Today we’d like to introduce you to Craig Annis.
In the Spring of 1990, Craig, their founder, graduated from The University of New Hampshire’s, Whittemore School of Business and Economics with a degree in Business Administration with the sole intent on getting a job in the Ski industry as a marketing executive. Unfortunately, there was a bit of a recession going on and jobs were hard to come by, especially full-time jobs in a seasonal business like the ski industry. Having worked his way through college in the swimming pool industry managing a local service and supply business, he turned to what he knew and began his own small pool service business. Unfulfilled by this, Craig’s local gym in Portsmouth, NH was in need of a part-time front desk person to cover a few hours per week. This is where the story really begins.
Not too long after working at this facility, it was evident the owner needed some guidance running the business. This seemed the perfect opportunity for Craig to cut his teeth on the fitness industry and put some of his business degree into practice. Getting paid $5 per hour for 15 hours per week (all the owner could afford), Craig put in regularly 30 hours a week while still operating his pool business so he could give the small gym its best efforts to succeed. Unfortunately, personal bills needed to get paid and an opportunity to manage a 19,000 square foot Gold’s Gym a few towns over became available. Gold’s Gym in Dover, NH had been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the past year and having not successfully managed itself during this period, it was losing its creditor protection status.
Craig’s challenge was to run this facility with an absentee owner, pay down it’ creditor’s all while losing the well-known Gold’s Gym name because the license fees had not been paid. The lease on the property was month to month and the equipment was in disrepair. During his time managing this Gold’s Gym location, Craig was able to set creditor’s up on payment plans, prepare a strategy to rebrand the facility, get the rent paid and manage a “hostile” staff that he inherited when he took the managerial position. It was a supreme challenge to be sure but the experience garnered from this time would one day prove invaluable. In early 1992, the Gold’s Gym ownership was transferred to two brothers from Connecticut who had limited experience in the fitness industry or familiarity with the region so Craig was retained as their manager at the outset although it was made clear his job was on the “hot seat” to be sure.
Immediately, the facility was renamed Coastal Fitness, and new ownership began a controversial new membership program of selling annual memberships for only $99. It was a hot product and many people dropped the cash for their one-year membership, but all too soon, the bubble burst and the market was saturated with these low cost, long-term, and therefore high liability, memberships. In addition to this sales strategy, it was made clear that the facility would no longer have a “Gold’s Gym” feel and a new effort to attract women would be employed. When asked by Craig whether they were trying to be a “women’s facility”, he was informed that “no, but if we attract more women, the men will follow”. This attempt to essentially use women as “bait” to bring in even more men was truly the beginning of the end of Craig’s tenure at the Dover, NH location.
After a few months, the now Coastal Fitness owners approached Craig to gauge his interest in purchasing the club. Always interested in new opportunities, the two parties engaged in talks and had an agreement in place that would transfer ownership of Coastal Fitness to Craig with the owners holding paper and a strategy in place to eventually convert the hundreds of pre-paid memberships onto monthly billing once they expired. Somehow, and for some reason still not clear to this day, the deal went south. While away on a long weekend, and only days from finalizing the transfer, Craig was terminated from his employment as general manager by the owners of Coastal Fitness. When asked to come in to discuss the deal, the owners were changing the arrangement and were asking for more money.
Craig refused to be held hostage to this “bait and switch” approach to business dealings and declined any changes in the previously agreed upon terms. At this point, he was told there was nothing left to discuss and that this was “just business, not personal” but that in almost the same breath was told that he “probably didn’t have what it took to run his own gym anyway”. Does anyone need more fuel than to be told what they can’t do in order to do it… and then some? Welcome to the beginning of the beginning. During the four short months after his departure from Coastal Fitness (formerly Gold’s Gym), Craig managed to secure a small bit of financing, go back to his former employer and the small Portsmouth, NH fitness center and offer to buy the equipment outright. He expanded the location and added some new equipment and opened his first club under the name New World Fitness Center on November 23, 1992.
