Crunch Fitness

Crunch Fitness is a chain of over 300 franchised fitness clubs located in the United States, Canada and Australia.

Crunch Fitness
Franchise
IndustryHealth club
Founded1989
FounderDoug Levine
Headquarters
New York City 
,
United States of America 
Websitewww.crunch.com/ 

History

Crunch was founded in 1989 as a fitness studio by Doug Levine, a former stockbroker.[1][2] The clubs became popular by appealing to young upscale members and featuring heavy promotions and marketing with some humorous and sexual connotations. They were initially profitable in large part due to successful promotion of logo merchandise sales within the clubs.[3]

Ownership

Bally Total Fitness bought Crunch in 2001 for $90 million in cash and stock.[4] Initially intending to double the size to 40 gyms, Bally found the business unprofitable and was unable to get out of long-term leases in poorly performing locations. In 2005 Bally's sold Crunch to Angelo, Gordon & Co., a private equity firm, for $45 million.

On July 1st, 2019, it was announced that private-equity firm TPG is acquiring Crunch Fitness through its growth-equity unit.[5]

Crunch is led by CEO Jim Rowley. Keith Worts is CEO of the company's Signature business and Ben Midgley is CEO of its Franchise business.[6][7][8]

Group Fitness Classes

Initially, Crunch featured some unusual classes such as pole dancing, bicycle-based yoga, coed wrestling, an "Abs, Thighs and Gossip" class run by a drag queen, and Capoeira.[2] Although the classes were later standardized across various locations, some popular offbeat classes remain, such karaoke bicycling, [1] POUND[9], Antigravity Yoga[10], and many more.

Crunch's wide array of dynamic group fitness classes include The Ride – the gym's proprietary stationary bike workouts – Cardio Tai Box, Yoga Body Sculpt, Fat Burning Pilates, Jillian Michaels Bodyshred[11] and Zumba. Members interested in a particularly unique workout experience can also take classes based around things like pole dancing, TRX suspension ropes, 4D PRO Bungee Sling Trainer or CirqFIT aerial dancing. Many Crunch classes have developed a loyal following among members due to knowledgeable instructors' dedication to form and their commitment to creating a community within classes.[12]

Memberships

The company has two categories of gyms: Signature and Franchise. Crunch Signature locations are clubs with monthly memberships that typically range from $85 – $130, mainly located in major metropolitan areas, which offer a wider array of services, classes and amenities than a standard Crunch Fitness location[13]. As of 2019, 30 of Crunch’s locations were Signature gyms.


References
  1. Wendy A. Lee (2009-07-29). "The Trapeze, the Catwalk, the Gym". New York Times.
  2. Edward Lewine (1997-11-30). "The Fitness Gurus". New York Times.
  3. Constance C. R. White (1996-06-16). "Crunch Inc.: Marketing a Gym, as Well as a Way of Life". New York Times.
  4. "Bally Plans to Purchase Crunch for $90 million". New York Times. 2001-10-16.
  5. Kang, Jaewon. "TPG to Buy Gym Chain Crunch Fitness". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-07-01.
  6. "Jim Rowley, Crunch Fitness Intl Inc: Profile and Biography". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  7. Fitness, Crunch. "Crunch Fitness Appoints Keith Worts To Chief Executive Officer". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  8. "Tips From The Top: One On One With Ben Midgley, CEO of Crunch Franchise - Thrive Global". thriveglobal.com. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  9. "Drum Your Way Fit With Pound At Crunch". It's Amanda Lauren. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  10. "AntiGravity Yoga a fun approach to fitness". Reuters. 2011-03-28. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  11. "About | Jillian Michaels BODYSHRED". www.jillianmichaelsbodyshred.com. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  12. Kurutz, Steven (2018-06-18). "Carl Hall Is the King of Spin". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  13. "No Judgments | Crunch Fitness". www.crunch.com. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
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