DISRUPT: F45 CEO Hints at Name Change, Talks Growth Plans
This article is part of ATN’s DISRUPT 2024 video series, featuring can’t-miss conversations with the biggest executives in fitness and wellness. To watch DISRUPT content, click here
F45 Training CEO Tom Dowd has big plans for the brand, including a potential name change for F45’s parent company.
Speaking exclusively to Athletech News founder and CEO Edward Hertzman during the DISRUPT 2024 video series, Dowd reflected on his first year and a half on the job, which has seen F45 strike partnerships with brands including Hyrox and Whoop, introduce new boutique fitness concepts in Vaura Pilates and FS8, and delist from the New York Stock Exchange in effort to shore up its finances.
“We are on such solid ground,” Dowd said of F45’s financial state now compared to March 2023 when he took over. “We’ve restructured a very sound building that just got artificially torn down a bit by poor management.”
“The core product – the workout, the experience – was always great,” he added.
What’s in a Name?
Dowd shared that F45 is considering adopting a new name for its parent brand (currently known as F45 Training) that would better reflect the company’s multiple offerings in fitness, health and wellness. Today, F45 operates its signature F45 Training studios along with new boutique fitness concepts in Vaura Pilates and FS8. The new name would bring all three brands together under a new umbrella.
“We’re working on a new name now that we’re pretty excited about,” Dowd told Hertzman. “We’re almost there with finding something we can use across the world, because we’re in almost 70 countries.”
F45 as a Health & Wellness Destination
The name change falls in line with Dowd’s goal of building F45 into more than just a workout brand but a one-stop shop for all things health and wellness.
“The vision that I came in with was to be a solution headquarters for everything health and wellness,” Dowd noted.
That includes expanding into recovery – F45 is rolling out infrared sauna and cold plunge stations at its studios nationwide – and creating new concepts like FS8 and Vaura, both of which focus on Pilates but offer different experiences for consumers.
“We could have more FS8s and Vauras than F45s in three to five years,” Dowd said during the interview, expressing his confidence in those new brands amid the Pilates boom.
The plan also includes expanding into areas such as nutrition and weight-loss drugs. Dowd shared that F45 will be offering support for its members who take GLP-1s.
“We’re getting into the GLP-1 business,” Dowd said, noting the popularity of drugs like Ozempic and the role fitness brands can play in helping people lose weight in a healthy way while taking GLP-1s.
“It gives us another way to speak to members who are out there taking it, (who) should be working out because they’re losing lean muscle mass, and they should learn about the importance of exercise and how that couples together,” he added.
F45 also has an agreement with Dietitian Live, a telehealth service that connects people with registered dietitians for nutrition advice.
Overall, Dowd believes F45 is “perfectly positioned” to capitalize on fitness and wellness trends with its focus on HIIT training, Pilates and ancillary services like recovery, nutrition and weight loss.
“The members are seeing it. We know that because we see our churn rates coming down, we see our AUVs growing,” Dowd said. “When we look at our competitors, I’ll just say, there’s a lot of treadmill fatigue out there.”
The ‘Holy Grail’ of Fitness Real Estate
In terms of real estate, Dowd has a particular view on the future of F45’s brick-and-mortar businesses. He wants to see franchisees own multiple brands – F45 Training, FS8 and Vaura Pilates – and open them up right next to each other, with recovery and retail mixed in.
“The vision for me, the holy grail, the full monty, is building these larger units with the different modalities together, call it FS8, Vaura or F45 on (either) side, retail in the middle, recovery behind that,” he said. “That gives us and our franchisees better sales per square foot, gives them more efficiencies, and gives us more efficiencies for marketing.”
F45 Training studios can already be found in virtually every city in the United States. In time, Dowd expects FS8 and Vaura to follow a similar expansion path.
“At some point, every major city will have huge FS8-Vaura-F45 groupings with really strong franchisees printing money, having a great time doing it and changing people’s lives.”
Want to hear more from F45 Training CEO Tom Dowd? Visit the DISRUPT 2024 website to watch this video and others