SNAP INTO LIFE
Fitness and franchising go hand-inhand for this supercharged, multitasking franchisee/chief executive.
Cover story: Andy Peat’s supercharged approach to business.
Andy Peat knows a thing or two about franchising. He knows a fair bit about fitness as well. In his 10 years with the Snap Fitness brand, which is just now celebrating its first decade in Australia and New Zealand, Andy has gone from club manager to franchisee to CEO and more.
So how does this 31-year-old fitness-loving, go-getting Kiwi reflect on his first action-packed decade in business? Here is his story.
It all started back in his very early 20s when the company Andy was working with brought to Australia and New Zealand the US-based Snap Fitness brand. As luck would have it, Andy was asked to take on the first New Zealand gym at Papanui as club manager, and it opened just three months after the launch club started trading in Australia.
He was just 21. But it wasn’t long before he discovered the potential of investing in the business. And it was all thanks to an accountant’s mistake. A financial statement was sent to him in error and he quickly realised he could make very good money as a franchisee. He didn’t need any further persuading.
“My flatmate had some family money and seven months later we opened our own franchise in Christchurch.”
SUPERCHARGED SUCCESS
Despite having his own business to handle, Andy was still involved on the corporate side and took on the role of national sales manager.
And then a huge opportunity came his way. “I was growing the brand, opening clubs, opened up a few more of my own. Then I had the opportunity to move to Australia and become CEO of Australia at 25.”
Of course he grabbed the chance.
Andy spent two and a half years expanding the club’s footprint, opening up clubs in Australia and New Zealand. “It was cool,” he admits. “I really wanted to learn a lot of the financial side of business and how lending works, and then began dealing with the private equity guys wanting to buy the business back.”
So at 28 he made another career shift with Snap Fitness. Keen to return home, he landed back in New Zealand tasked with getting the business ready for sale.
That project became a 24-month process of rebuilding the business, which culminated in the transition of the Snap Fitness business back to the US franchisor, Lift Brands. As a result the Australian and New Zealand businesses combined into one. Along the way Lift introduced into the market the 9Round kickboxing fitness concept, and that has become crucial for Andy, who remains in a key leadership role at Lift as chief operating officer alongside Australian-based CEO Ty Menzies.
“We both know our lanes that we are running in, we let each other run their race.
“He’s about flying the flag. I’m a little bit more private.
“I look after 9Round and its staff in its entirety, and look after the fitness products, innovation, Myzone and fitness challenges in Snap,” he explains.
And of course, Andy is still multitasking as a committed entrepreneur.
At one point owning nine gyms, last year he sold off all his Snap clubs but retains two 9Round outlets in New Zealand. In addition to investments in education and beauty businesses, Andy owns a tech firm developing apps for gyms; it was a natural extension from creating a nutritional tool for Snap and 9Round members “because no one was doing it”.
“That’s what we use for our six-week challenges, it’s how we onboard members. My vision is for it to be the best loyalty system in fitness that matches any loyalty program,” he says.
“I always saw myself as having a portfolio of things that interest me. I always knew that would be the case. Fitness and gyms became my bread and butter and I understood it the most. But I always envisioned life beyond club management. I used to hate my life governed by the staffing hours of the club and then I realised it was just a stepping stone to other things. I liked the idea of flying around, opening gyms with other people. It’s a lot of hard work, and it’s about seizing opportunities. It allows me to live the lifestyle I wanted.
“I’ve been very fortunate. In another role I would not have been able to do the things I’ve done, open clubs while in a corporate job, innovate the things I see are needed, and be creative. That’s what I tell a lot of young guys in the business – I’m no different from anyone, I took the opportunities.”
BEING A FRANCHISEE CEO
Andy readily admits the leap into a CEO role was a plunge into the unknown. And it happened because he sold himself as a fresh-faced, cheaper alternative to a more experienced hire, with a proviso that if he wasn’t up to the job after three months, he’d call it quits.
“I did not have the skill set,” he confesses now. “But when you talk like that, you have to back it up and learn really quickly.”
To ensure he did a great job for the first three months Andy
"I COULD SPEAK ON THE SAME LEVEL TO OTHER FRANCHISEES BECAUSE I HAD TAKEN THE SAME RISKS, FACED THE SAME INTERRUPTIONS TO BUSINESS"
focused on listening to franchisees and staff.
“Then I became a student of business. If I was not working, I was studying. I can recognise when I need to improve and I’m not ashamed to ask for help.”
Of course, as a franchisee at the same time as being CEO, Andy was in an exceptional position.
“I paid the same fees. I had the same pain points. Whenever I tried new things, I tried them in my franchise first. I put my own money into it before I rolled it out. It meant I could speak on the same level to other franchisees because I had taken the same risks, faced the same interruptions to business. For me it was easy to understand the problems and the franchisees like that.”
He is adamant, though, that he never let his own franchise impede corporate decisions, working on the principle that company success has to be good for franchisees.
“I also understand corporate has to make money through franchisees as well. Some franchisees don’t quite get that. It’s the brand’s job to ensure the business works but it has to be profitable for the company.”
THE JOYS OF FRANCHISING
While he admits franchising has its challenges, he’s an advocate for a business model that provides easy access to business opportunities.
“I think that when you open your own business, it is actually very taxing to do some of the simple things, find a name, design a logo, and when you have a question finding someone who charges you $150 an hour to give an answer.”
What he observes, and what he has helped to develop at Snap, as a franchisee and as a corporate leader, is the provision of a skill set that few individuals have as new business owners.
“We teach them and groom them; franchisees’ success is our success. When they are doing well we celebrate. If they are not doing well, we do everything in our power to turn it around.
“Nothing gives me more joy than younger franchisees, or someone starting out as club manager, as a personal trainer, owning their own club. That’s what keeps me in it.
“We developed a mentoring program we’ve just launched. We financed an employee into his own gym. I needed a good operator, he didn’t have the funds. Now he’s building an awesome business for him and his family, and he’s done 100 times better than we could do as corporates.”