Basic-Fit: Increasing Returns to Scale - [Business Breakdowns, EP. 47]

This is Matt Reustle, and today we’re breaking down Europe’s leading low-cost gym operator, Basic-Fit. Netherlands based Basic-Fit is a story of rapid expansion. Today, they operate over a 1000 clubs across 5 countries, and have 2 million combined members in their system. To break down the business, I’m joined by Jonathan Abenaim from Arlen House Capital, who is an investor in Basic-Fit. We cover a history of fitness clubs dating back to the late 70’s and early 80’s, how low-cost gym models have emerged as winners and created a large addressable market, and we talk about how Basic-Fit is putting its own spin on a successful playbook from the US. Please enjoy this breakdown of Basic-Fit. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss Show Notes [00:02:47] - [First question] - What it’s like to walk into a Basic-Fit gym [00:03:50] - Their footprint today in terms of geography, members and locations [00:04:41] - The history of gyms in the US and differences between them and European ones [00:08:33] - Why US gym models lack influence and penetration in Europe [00:10:58] - The key insight that led to founding Basic-Fit [00:13:40] - Economics of building and operating a gym in general and for Basic-Fit [00:16:47] - Typical churn for more established locations and their member demographic [00:20:33] - When Basic-Fit breaks even on a membership and how they battle churn [00:23:28] - Their cancellation policy and why they don’t leave for typical reasons [00:25:10] - Basic-Fit’s fortressing strategy and clustering philosophy [00:28:51] - Whether or not there’s data to support members using multiple gyms [00:33:11] - The competitive landscape and whether other gyms adopt Basic-Fit’s strategy [00:35:21] - What drives country localizations for a particular gym chain [00:38:22] - Basic-Fit’s digital offering and at-home disruption from US brands [00:42:31] - How they navigated the pandemic and if there’s any lasting changes [00:44:31] - The biggest threats to Basic-Fit over the next five years [00:46:23] - Major takeaways from studying Basic-Fit’s story