Diversified H&F Acquires Butterfly Life
March 16, 2009 by Sean Kelly
Filed under Business
The “assets” of Butterfly Life, one of the ailing Curves women’s express fitness knock-off concepts, have been sold to Diversified Health & Fitness, Inc.
Diversified was founded by Roger Wittenberns in 2007, and has acquired a number of seemingly struggling, dying and/or comatose fitness franchise chains since then.
Diversified’s fitness holdings now include Liberty Fitness, Fit For Her, ShapeXpress, Access Fitness, Fit Zone, The Blitz, The Zoo, Sedona and others.
Here’s the company press release announcing the asset purchase:
FORT LAUDERDALE COMPANY ACQUIRES BUTTERFLY LIFE
Diversified Health & Fitness, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida announces its acquisition of Butterfly Fitness, Inc., a National Chain of Health Club Franchises and enters the Japanese market.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Diversified Health & Fitness, Inc., chaired by fitness industry pioneer, Roger Wittenberns, announced today that it has acquired the assets of Butterfly Fitness, Inc., a franchising company engaged in marketing and servicing women-only health club franchises.
Diversified’s franchise portfolio currently consist of approximately 150 fitness clubs in 40 states and three countries and over 500 active licenses to build new clubs. The Butterfly acquisition will push Diversified’s holdings to nearly 200 clubs and will dramatically increase its market share in the women’s fitness club franchise business.
This acquisition has also allowed Diversified to enter the Japanese market with 6 locations. The Japanese market is one of the fastest growing fitness markets in the world
The asset purchase included the acquisition of Butterfly’s franchise agreements, FDD registrations, area developer agreements, manuals, trade names and other intellectual property.
“Diversified will bring much needed corporate support and marketing and operational experience to our franchisees,” said Mark Golob, CEO of Butterfly. “This is a great opportunity to reinvigorate one of the best brand names in women’s fitness.”
Diversified Chief Executive Officer, Roger Wittenberns, said “This is a great step forward for Diversified and for Butterfly. We welcome our new franchise partners to our family and we are excited to bring our experience and knowledge to such a promising organization.”
Diversified Health and Fitness, Inc. is a franchise holding company for multiple fitness franchise concepts. The company was founded in 2007 and is the brainchild of thirty-seven year industry expert Roger Wittenberns.
The struggles of the Butterfly Life chain and the discontent of its franchisees have been lively topics on Franchise Pick.
The post IS BUTTERFLY LIFE A GREAT FITNESS FRANCHISE? generated 400+ comments, and Will the REAL Butterfly Life Franchise Please Wave Its Wings? generated more than 160 comments. Also read Butterfly Life Franchise Lawsuit in Forbes and Franchise Dreams Becoming Nightmares for Many Fitness Club Owners for more on Butterfly Life and founders Mark Golob and Tom Gergley.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE AN INSIGHT BELOW.
graphic: FranBest
Can’t believe a smart business man like Wittenbern (maybe he’s not so smart!…….or just crazy like a fox?) would get involved with someone like Golob without doing his due deligence. Who would want a company that has pending lawsuits from franchisees and area reps and showed a steady closure of franchises over the last several years. Maybe Wittenbern is an ambulance chaser and just cares about collecting royalties and splitting them with Golob……..since Golob has no money. Golob DID NOT RENEW the BFL franchise agreement in California since the Department of Corporations is doing an ongoing investigation into the shenanigans of Golob and Gergley. How can Wittenbern sell franchises in the US or worldwide without a franchise agreement? Maybe he doesn’t care about selling…….just collecting the royalties from the poor franchisees that have years left on their franchise agreements. We’ll see how much help the franchisees get from Wittenbaum with building their brands……….probably as much as they got from Golob…..NOTHING!!!!!
If there are any current club owners reading this, did you sign a new agreement with Diversified, or are they just allowed to take over receiving royalties? Did they also tell you on the phone that they wouldn’t be doing any advertising? What have you/they done since the takeover? Do you see any good coming for this, or is possible to get out now?