REGYMEN Fitness Primes for National Growth Through Franchising

Donnie Jarreau, a real estate developer with several fitness clubs in his portfolio, and Troy Archer, who also spent decades operating and developing multiple fitness clubs, have been business partners in Baton Rouge for 25 years. The duo created a concept called Spectrum Fitness, and grew it to 10 units before selling it in 2009. They wanted to stay in fitness, so to find the next big thing in fitness, they attended the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) Convention & Trade Show in Los Angeles in 2017.

Enter Edward “EK” Navan, who has worked for multiple national fitness brands. Navan was developing a plan to open a heart-monitored, multi-platform group fitness concept. He met Jarreau and Archer at IHRSA, and the rest, they say, is history. In March of 2017, the trio created REGYMEN Fitness**, a high-energy, boutique fitness studio with three platforms: Burn, focusing on cardio and weights; Box, focusing on power punching and core work; and Build, focusing on compound movements and explosive cardio. 

REGYMEN Fitness opened its first company-owned location in Pensacola in March 2018, followed by two more in Baton Rouge in March and June. In November, the brand’s first franchised location will open in Austin, and the first prototype location will open in Baton Rouge. All franchise locations will adhere to the prototype model, which is built for the three platforms, but provides franchise owners the flexibility to add on additional platforms, and create different programming within each platform. Two additional corporate locations are slated to open In Baton Rouge in early 2019.

“REGYMEN Fitness is unlike anything that exists in franchising right now. As fitness trends lean more toward boutique and niche offerings, now is the perfect time for REGYMEN Fitness to emerge as the challenger brand,” said REGYMEN Fitness President Tom O’Keefe, who has worked in franchising for the bulk of his career, including stints at Anytime Fitness, Smoothie King and Ruth’s Chris. “With the constantly evolving programming, even within the three platforms, there is so much variety within the model that is capturing the attention of consumers, and we’ve built the infrastructure to ready the brand for major franchise growth.”

Over the past 18 months, the team has been laser-focused on building out the corporate team to prepare for major growth through franchising, hiring O’Keefe as President, and Nick Binnings, formerly of Another Broken Egg Cafe, as Director of Franchise Development.

“We are already getting a lot of organic interest in the brand. REGYMEN Fitness is a natural fit for anyone in the fitness business or that is interested in fitness,” said O’Keefe. “We want to make sure we grow this brand with the right partners.”

Binning notes that REGYMEN Fitness is looking for qualified franchise partners with industry experience and the capital to do a minimum of three studios in Houston, Dallas, Nashville, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Atlanta, Orlando and Tampa, to start. The initial investment range for a REGYMEN Fitness is $425,000 to $870,500. The brand will offer 20 percent off the franchise fee for military veterans. The current franchise fee is $29,500, which will increase to $39,500 on April 1, 2019.

To ensure that franchise owners open their doors with a baseline of memberships already in place, REGYMEN Fitness requires franchisees to spend $30,000 on a pre-sale marketing campaign, which includes a $50 discount on monthly memberships.

“Our goal is for franchisees to get 350-400 memberships signed before their doors open, which creates a lot of revenue on day one,” said O’Keefe.