Sharon Thandi: Enjoying The Benefits of Franchising With an Established Brand

Don’t just own a gym.
Own the gym that sets the standard.

Top owners reach c.£240K profit per club

Single or multi-club | Subscription income | Minimal staffing

Don’t chase attention. Earn it. This is a platform for people who care about doing things properly. Who take pride in standing out. Who get that quality, reputation and obsessive detail are the ways to win.

You bring the mindset. We’ll give you the playbook to explore your limits.

You’re not selling memberships, you’re selling energy, confidence, longevity and a healthier future. Younger generations are drinking less, prioritising wellbeing and investing in themselves: the fitness lifestyle is only strengthening.

We don’t punish your success

Most fitness franchises charge monthly royalties as a percentage of your turnover – the more successful you are, the more you pay them.

And who wants to do that?

Anytime Fitness franchisees pay a fixed fee, not a slice of revenue. So as your membership and turnover grow, your royalties don’t. Which impacts:

How much profit you retain
How quickly you can reinvest
How attractive your business looks to future buyers

I found that from day one the success of our gym, our business and a return on our investment were their top priorities which gave me a lot of trust to partner with them.”

Guy Warner, Anytime Fitness Bishops Cleeve

Who cares that we’re the biggest fitness franchise in the UK and in the world?

Plenty of people, and they’ll have a big influence on your business.

Consumers already trust the brand
Landlords give you extra credibility
Banks understand the model

With 5,600+ clubs on all 7 continents (yes, even Antarctica), this is a brand with genuine global reach. The Anytime logo does more than just sit on the wall in your club(s). It opens doors.

What separates the best franchisees from the rest is how hard they push the opportunities inside them.

With existing knowledge and experience of franchising, I knew that being part of an existing, established brand would help me enjoy a quicker return on investment.

Sharon Thandi, Anytime Fitness Swadlincote

An asset-backed business

Clubs are full-scale gyms with broad member appeal, dominating the premium mid- market with 24/7 access and state of the art high-spec equipment. This creates:

Higher membership potential
A more substantial underlying business
Stronger long-term resale value

Every club undergoes a structured five-year refresh programme, ensuring the brand stays modern, competitive and ahead of the market – protecting both your revenue and asset value.

Two pathways to ownership of your future

Nail your first club, learn the model inside out, choose your route.

1. Local Domination

Years 1–2

Open your first club in a town or local community you know. Be hands-on and visible. Build a stable member base and strong cashflow.

Years 3–5

Decide whether to consolidate at one club or add a second location. Potentially step back slightly from the day-to-day. Secure your future.

2. Scale an Empire

We’ve rolled it into three sites already and are still on track to do five in five years which I think you’d struggle to do in many other franchises.

Connor Thorne, Multi-unit Franchisee

Years 1–2

Launch your first club, learn the model deeply, optimise performance. Actively plan for scale once your first club is financially self-sufficient.

Years 2–5

Open one club every year or so and grow to three, four, five clubs. Introduce an area manager while you focus on performance, people and spotting the next opportunity.

Beyond

Options to keep expanding, consolidate or plan your exit strategy.

Top portfolio owners run 10 or more clubs and work 15–20 hours per week – focusing on leadership, performance and growth rather than day-to-day operations.

Led by people who’ve done this before

The team leading Anytime Fitness UK aren’t working this out as they go.

They’ve already taken the brand through its growth cycle elsewhere, from early opportunity, through network expansion, into a more mature, valuable market. They:

Grew the footprint to 600+ clubs
Nurtured franchisees from first site to multi-site portfolios
Prioritised club quality and brand consistency, not just unit count
Increased club resale value from 2.5x EBITDA to 5x+

What that means for you…

The playbook has already been proven, at scale
The focus is obsessively on opening strong, profitable clubs
They know what “great” looks like: how top franchisees operate, support needed, what to avoid
Your business sits in a network that understands the road ahead – and how to stay in the lead

The Owner’s Role

Set the tone

Understand your club intimately: the mood, the service, the standards. You’ll know how it feels to walk in as a member, and ensure the club reflects your expectations.

Create a club people want to be in

Owners who thrive care about their members’ journeys and build teams that do the same. That’s what drives retention. That’s what builds reputation.

Lead a small team

When the average club has two full-time equivalents, HR or staff costs won’t keep you up at night. Hire well, set expectations, protect standards.

Drive member experience & retention

Our team will help you get plenty of sign-ups. You and your team keep them coming back with the atmosphere and experience you create.

Step back as you scale

As your portfolio grows, your role becomes increasingly strategic. Many multi-site owners ultimately work part-time hours while overseeing substantial businesses.

Supporting your success

Never opened or run a gym before? Don’t worry – we’ve launched thousands.

Your dedicated Presales Manager helps you maximise pre-launch buzz. Their focus is simple:

Build awareness early
Drive strong founding membership numbers
Ensure you open your doors with real momentum, not a standing start Presale is treated as mission-critical because it sets the tone for what’s ahead.

Ongoing

You’ll then dovetail with an experienced Franchise Performance Coach, each of which

has run health clubs at a senior level and understands the realities. They’ll:

Coach on operational performance and profitability
Guide on member retention and secondary revenue streams
Support with staffing, standards and local execution
Challenge and keep you accountable as your business grows

The aim is to apply lessons learned from thousands of clubs worldwide to help you build a stronger, more profitable business… and, if you’re scaling, to support the transition from single-site owner to multi-site operator over time.

