Tell us about your background
In my early career, health and fitness had been a “side gig”. I come from a family business in the food industry and was always heavily involved in the nutrition side of wellness. You could class me as a fitness “heavy user”; I’ve always been passionate about using functional fitness to get performance gains in sport.
I took the plunge professionally into boutique fitness in 2014 after completing an MBA at London Business School and being exposed to the trends in the market in London, New York and Dubai. I took an indoor cycling instructor certification in 2015 and haven’t looked back since.
You’ve become the master franchisor for CycleBar in the UK. Why CycleBar?
I was in the process of designing an indoor cycling concept for the UK and came across CycleBar as part of my global diligence. At that stage, they’d opened 30 studios (now 130). I loved the concept and immediately saw that the values of the business were a great fit with my own. I could see the way the company was going to develop and decided a deal with CycleBar was a great opportunity to bring the world’s leading indoor cycling studio brand to the UK.
What is CycleBar’s USP?
It’s all about the experience, from the inclusive, premium service for all ages and fitness levels, to the fun of riding classes led by trained CycleStar instructors in an immersive CycleTheatre with professionally engineered audio, video and lighting technology, custom CycleBeats playlists and CycleStats that track cycling performance and growth. You can opt out if stats aren’t your thing.
I love that CycleBar encourages a community while not taking itself too seriously. We want our riders to have a great time when they exercise with us, while at the same time, they’re making positive choices for their fitness.
How did you come to agree the deal with Xponential Fitness [the company behind CycleBar]?
Simply, we just clicked. I travelled over to the company’s new HQ in southern California in February to meet the team at Xponential Fitness.
I think Anthony Geisler, John Kersh and Ryan Junk have put together a superb team at both Xponential Fitness and CycleBar.
We decided to use CycleBar as a launch platform to open opportunities for the wider Xponential Fitness portfolio [of gym franchises] in the UK.
Tell us about the first club
We’re really excited about the first UK studio. It’s in Embassy Gardens in Nine Elms, London. Nine Elms is one of the largest urban regeneration projects in Europe. It’s a superb location near the new US Embassy and Battersea power station, which Apple plans to use for its new UK HQ. We aim to launch late summer.
What are your plans for the UK franchise?
Growth! The Xponential Fitness business models are designed to work outside the rarefied markets of Manhattan, LA and central London. We know there is demand for boutique fitness outside these areas. Xponential’s Club Pilates and CycleBar have proven this in the US. We aim to do the same across the UK.
