Exam

Imagine you’re a police officer who works the evening shift. You go to work at 3.30
p.m. and are off at midnight. You’ve always enjoyed working out late in the day but
don’t have room for a home gym in your apartment. You’ve checked out the Gold’s
Gym and the Bally’s Fitness Centre near where you live. They both close at 11.00
p.m. so going to a fitness centre isn’t an option – until now! Snap Fitness is a rapidly
growth franchise organisation a features gyms that are open 24 hours a day, seven
days a week. The state-of-the-art fitness concept began franchising in 2004 and
already has over 1,500 franchise locations in the United States, Canada and India.

Beginnings

Snap Fitness was founded by Peter Taunton. For most of his career, Taunton ran big-
box fitness centres that offered all the amenities. By the time he opened his fifth
centre, he was burned out. He recalls seeing his kids twice a day – when they woke up
in the morning and when they went to bed at night. He left the fitness industry, but a
year later a group of former employees approached him about opening a new
business. He was tired of 75-hour workweeks and didn’t want to make a large
investment so he took a piece of paper and a pen and listed all the amenities that his
former gyms had on the left-hand side of the paper and a smaller number of “must
haves” on the right side. Taunton had learned long ago that rock-climbing walls,
racquetball courts and swimming pools were nice to have but most people never used
them. The “must haves” became the blueprint for Snap Fitness.




Business Concept

Snap Fitness’s centres are small gyms that are located near residential areas. They
offer weights, treadmills and exercise machines. The centres are staffed during the
day and are available to members at night by swiping a key card at the main door. The
equipment is state-of-the art, the centres are very clean, and they are secure. At night,
security cameras monitor activities and...