Basic Fit looks at McDonald’s and Starbucks to expand its franchise model in Spain
The Dutch chain of gyms Basic Fit has proposed to continue expanding its network of gyms in Spain at the rate of a class of spinning. Its latest reports and meetings with analysts reveal its desire to grow in this market, where it reached a network of 209 operational facilities at the end of the last fiscal year after hitting the table in the sector: the acquisition of all the centers of RSC Group, parent company of McFit, in the country. In its last annual report, the company did not close the door to new purchases after absorbing its rival’s network.
“The acquisition of RSG Spain does not rule out new transactions in the near future, as we will remain open to merger and acquisition opportunities” he mentioned before quantifying between 450 and 700 potential centers that he could reach in this market. The figure would mean more than doubling or tripling his current network, a bet that, from the Netherlands, they value promoting with a franchise model in the pure style of McDonald’s or Starbucks.
“Expand the franchise model? Let’s work on it and think about how we can do it. We believe that it is definitely an option because there are still many clubs to open in France and Spain (…) if we analyze the French market we believe that we can open another 500 clubs, and in the Spanish market, even more. So we can still open hundreds of clubs in France and Spain. And, if we are going to build our own clubs, it will, of course, take a long time,” explained the group’s CEO.
During a conference with investors to explain the acquisition of Clever Fit, leading operator in Germany, Austria and SwitzerlandRené Moos added that “there are different options. If you look at McDonald’s or Starbucks, they also have their own and franchised locations, and they can work very well together. It is simply about having a good geographical distribution between a town or a city, but it is something that is not for today.”
With this operation, closed for 160 million euros with 15 more linked to objectives, the gym group low cost has dealt another blow of authority in the market after adding to its portfolio, in addition to 39 of its own clubs, the largest franchise chain in Europe with 454 establishments, which will lead to the arrival of orange backpacks in six new markets (and there are already a dozen): Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Romania, Croatia and Czech Republic.
“Clever Fit is known in Germany because it has been there for 20 years, but they have never had great success because they do not have the marketing budget that we have invested. While franchisees focus on local advertising, we focus on national advertising. When we went to Spain we did television and radio campaigns and installed billboards throughout the country. Clever Fit, to my knowledge, has not. So by doing that, if we can do it in the future, I think the brand recognition and membership base will increase a lot,” Moos said of his latest purchase.
The expansion of this model to markets in which the group detects a wider margin for growth, such as France or Spain, is one of the issues that investors have the most influence on. And the truth is that its CEO, also a co-founder, seems to view this strategy favorably. “We are considering it because you can grow faster without spending your own money. We will take our time to make the decision, but we see that in countries where we still have a lot of growth ahead of us, it will take us a long time to do it ourselves. We believe that the penetration of fitness in France, Spain and Germany it can increase considerably. But, to achieve this, it is necessary to open clubs. And, in the current situation of our balance sheet, It does not seem logical to us to open 200 or 300 clubs a year. But if we do it in combination with our own and franchised clubs, we can accelerate growth and increase fitness penetration in all of our growing countries,” he acknowledged.
It will reveal its strategy next April
The decision, as the Dutch businessman and former tennis player announced to investors, will be announced next April 21, when the group will celebrate its Capital Markets Day. It will be then when the market will know the real scope of its intentions in markets that carry the “strategic” label such as Spain, where it already has half a million members (538,338 registered at the end of 2024). Asked about the performance of the already integrated RSG centers, Moos celebrated having doubled the ebitda – gross operating result – of the 42 acquired clubs and gave it as an example to squeeze the profitability of the owned facilities that he has added with the Clever Fit operation.
