The three staples of a well-rounded fitness regimen are cardio, strength and flexibility. And while typical boutique fitness studios tend to focus solely on one format, SPENGA is giving members a taste of all three.
SPENGA — spin, strength and yoga — has emerged as one of the nation’s newest fitness concepts, garnering attention and rapidly growing since franchising in November 2015. The boutique studio concept combines all three essential elements of fitness to create a full-body workout in one 60-minute session.
“We found that there was a void in the market,” said Heather Ruff, the co-founder and vice president of operations for SPENGA. “We drive 20 minutes to go to the best cycling studio, then we go to a different place for yoga and then we have a gym membership to get in the other workouts. We thought that all of these boutiques are popping up and everyone likes that community aspect. We thought we could have that same social, community-based studio, but have to nail the workout, so we combined all three — cardio, strength and flexibility — into one workout.”
A typical SPENGA workout starts with 20 minutes of cycling for the cardio portion, 20 minutes of high intensity strength training and finally, yoga. “Our biggest philosophy is the fact that there is not one thing that will get you fit,” said Amy King, the vice president of fitness and co-founder of SPENGA. “You always need cardio, you always need strength and you always need the flexibility component. We felt combining all three into one workout is super efficient.”
SPENGA currently has one location operating in Mokena, Illinois, but in order to fill this void in the industry, one studio was not enough. The brand began franchising last fall and according to Ruff, this was the plan all along. “We knew we wanted to franchise and systematize this from the very beginning,” explained Ruff. “We opened the first corporate owned studio with the intention of franchising, so we were putting all the systems in place with the first location. We got to work out all the kinks so that we have a really good operations plan, and it was easy to roll into the franchising side within a few months of opening that first location.”
So far, SPENGA already has two separate multi-unit franchise agreements signed for the development of 10 units throughout the western Chicago suburbs, and five units throughout North Carolina.
“I think what appeals to the franchisee is that you are not limited to a very thin strata of demographics,” said Scott Nichols, the senior vice president of franchise development. “If you look at a cross section of our classes during the course of the day, you will see teenagers, you will see millennials and moms, but the thing that surprised me is the number of older adults that we have. People in their 50s, 60s and even 70-year-olds in classes. The camaraderie generationally that you see during the classes is really great.”
The company is on target to have 50 stores signed in 2016 and 130 to 150 signed deals in three years, with 90 of those open. Ruff and King hope to bring the concept nationwide. Currently they are targeting major metro markets in the Midwest as well as Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Miami, Denver, Philadelphia, Baltimore and the New York Metro area.
For more information about the SPENGA franchise opportunity, visit www.SPENGA.com/franchise.
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Emily Harbourne is the former assistant editor of Club Solutions Magazine.
