When a new member joins a club he or she agrees to pay a negotiated monthly fee to help to cover overhead costs, employee salaries and the general cost of doing business. This is a great way to get paid up-front for your services and, hopefully, to generate enough money to afford some new equipment or general improvements to your facility. But what happens when you install new equipment or establish great new programs and you can’t get reciprocal spending from your members? Eventually, you reach a saturation point in your market where you struggle to find enough new members every year to offset the frequency of replacing machines, unforeseen problems and other expenditures. You need a way to make additional profit on the customers you already have. Sure, selling apparel, gym bags, water bottles and other products branded with your name returns a decent profit, not to mention advertising, but how much of these products can members really buy? How often do they look for new products? For most members it’s occasionally, for some it’s never. So how can juice bar owners make sure that every day, every member has the potential to spend additional money beyond their monthly dues? The answer is simple. Open a juice bar.
I realize that for most of you this is an obvious solution. The concept of a profitable juice bar is clear and many of you may have even dabbled with a juice bar yourselves. However, all juice bars are not created equal and in order to have a truly successful venture, you can’t just “sell some smoothies.” Creating a core group of members to buy products from the juice bar, and growing that number, requires more. Since opening the doors to my own business in 1999, I have been blessed with the opportunity to speak to countless club owners and I have learned a great deal from them and their members. I believe the most important lesson I’ve learned from my customers is that education is key. How can you expect members to come back day-afterday to buy healthy smoothies and whole food products if they don’t understand the necessity of putting healthy foods in their bodies?
I believe that total fitness is about both exercise and a healthy diet. You want to help people realize total fitness by giving them access to healthy foods and educating them on the foods they need to keep their bodies running strong. People want to be educated. Yes, there are many people in this country who have a negative attitude about healthy foods, but your members are not those people. Here are some ways to educate your members:
• Post nutritional facts
• Educate trainers on nutrition
• Encourage trainers to speak to members
• Promote the “Recovery” period following a workout.
In a club setting, you are lucky enough to have your customers’ undivided attention for what, in a retail setting, is really quite a lengthy period of time. Think about it…you have a captive audience! Take advantage of this. Your customers are there because they care about their bodies. All you have to do is sell – and you’re a step ahead in that department as well. Your members already know and trust your staff. Your personal trainers are your greatest asset when it comes to juice bar sales. If your staff is behind the products, then they can use their influence to entice members to try the products out as well. Remind personal trainers that by helping customers achieve their goals quickly through a healthy diet, their clients will be happier with themselves and with their trainers.
The bottom line is that any juice bar, in any establishment, can serve as a great profit center if high quality products are sold and all staff members are on-board with member education.
Remember, you don’t need to have $25,000 to $50,000 sitting around to invest in a juice bar. Depending on what resources you have, it is quite possible to purchase little more than a blender and product to begin selling smoothies and, believe me, with proper member education they will sell. So, next time you are experiencing steady or declining membership sales and you need a way to generate cash, consider investing a small amount of money in a juice bar. I believe it’s a win-win situation for you and your members.
Dan Young is the Owner of Performance Food Centers. He can be contacted at 866.632.1927, or by email at dyoung@performancefoodcenters.com, or visit www.performancefoodcenters.com.
