How Amped Fitness found success with its experience-design, low-price model.
When Amped Fitness opened its first club in 2016 in St. Petersburg, Florida, CEO Travis Labazzo wanted to ensure the look, feel, design and amenities were all part of the overall unique experience they deliver.
However, LaBazzo said their true secret sauce will always be in the energy generated by their culture.
“We don’t do vanilla, we don’t do cookie-cutter and we definitely don’t do anything basic,” said LaBazzo. “We took our time curating a custom and irreplicable aesthetic, combining a moody atmosphere, unique LED lighting and a passionate staff to create an experience second to none. But the culture is really what sets us miles ahead of the competition. No matter which location you step into, you’ll not only see but feel the difference in energy. It’s encouraging, inclusive and different.”
Amped Fitness started out at 10,000 square feet with limited amenities — a typical HVLP that was focused on pushing volume and personal training. However, LaBazzo said they strive to be different in everything they do. So, in order to compete and stay true to their values, Amped Fitness has upped the amenities and its goals for the future.
“Today, we offer what we feel is the most bang for any buck out there,” said LaBazzo. “We have tanning, HydroMassage, childcare, basketball and we have a new space we’re super excited to roll out this year called the Babe Cave.”
The Babe Cave is a curated room designed to give women their very own space where they can lift, sweat, have fun and feel empowered. LaBazzo said they know gyms can be intimidating for newcomers and veterans alike — not only because they tend to be male-dominated but the variety of equipment can feel overwhelming. To combat this, they’ve created a space with state-of-the-art equipment where women can move at their own pace without the fear of judgment.
The Babe Cave is just one way Amped Fitness has created a high-energy, positive environment that’s a second to none experience. So much so that LaBazzo said they’ve truly created a new model. “It’s not HVLP — it’s really experience-design, low-price, so we call it an EDLP,” he said.
In May 2023, Amped Fitness launched franchising opportunities to share this EDLP concept with the industry.
With an innovative marketing strategy and systematized processes, LaBazzo said Amped Fitness has simplified and guaranteed the growth potential for future Amped Fitness franchisees.
“We’re uniquely positioned in a category of our own. Everybody else is going up in prices and we aren’t,” said LaBazzo. “We’ve added just as much if not more amenities, and we’re going to stay there. I feel like the population is going to continue to want to trend that way. We have the recipe for success and the map for our new category. We have more to offer for less money out there in the market, and that’s going to continue to be a strong proposition for us and any franchisee that comes along on the other end of the spectrum.”
According to LaBazzo, there’s no longer a need to sacrifice unique, high-end amenities for a low price tag. Amped Fitness’ unique business model combines all the benefits of a boutique-style fitness studio while keeping membership costs undeniably affordable. The proof is in the numbers.
Amped Fitness has narrowed down an acquisition-driven marketing strategy unique to their brand that has successfully converted over 70,000 members in seven years. By combining cutting-edge creatives, personalized messaging and a deep understanding of customer needs, they’ve managed to maintain a year-over-year growth of 115%.
But Amped Fitness’ journey hasn’t come without challenges.
“There are challenges everywhere you look and the more you scale the more you’ll find,” said LaBazzo. “It never gets easier; you just get better. Our biggest challenge thus far has definitely been the global shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Having our freedom completely stripped away was a reality check to say the least. We all learned we should never take our freedom for granted. We felt completely helpless watching our employees’ stress build, wondering how they were going to pay bills, make rent, etc. — not to mention knowing we had members whose mental health was declining due to the lack of movement.”
LaBazzo said for the first time in their lives, they couldn’t out-think or work their way out of a terrible situation. But that didn’t hold them back. Instead, the Amped Fitness team played offense.
“We fought for our freedom, our right to work and were willing to accept the consequences,” said LaBazzo. “We made sure a paycheck was never missed before there were any guarantees. We stood together and protested in front of major media sources and got ridiculed in the process, but our morale remained high.”
The team kept their marketing efforts full throttle, delayed a few construction projects and continued working on deals behind the scenes. Overall, LaBazzo knew they would come out of the pandemic even stronger than before, and they did.
Now the company has its eyes to the future and one goal: to hit a thousand locations in 10 years.
“This isn’t something we go into to be the status quo — we want to be different in every way,” said LaBazzo. “There’s no better brand and no better time. We’re looking forward to working with our new future franchise partners to get even better. We’re always stronger together.”