Here is where the mistakes began, the lessons were learned and years of re-imagining and re-strategizing paved the way for what Vanguard Key Clubs has become today. Trying to emulate the success of the $99 year membership experienced at Coastal Fitness, at least as far as getting quick cash was concerned, New World Fitness ran a similar program and saw a rapid increase in memberships over the previous club that had operated in that location. Members were happy with the new space and equipment additions. Front desk staff were well trained, fresh faces and the future looked bright… so far. Within two months of opening under the name New World Fitness in Portsmouth, NH, World Gym International initiated a trademark cease and desist order claiming the New World Fitness name was too easily confused with the World Gym name.
This claim, apparently at the behest of a World Gym licensee in Derry, NH (who is no longer in business today). If that wasn’t enough for this new venture to take on, the building it resided in was sold at auction and the new landlord wanted the gym to move out and was given 30 days to do so (it took 72 days). Faced with a small claims suit in district court by the new landlord for taking too long to move out, a tradename dispute with one of the country’s largest fitness industry brands at the time, a new, more expensive location, and increased debt from making the unexpected move, dark times seemed inevitable.
After 6 months in business and cash flow drying up (damn those $99 memberships), it seemed that this venture would soon become a very premature failure. Perhaps those words rang true; “you don’t have what it takes to run your own gym anyway”. No… Not today. Owner, Craig Annis looked around, saw what he had and believed in it… and himself. He moved a futon into his office; he put his groceries and clothes in an armoire (in his office) and converted the bottom drawer of his file cabinet into his sock drawer. He gave up the lease on his apartment in town and did not fill any of his front desk positions as personnel gradually left. He was now the only “staff” on site who got up at 5 am to clean the gym, opened the doors at 5:30 am, ran the front desk, sold the memberships and manned the phones all day and closed up at 9 pm… every day… for 6 months.
As time passed, those dreadful pre-paid memberships gradually came due and many of the members converted onto an automatic monthly billing membership. Revenue began to climb and there appeared to be a “turning of the corner”. A few regular shifts of front desk personnel were hired again and Craig was able to stop living in his office when World Gym struck again. It was announced that a brand new World Gym was going to open across town. This pushed the issue of the name dispute back into the forefront. Up to this time, a case was being made against New World Fitness by attorneys for World Gym National and it was all about to come to a head.
There were no funds to defend the case and if that wasn’t enough, many of the longtime “loyal” members of New World Fitness were being lured away by the new gym in town and membership numbers began to drop. Once again, maybe Craig “didn’t have what it takes to run his own gym”? Once again he looked around, had faith in his business…and in himself and it was evident that a new course of action was necessary. In the spring of 1997, it was decided that a drastic course of action needed to be made for business to prosper, and if it didn’t work it might very well be the end of the road. The New World Fitness name would be dropped and changed to Vision Fitness in conjunction with what was believed to be at the time, an operating format that had never been tried for a facility of this size.
Members would be issued their own “keys” to the facility utilizing software that provided automated check-in technology and hardware that was modified to communicate with the software that was originally designed to control turn styles. All front desk personnel positions were eliminated, the aerobics program was dismantled and it’s square footage re-purposed for gym space. Offices, conference rooms and child care spaces were also removed and given back to open gym floor space.
All that remained that was not gym floor or locker room space was a small office that housed the computer system that managed the access to the facility. It was the beginning of a new era in gym operations and it was one of… if not the first one, of its kind. It was in the forefront of the industry for its operating strategy, an avant-garde (or “Vanguard”) approach to managing a club. Members loved the new, flexible environment to workout in. Some actually enjoyed not having a front desk person on site to “great” them when they arrived or “thank” them when they left. Turns out most of the members attracted to this model just wanted to exercise when they wanted to and how they wanted to and didn’t have much use for a front desk person.
From time to time members needed some administrative help, enrolling, canceling, getting receipts, etc.… enter…. the internet. The first website was developed to assist in these matters. Come to find out, the internet shows up for work regularly, doesn’t call in sick and is far less costly than front desk personnel. Vision Fitness was on a roll and it was time to expand. After a couple years a second location was opened in North Hampton, NH and then it was followed up by its third location not long after in York, ME. Interestingly enough, that World Gym that opened across town that prompted this operational change and the birth of the 24-hour key club fitness center, it was going out of business and Vision Fitness swept in and took over the location, most of its members and combined both locations into what is its flagship location today.
