Self Esteem Brands reports record domestic franchise sales in Q1 2023 for Waxing the City plus strong international development

Leading global fitness, health and wellness franchisor sees Waxing the City on pace to double growth in 2023 plus now operates Anytime Fitness franchises in 40 countries and territories

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Nate Rubinstein
Fish Consulting
954-893-9150
nrubinstein@fish-consulting.com

WOODBURY, Minnesota, USA, April 27, 2023 – Self Esteem Brands (SEB), the parent company of a global portfolio of fitness, health and wellness franchise brands with more than 5,500 locations around the world, has announced several Q1 2023 results that showcase strong growth and franchisee performance.

Waxing the City on pace to double year-over-year openings, development agreements
Waxing the City, a leading personal care franchise providing head-to-toe waxing services, is trending to more than double units sold year over year following a strong quarter. With 18 locations awarded in Q1 2023 and 145 units now open across the U.S., the brand is also on track to launch 30 locations in 2023 – twice the amount opened in 2022.

“Our business model aligns with current beauty industry trends and meets the expectations of current and prospective franchisees,” said Nick Herrild, president, Studio Division/Waxing the City, Self Esteem Brands. “The industry is fast-growing and Waxing the City offers a simple model and low staff requirement that has made it particularly attractive in a challenging labor market. Our Q1 numbers indicate strong growth, but it’s just the beginning and we look forward to adding new franchisees to the family later this year.”

In addition to its strong pipeline, Waxing the City has now experienced 13 consecutive quarters of positive sales growth and is building franchisee average unit volume (AUV) with a focus on retail sales, Club Orange loyalty memberships and advanced service offerings. In addition to strong multiyear growth, the brand has maintained extremely high overall client satisfaction scores with 94% of consumers saying they are highly satisfied with their service results and experience visiting the studio.

International growth with rapidly expanding Anytime Fitness global footprint
Total revenue in the first quarter for same-store sales across Anytime Fitness international locations reached 19%, an all-time high, while average member numbers per club neared 1,000, exceeding pre-pandemic numbers. In Q1, the world’s largest fitness club franchise added a master franchisee in Austria, evidence of further acceleration in the Master portfolio. Anytime Fitness is enjoying solid international market recovery with strong interest in the Anytime Fitness brand and expects to further expand its footprint within Europe, the Middle East and Asia over the coming months. Anytime Fitness now has clubs operating in 40 countries and territories around the world.

“Anytime Fitness is truly a global brand and we’re continuing to explore growth in key countries and territories across several continents,” said David Mortensen, co-founder of Anytime Fitness and president, Self Esteem Brands. “In just two decades, we’ve grown Anytime Fitness from one location into the largest fitness franchise brand in the world. We’ll continue to expand and meet the growing demand to help more people achieve their holistic fitness, health and wellness goals.”

Additional Q1 2023 Brand Highlights

Anytime Fitness
Domestically, Anytime Fitness launched its AF SmartCoaching technology in Q1, which can now be accessed by domestic members via the AF app anytime, anywhere. Personal training revenue reached a 13-month high at the end of the first quarter, with record highs in topline revenue at the end of March and rolling 12-month attrition tied for the lowest ever on record.

As Anytime Fitness places an added focus on providing members with personalized coaching services both inside and outside a club, franchisee interest continues to grow: the brand added 24 domestic units to the pipeline in Q1 with double-digit club openings planned for the rest of 2023.

Basecamp Fitness
Basecamp Fitness, a hyper-condensed high intensity interval training (HIIT) workout that packs 50 minutes of supercharged exercise in only 35, continues to showcase strong performance with year-over-year growth of Q1 systemwide sales exceeding 40%.

Basecamp Fitness is also experiencing double-digit same-store sales growth and opened new studios in Detroit, Mich. and Orlando, Fla. in the first quarter, with locations under construction in Jacksonville, Fla., San Diego, Calif., Kansas City, Missouri and Apple Valley, Minn.

The Bar Method
The Bar Method is the most targeted and effective barre workout in the market and is now on pace to sell and open more U.S. franchised locations in 2023 than the past two years combined. This is in part a result of the brand’s double-digit increase in same store sales in Q1 and high level of franchisee satisfaction.

Additionally, The Bar Method welcomed 30 percent more new clients to the brand in Q1 2023 than Q1 2022 and debuted its Bar Method Cardio class format, which expands the brand’s class formats and will help add new clients throughout the year.

About Self Esteem Brands
Headquartered in Woodbury, Minnesota, USA, Self Esteem Brands is the world’s largest health and wellness franchisor, and is the parent company to Anytime Fitness, Basecamp Fitness, The Bar Method, and Waxing the City. With the mission to improve self-esteem around the globe, Self Esteem Brands, through its suite of health and wellness brands, has more than 5,500 operating locations across all seven continents. Additionally, Self Esteem Brands is the owner of Stronger U Nutrition, Healthy Contributions, and Provision Security. For more information on Self Esteem Brands and its various franchise opportunities, please visit https://sebrands.com/.

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