The owners of Club One in Pittsburgh, Pa. have embarked on a new fitness venture. Jim Rosenbloom and Chris Labishak are now the local area developers for Orangetheory Fitness, the heart-rate based, HIIT franchise that has seen substantial growth since its founding in 2010.
Rosenbloom founded Club One in 1979, which boasts three locations in Pittsburgh. Labishak joined Club One as co-owner in 1990. According to Labishak, the two partners had formed a successful business relationship, and were looking for the next step. Establishing Orangetheory in Pittsburgh proved to be their next move.
“We looked at a lot of different options, including opening another Club One location,” said Labishak. “Then we came across Orangetheory Fitness, and quite frankly, the workouts are the kind of training I do myself. As we looked into it more, we were really impressed.”
Labishak and Rosenbloom paid a visit to the founders of Orangetheory Fitness in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and signed on to develop the franchise in Pittsburgh. In addition to opening close to eight of their own Orangetheory Fitness locations, the duo will work with franchisees to open up additional locations. According to Labishak, the plan is for 10 to 15 Orangetheory locations to eventually land in Pittsburgh. “There’s a lot of interest in Orangetheory,” he said.
Currently, Labishak and Rosenbloom are scouting locations in the East End, South Hills and North Hills areas of Pittsburgh for the first Orangetheory Fitness location. Although the duo has Club One locations in the East End and in South Hills, Labishak doesn’t believe the Orangetheory locations will provide for a conflict of interest in terms of competition. “What we offer in our full-service facilities and express facility is totally different than the Orangetheory model,” said Labishak. “We felt [Orangetheory] was different enough and will hit a different market.”
According to Labishak, it helped that both he and Rosenbloom are fans of HIIT and heart-rate based training. As a result, the duo has fully bought into the Orangetheory Fitness concept. “It seemed like a perfect match between a great product and philosophy,” said Labishak.
The duo’s first Orangetheory location is expected to open within the next six to seven months, though they don’t have an exact location just yet. “I’m very excited,” said Rosenbloom. “I love the concept — it’s something we believe in.”
Photos courtesy of Club One
Story by Rachel Zabonick