Oh, and remember that Dover, NH gym way back in the beginning (Gold’s/Coastal), those brothers moved up the road and began a little company known as Planet Fitness and 10 years later a World Gym took over that old location and lasted only 18 months before closing its doors, so we took it over, removed walls, re-configured the floor plan and opened their fourth location in what seemed like a full circle event for their founder. There would, however, be one more challenge to overcome before the brand could truly flourish… Vanguard Key Clubs.
Sometime around the late 2000’s, the company found itself in another trademark dispute. It seems a company that manufactured fitness equipment in the mid-west had registered the Vision Fitness name with the US Patent and Trademark Office and owned the mark nationally. After some discussion, they could not require the name not be used by them because they had prior use in commerce, however, an expansion outside of their current 4 locations would not be allowed to use the Vision Fitness name.
Additionally, a dispute arose between Vision Fitness and 24 Hr. Fitness, the nation’s largest privately owned health club chain in the country over the description of Vision Fitness services as “24-hour fitness centers” (note, “24-hour” and “Fitness” appear next to each other). At this time Craig Annis decided enough is enough. Calling on his earlier “Vanguard” approach to operating his gyms as “Key Clubs”, the new, nationally registered name and brand was born as the final steps of this unique and prosperous health club model as it follows what can only be described as its destiny to convert or open clubs nationwide under the franchised Vanguard Key Club brand.
Vanguard Key Clubs – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: (January 9, 2018)
After OVER 25 years in business and thousands of members through its doors, VANGUARD KEY CLUBS, a 24-hour key club fitness center brand based in New Hampshire officially announces its first FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES available to qualified applicants in select territories throughout select States.
Many have asked the question why take so long to make this move, which was answered by the company’s President and CEO, Craig Annis. “I just wasn’t completely happy with the brand before this time, there were still things I wanted to improve on and processes that I needed to test before pulling the trigger on this next exciting step in our development.”
“Our unique brand of fitness center (you can call us a “gym” if you want) offers large spaces with a wide variety of equipment for all types of fitness enthusiasts of nearly all ages.” Annis said, “Sorry, no pizza and bagels… just a great workout environment. We are fully automated with no front desk personnel required so payroll stays “in-house” and time on the job remains at a minimum.”
Vanguard Key Clubs has long been one of, if not the only, full-size fitness center (8,000-12,000 square foot) in the country which operates completely as a private facility with no front desk personnel. Members gain access by use of a personalized electronic key card and all facilities are equipped with 24-hour digital surveillance monitoring. Cleaning and maintenance are handled through the use of sub-contractors and all administrative needs are funneled through the company web portal.
A Vanguard Key Club is a great opportunity as a second income or for personal trainers who would like to operate their own facility with a member base and still put most of their energy into their clients instead of managing staff. It can serve as a new change in career path for someone burnt out of their current day-to-day or perhaps as a retirement opportunity or start-up for someone with a strong entrepreneurial spirit. Whatever the circumstance, Vanguard Key Clubs is now ready to take on its new franchisees and show them what it takes to manage one of the most unique brands of fitness center in the country.
“This may quite possibly be the smartest, easiest way to do it.” Annis continued, “Use our experience, resources, and support to walk you through the process and build a lasting relationship through your first location to as many as you can handle, we couldn’t be more ready to work with you.”
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
This moment in time I believe… now being able… and ready after over 25 years, to bring this brand to other by creating franchise opportunities.
Pricing:
- Monthly rates $36 per person
- Couple rates $32 per person
- half off enrollment fees for online enrollments
- $25,000 franchise opportunities
Contact Info:
- Website: www.vanguardkeyclubs.com
- Phone: 603-758-1320
- Email: info@vanguardkeyclubs.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Vanguardkeyclubs/
- Twitter: @vanguardkeyclub
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