Having a franchisor that’s been there and done it and is only ever a phone call away makes the process easy to follow. Most importantly, they want the best for both you and the brand and there’s something really inspiring about that.

Raj Hasib, Multi-site Franchisee

Investment & returns

Think you’ve got what it takes to hit an eight-figure EBITDA?

You’ll need £185K capital plus funding to open your first club – we can introduce you to our lender partners. The upside can be substantial:

Operational breakeven can (and often does) happen in 2-3 months
Top performers in the UK reach c.£240K profit pa per club
Everyone’s chasing the main man in Australia: $20m EBITDA (yes, that’s $20m)

We don’t offer these figures as guarantees. But we do offer them as proven within the network and an insight into what the best franchisees are achieving.

Are you good enough to top them?

A good fit?

Whether you want to own an outstanding club or build a portfolio of them, the journey starts the same way: run the first one properly.

Get in touch to begin exploring how our vision could help you exceed your goals:

Anytime Fitness News

Sharon Thandi: Enjoying The Benefits of Franchising With an Established Brand

June 23, 2023

Having previously been a franchisee with Dominos, Sharon wanted to pursue her passion of health and wellbeing by starting her own independent food brand. With the launch of this brand being a long-term project, as well as unfortunately coinciding with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sharon turned back to franchising to run a second business within the health and wellbeing space.

“If you’re starting your own business, you need to be prepared for it to take some time to become established and gain brand awareness,” said Sharon. “With existing knowledge and experience of franchising, I knew that being part of an existing, established brand would help me enjoy a quicker return on investment.”

Deciding on Anytime Fitness

Having explored several sectors within franchising, Sharon quickly set her sights on the fitness sector and in particular, Anytime Fitness.
“I wanted to invest in something that’s a growing market and fitness definitely ticked the box,” added Sharon. “Once I’d decided on the industry, Anytime Fitness stood out to me due to its global presence and its existing brand awareness. Investing in a franchise is a big decision and I’m sure like everyone else, I did some thorough research and what’s instantly noticeable is that Anytime Fitness is a brand on the rise and demonstrates continued growth.”

Location, location, location

Having made the decision to become an Anytime Fitness franchisee, Sharon’s focus immediately turned to finding a location for her first gym. She was able to leverage the expertise and contacts from Anytime Fitness’ New Openings Team as she searched for the perfect location within a thriving property market.
“The team at Anytime Fitness has so many great contacts and a level of knowledge which can help you get to the right place. Working with a franchisor is a two-way street and to take advantage of that knowledge, you must be proactive and have as much involvement as you can. We had to be agile with the locations and properties we were looking at and we eventually found the perfect site for our first location.”

Independent gym acquisition

While most new Anytime Fitness gyms open from scratch, Sharon was given the opportunity to acquire an existing gym in the Derbyshire town of Swadlincote. Previously an independent, members-only gym called Evisa Fitness, the team were able to source the opportunity to acquire the business and subsequently, open it as an Anytime Fitness.

This approach to opening a new gym came with significant benefits for Sharon, including significantly reduced construction time, no requirement for change of use on the property and a small, existing membership base. However, while the property already had the shell and layout of a gym, Sharon realised the importance of investing in the facility to bring it in line with the quality that consumers expect from Anytime Fitness.

“The first thing we decided to do was open up the space as the previous layout meant the group exercise studio took up far too much floor space,” added Sharon. “By changing the shape and location of the studio, we were able to maximise the space we had available. This also meant we were able to install additional equipment and I took the decision to replace all the previous equipment from one of Anytime Fitness’ suppliers. It was a really important thing to do and the member feedback has been great, members of the previous gym still comment today on how much bigger and open the gym feels.”

The rewards of the fitness industry and looking to the future

Having opened at the beginning of 2023, Sharon and her team at Anytime Fitness Swadlincote has eclipsed the membership numbers of the previous gym by nearly 800%. Sharon highlights the importance of a strong presale in laying the foundations for a successful Anytime Fitness gym.

“The most important advice I can give is to ensure you have the right team on board and that you build up your prospects in advance of opening. Opening a gym is a very sales-orientated operation so you need a good balance of strong salespeople and personable individuals with expertise and qualifications in fitness. One of my main learnings has been just how important your team is; we had some initial challenges with recruitment but once you find the right team, you’ll be in a great place to grow your business.”

Despite still being in the early stages of her Anytime Fitness journey, Sharon speaks highly of how rewarding its been and has already set her sights on growing her portfolio.

“It’s a really rewarding business to be involved with as you’re seeing your members’ journeys first-hand and the individual growth they’re enjoying from sticking to a plan. As soon as I decided on opening a gym, I wanted to make sure it was community focussed and be a place where anyone and everyone feels comfortable. We’re already receiving great feedback with people saying exactly this and it’s so rewarding for me that people really like the gym, the team and the ethos we have here.

“I want to be a multi-site operator at Anytime Fitness and I’m continually looking at the routes available for me to do that. Whether that’s another acquisition, a rebrand or an organic opening, there’s plenty of opportunities out there.”