Stepz Fitness is fast-tracking its expansion, with six club openings scheduled within the next six months. The 24/7 gym chain has also appointed its first national franchise manager to drive further growth.
Franchisor Sam Waller said the chain will have more than 30 locations at the end of year, across New South Wales, South Australia and the ACT. Victoria is in the brand’s sights too.
Upcoming openings are in Canterbury and Narellan in Sydney, Tuggerah in New South Wales, and Rothwell and Aitkenvale in Queensland.
“Burnside, our first Stepz 2.0 club in Queensland, broke even in month two, so the format is proving itself,” Waller said.
“We have built this without private equity and that is not changing. The long-term target is 100 clubs by 2035, and the job now is making sure the support scales as fast as the network does.”
National franchise manager appointed
Naomi Kenny joins the business as national franchise manager, bringing eight years of experience in business performance and club management at Plus Fitness, as well as regional franchise management at Vision Personal Training.
“Naomi has come in and changed how we support franchisees almost straight away. The biggest shift is doing things in groups rather than one owner at a time.,” Waller said.
“New owners learn faster alongside each other, they build relationships across the network from day one, and it frees our HQ team up to spend more time in clubs. That kind of efficiency is what lets us open six clubs in six months without the support getting thinner,” he said.
“We’ve spent years refining the model and building the right team around our franchisees. With Naomi now on board as national franchise manager, I’m excited about where we’re heading,” Waller said.
For Kenny it has been a whirlwind couple of weeks, but a welcoming one.
“What stands out at Stepz is how willing the franchisees are to learn. When you put a room of new owners together and they are asking questions of each other as much as of us, you know the group format is working. That openness makes my job a lot easier and it is a big part of why I think the network can grow the way it is planning to,” Kenny said.
