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THE McFIT GLOBAL GROUP Kate Cracknell speaks to the management team at the German fitness giant about the rapid growth of its new premium chain, the launch of a corporate fitness offering, and a brand new virtual fitness club
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ur vision as a Group is to have all the solutions you need for your fitness lifestyle,” says Pierre Geisensetter, spokesperson for the McFIT Global Group. “We’re pretty much there.” That’s a bold statement, but when you look at the breadth of the offering within the McFIT Global Group – the newly formed umbrella company – you have to acknowledge that the team does seem to have most of the bases covered. Its health club chains span both low-cost and premium offerings, there’s a nutrition brand, and customised at-home fitness is provided via its own apps (see The McFIT Family, p45). It even has its own sports model agency.
THE HOME OF FITNESS So what’s the story behind this fitness mega-brand – how has it reached the position it occupies today? “McFIT was founded in 1997 by Rainer Schaller, who had an ambition to make fitness training affordable for all,” explains Geisensetter. “The first McFIT club opened in Bavaria, Germany, with the strapline ‘The fitness hall for all’. In the 20 years since then, the chain has grown to 243 clubs in Europe. “But while the overall philosophy has stayed very much the same – making fitness affordable – the offering has evolved. In 2012, McFIT introduced a new concept: ‘Home of Fitness’. The pricing was still discount, but the offering now looked and felt premium. We added modular training systems in our gyms, and for the first time had group exercise in the shape of cyber training.
“By the end of this year, all our clubs will be at the ‘Home of Fitness’ standard, and that makes them very special. “And we believe there’s plenty of opportunity for further growth, even in Germany where we have the majority of our clubs: only 12 per cent of the population is exercising at the moment, but the market grew by 4.2 per cent last year. We can do a lot more here.” But that view is, he agrees, based on the strong position McFIT already has in the market. “If I were looking at the low-cost market now as a potential new entrant, I wouldn’t go there – not with McFIT in the mix. So I’m happy we’re the big player. It means we can concentrate on our own business. It’s good to have competition, but we don’t spend too much time looking at what they’re doing. We channel our energies into taking our own brands where we want them to go.” He continues: “Looking beyond Germany, we also see a lot of potential across Europe. The market is changing, with growing interest in fi tnessorientated lifestyles. We’ve just opened more clubs in Poland and Italy and have three more coming up in Spain.” And then there’s the matter of the new parent company, which tellingly has been named the McFIT Global Group. Are there corresponding plans to push beyond Europe and into other parts of the world, I ask? Geisensetter smiles, in a way that suggests there are details he’s not willing to share at this stage. “We’re thinking about that for sure. If you’re
If you’re the biggest player in Europe, it’s only natural to think about how you might take your operation overseas – Pierre Geisensetter 42
healthclubmanagement.co.uk April 2017 ©Cybertrek 2017
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