addition, there is a personal trainer corner with TRX and similar set-ups. The equipment from Bruns, a very well-known company in the market, has a very chic, woody and natural design. The aim is for everyone to come in and say: "Oh, I feel good here! We wanted to have something unparalleled in terms of design, just like the devices themselves.
Our contracts are also uncomplicated. We offer memberships from two hours, one week, one month, one year, and all at extremely low prices.
FIBO: Studio members can already train at Next Door in Cologne Lindenthal and Cologne Klettenberg. How are the studios being received?
Böhme: We are meeting the spirit of the times. Clients come to me and say: Frank, I'm glad that a trainer isn't standing next to me every five minutes. I almost faint. Many, many, I would say well over 80 per cent come in alone, do their training and leave again. In our normal clubs, people come in twos, threes, fours, meet friends. We also win over a lot of people who were not members of studios before. These include professionals such as doctors, lawyers and entrepreneurs. In our club, they wear headphones, walk in and out without being besieged by staff or clients.
It is these differences that also have a positive effect on fluctuation. Because, after Corona, this is a concern for the whole industry. We have already responded with more flexible memberships, but now it is also about retaining members. When we started the first clubs 30 years ago, nobody thought of looking for a second club. After all, the club was something like the village pub around the corner. Today we notice in young people that they are much more mobile, much more flexible, whether they are studying or have different livelihoods or whether it's acquaintances and friends, they simply want more options. With Next Door they get exactly that. On the one hand, we offer them their club as a community, where they can do their courses, meet acquaintances and chat at the bar. On top of that, with Next Door we offer you the club as your home base, which you can reach comfortably with slippers. We bring so much added value without cannibalising ourselves. To illustrate: we have not received one cancellation of our members from all our studios since the opening of the Next Door Clubs. But we now have over 80 members in these two clubs who have upgraded for little money because they want to use both club systems. Studio owners thus have the opportunity to delineate their market.
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FIBO: For whom is the Next Door concept as well interesting?
Böhme: In addition to our customers, the studio visitors, we primarily address three target groups with Next Door on a business level: Studio operators, physiotherapists and investors. Especially the latter are looking for products where they have as little to do with staff as possible. Since we offer our concept almost without personnel, this is quite exciting for investors. In addition, we take the main work, the membership administration, off their hands. We also take over the planning and consulting, the location analyses, all that as 'Just Fit', and at very, very fair conditions. Exactly these conditions and the assumption of the commercial and strategic competencies also play into the hands of the other target group - the physiotherapists. We provide them with a functioning system, which is not just a circle in the next room, but a well thought-out, completely turnkey system. Perfect for transferring patients to the self-pay sector. Physiotherapists can thus run their practice with a docked Next Door component, for which we do the work. Regardless of the target group, we directly bring aggregators and thus business from the very first hour for the investors, for the physios and also for the studio operators who want to delimit the market.
FIBO: What happens now?
Böhme: In the next 18 to 24 months, we want to open ten Next Door Studios in Cologne city centre alone. We will cover the Cologne, Bonn and Düsseldorf region with 'Just Fit'. But we don't want to stop at the metropolises. For all other regions, for the periphery, we are now offering completely new franchise models. The idea of selling our concept through this model and making it accessible to even more people came from my son, Pascal Böhme. We offer our partners an all-round carefree package. We not only take care of the membership administration, but also the financing in advance.
We are currently working on a smart solution that also addresses smaller cities. We are not skimping on quality, but we are taking the size of the equipment down a notch. My goal is to network all clubs with each other. With the right system, we can create a comprehensive starting point where we don't lose members because they train somewhere else.
Kickoff event exudes franchise air
Club operators, investors and physiotherapists are invited to the headquarters of 'Just Fit' on 7 June at 6 pm. Founder and idea generator Frank Böhme will explain the 'Next Door' concept and their franchise model first-hand to interested parties and take them to the showcase studio in Lindenthal by shuttle bus. Registrations are possible via www.justfit-clubs.de/nextdoor/franchise or for those who decide at short notice via +49 171 7541951.
We thank Frank Böhme for this interview!
