George Orwell Returns to Bash 1-2-3 Fit, Butterfly Life Fitness Franchises
February 24, 2008 by Sean Kelly
Filed under Business
(FranchisePick.Com) Eric Blair, Chancellor of the Orwellian Institute for Counter Intuitive Thinking (located at 358 Chauncey St., Bensonhurst, NY 00666 Phone: 800-555-1212) has issued a press release warning of impending 123 Fit fitness franchise closures.
Of course you remember that Eric Arthur Blair is the real name of author George Orwell (whose social and governmental predictions in his classic book 1984 were pretty darn accurate, at least in comparison to the technological warnings in his lesser-known book Y2K) who died in 1950. And of course you remember that 358 Chauncey St. is the address of Ralph Cramden of the Honeymooners (and the real-life boyhood home of Jackie Gleason). Mr. Blair shares a phone number with “Information” and, if you check your Christmas Card list, a zip code with the The Beast. So his references check out.
Perhaps Mr. Orwell’s predictions will be a little closer to the mark this time:
Beware of 123 Fit Franchises, Numbers of Stores Closing Nationwide from Lack of Corp. Support and High Start-Up Costs
Hollywood, CA 90028 February 8 2008
In 1995, the 30-minute fitness franchise revolution began with the Curves clubs, which opened upwards of 10,000 stores within five years. Smelling blood in the water, a number of established franchise operations jumped on the bandwagon and began producing their own 30-minute franchise operations.
Geared mainly for women and consisting primarily of small stores in mini or medium size malls, the proliferation of these franchises included names such as Butterfly Life, Ladyzone and Lady Fitness. These operations found a ready market for eager franchisees looking for business opportunities. However, many franchises were entering into an already saturated market and the parent company saddled their franchisees with heavy purchase fees, exorbitant build out costs and substandard fitness equipment that is massively marked up in price.
One of the most problematic, and latest to join the fray, is the Denver based 123 Fit Clubs, started by the founders and ex-owners of the of oft troubled Quiznos sandwich franchise company. Their self-proclaimed “Scientifically Proven World’s Best Workout” has proven less than desirable as a number of 123 stores have been closing down all over the country, thus leaving the unwary franchisees on the hook for hundreds of thousands in royalty and advertising contracts along with the overly burdensome start up costs extracted from them by the parent company.
When run by the current purveyors of the 123 Fit Clubs, Quiznos was well known in the industry for prompting thousands of lawsuits from disgruntled franchisees, and now, even as they continue to sell more 123 franchises, scores of people are crying foul as they claim the 123 Simbio System really boils down to overly expensive low-grade fitness machines, the monthly fees for advertising are a waste as the company does little or nothing to get customers for them and a total lack of support which seems to encourage failure so the parent company can pick up the existing franchises at a bargain price.
This story is just starting to pick up steam and seems to be headed towards class action lawsuits against the parent company for misrepresenting their business success and price gouging on a massive scale. Needless to say, the franchisees are in a bad position because 123 has had their lawyers working overtime to ensure their contracts cover any contingency. Only time will tell how this unfolding human tragedy plays out.Eric Blair (bangzoom@lycos.com)
Chancellor
Orwellian Institute for Counter Intuitive Thinking
358 Chauncey St.
Bensonhurst, NY 00666
Phone : 800-555-1212
Source: Press Release
WHAT DO YOU THINK? LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW. PERHAPS MR. ORWELL WILL GRACE US WITH A VISIT.
Since so many of the franchises are going bankrupt, how can I pick up the Life Fitness line used?
I will sell you mine!! Send me an email. Cheap. Dont open as a 123 fit though. They suck. Over 30 clubs have not closed and they only have 19 open. LIARS…..
Beware many lives ruined because they are into selling franchises like their cousin Quiznos. They do not care if you succeed. They make their money upfront. Buyer Beware! Barbara
The posts you see here are old and innacurate. There are many more than 19 clubs. Many of them are making money. Some people fail and then try to bring down everyone else. That is the case with many that post on this site. I know these guys. They used to be “friends” and we shared info on our locations. These guys did not fail because of 123 Fit corporate – they failed because they made bad business and pricing decisions. I have seen their posts about how corporate mandated pricing. That is false. Corporate always left pricing to us … They had price suggestions which many club owners ignored. Despite all the negitive, one sided coverage of this and many other franchises, people continue to go out and work hard and succeed. We are called the devil for doing this or asked to prove it. All sides of the argument are taken by these bloggers depending on what they are trying to convince you of. Some even say the the things I post are from 10 year old 123 Fit brochures when 123 fit has not even been here that long. This place is like poison for successful people. Toxic for the individual who is out there working hard and making a living. Sean Kelly makes a point to highlight failure. There have been no articles on successful 123 Fit owners on this site. And successful owners are easy to find – unless you are only looking for failure. Look how many negitive articles there are VS positive ones on any subject. I had dinner last night with a congressman that is working on this bailout bill. My group is lobbyong for something unrelated to franchising or things on this site. But as we talked about the economy what was happening in the financial markets the talk turned to the people who get up everyday and go to work. People that understand we don’t live in a perfect world , but we look for things that are perfect in the world. We are aware of the negitive, but try to make a positive impact. People that don’t make their life mission to bring down other people rather they seek to build others up. Are there people out there on this blog that do that? Or are there just people that focus on negitive, negitive, negitive. People that call me the damn devil. Wow. I am off my soap box now. Love or hate 123 Fit, believe this – there are many clubs that are successful, the corporate guys are not perfect but have been working to improve their system and support. Research that – writ about that along with all the doom and gloom. Free speech – you gotta love it.
…they failed because they made bad business and pricing decisions.
Pete (anon): Can you be specific? What is the pricing strategy of the successful clubs? What is the flawed pricing approach of the failed or failing clubs?
What are the other “bad business decisions” specifically they made? Be specific & maybe you can prevent current club owners from making the same mistake.
This place is like poison for successful people. Toxic for the individual who is out there working hard and making a living.
You’ve got the opportunity to change it. You have just as much opportunity to post your truth as anyone else. Restore some balance. The floor is yours.
Sean Kelly makes a point to highlight failure.
Not true. I highlight the challenges people are facing. Read through and I continuously solicit solutions, insights and positive stories. Provide them and I’ll print them.
There have been no articles on successful 123 Fit owners on this site.
I’m happy to offer you a guest post, an interview, whatever format you would like to tell your story, highlight your club, explain what has worked for you in building a successful club, getting and keeping members, etc. I’ll be happy to do the same for other successful club owners… 123 Fit or otherwise.
I’m a marketing guy, not a bankruptcy attorney. Solutions are much more engaging to me than despair and hopelessness. At the end of the day, I want to see franchisees succeed. If you’ve got information and examples that can help struggling club owners be successful, share it.
Pete, I suggest you consider your own advice. Instead of complaining about the negativity here, why don’t you take positive action to change it. I’ve got no allegiance to whiners if there’s a workeable course of action proposed…
Sean. Thank you for your thoghtful response. I will carefully consider what you have written. Maybe there is an opportunity to get the story of successful 123 Fits out there. Ball is in my court.