For the most up-to-date financial information, check out our latest FDD Talk post analyzing The Camp Transformation Center’s average revenues, expenses, and/or profits.

In this FDD Talk post, you’ll learn the following:

• Section I – Background information on The Camp Transformation Center franchise opportunity, including relevant news updates

• Section II – Estimated initial investment for The Camp Transformation Center franchise, based on Item 7 of the company’s 2020 FDD

• Section III – Initial franchise fee, royalty fee, marketing fee, and other fees for The Camp Transformation Center franchise, based on Items 5 and 6 of the company’s 2020 FDD

• Section IV – Number of franchised and company-owned The Camp Transformation Center outlets at the start of the year and the end of the year for 2017, 2018, and 2019, based on Item 20 of the company’s 2020 FDD

• Section V – Presentation and analysis of The Camp Transformation Center’s financial performance representations, based on Item 19 of the company’s 2020 FDD, including information on the:

• 2019 average and median gross sales for the 10 company-owned, 86 franchised and licensed, and all 96 The Camp Transformation Centers that were open and operating for all of 2019

• 2019 average gross sales, cost of goods sold, gross profit, payroll, rent and utilities, repairs and maintenance, advertising and marketing, merchant fees, other expenses, total expenses, net operating income, imputed royalty, and net operating income minus adjustment for the 10 company-owned The Camp Transformation Centers that were open and operating for all of 2019

• 2019 median gross sales, gross profit, and total expenses for the 10 company-owned The Camp Transformation Centers that were open and operating for all of 2019

Section I – Background Information

26 Things You Need to Know About The Camp Transformation Center Franchise

Taps Global Talent Solutions (GTS) for String of Franchise Growth Executive Hires

1.  In mid-February 2021, The Camp Transformation Center announced that it had retained franchise executive search firm Global Talent Solutions (GTS) in a long-term string of executive hires that will harness and guide its current upward growth trajectory. GTS is well known for finding and recruiting exceptional candidates who enable growth and profitability for franchisors both established and emerging.

2.  The Camp Transformation Center anticipates expansion from just above 100 locations to over 250 locations within the next three years, utilizing GTS to build a high-performing corporate leadership team. After researching executive search firms and speaking with Michael Ruiz, president and CEO of GTS, The Camp Transformation Center founders knew Ruiz and his team were the obvious choice.

3.  Luis Font, co-founder of The Camp Transformation Center, said, “As a franchisor it’s imperative to provide our customers and franchisees with best-in-class support and an incredible experience. We believe that starts at the top with our corporate team. With GTS’ impressive track record in franchise executive search, we are excited to start this new relationship and kick off the talent acquisition process.”

Uses AskNicely to Deliver Amazing Customer Experiences

4.  In a blog post from January 2020, The Camp Transformation Center highlighted how the brand consistently delivers high-quality customer service. In 2019, The Camp Transformation Center began searching for a tool that would help ensure the brand was delivering its signature customer experience. The Camp Transformation Center wanted to launch a Net Promoter Score program, and knew it would need NPS software to get results.

5.  Brandon Durkee, vice president of operations for The Camp Transformation Center, said, “Our primary goal is to transform lives through a fitness community, and we really wanted to measure how we’re doing in that aspect. We needed something to help us drive business decisions based on what our clients feel, what they want, what they think about us.”

6.  The Camp Transformation Center team tested three different software companies that offered NPS, and ended up choosing AskNicely. “It was really tailored to us,” said Catia Morgan, senior vice president of franchise operations. “[Our account executive] Alex was great about working with us at the beginning and explaining how the system could work for us and what it could do for us. It really enticed us to go with AskNicely.”

7.  Initially, The Camp Transformation Center conducted a pilot program with AskNicely at ten of its corporate-owned gyms, and soon determined to roll it out to franchised locations nationwide. The Camp Transformation Center’s leadership team first held a summit with its franchisee advisory board, showing the AskNicely product and asking for feedback. “They loved the survey and the cost was acceptable,” said Morgan. “So we had a virtual all-franchisee meeting throughout the country.”

8.  Alex, The Camp Transformation Center’s trusty aforementioned account executive, helped Morgan and her team present AskNicely to the franchisees. Morgan stressed how important it would be to keep them informed and in contact with their customers. “It wasn’t a hard sell,” said Morgan. “They all wanted to know what their clients were feeling, and how they could better provide service for them. It really went smoothly.”

9.  For Morgan and the rest of the corporate leadership team, rolling out NPS to franchise locations meant direct, real-time visibility into the day-to-day performance of gyms operating under the brand. “My biggest concern at the beginning was that our corporate locations, where we’re very involved, would do really well – but once we got everyone on board, we’d see a dip,” said Morgan. “And we really didn’t. To me, that says we’re doing something right, and we’re really excited about that.”

10.  Morgan and her team have a lot to be excited about: over the first nine months with AskNicely, The Camp Transformation Center sent over 45,000 customer surveys with a 34.4% response rate. Their overall Net Promoter Score has consistently charted around 85 – far surpassing most health and fitness industry NPS benchmarks.

11.  Almost immediately after launching AskNicely, The Camp Transformation Center began gleaning insights from customer feedback. Three primary drivers of customer satisfaction became quickly apparent: pricing, accountability, and people. To its credit, The Camp Transformation Center wasted no time in taking steps to deliver what customers were asking for.

12.  Pricing for Every Customer – According to Durkee, “We were getting a lot of survey responses that indicated dissatisfaction with our pricing. So we realized, number one, maybe we’re charging too much and need to look at our pricing model. And number two, maybe we’re just not providing enough value for the pricing.”

13.  Morgan added, “Even when our customers were canceling, they were saying, ‘I love you guys. I just can’t afford it. But I love everything you’ve done for me.’ That kind of really cut us to the core. So we had to create something for our clients that really loved what we were doing and needed to be there.”

14.  Based on customers’ feedback, The Camp Transformation Center rolled out a lower-priced membership option with a longer commitment. “It’s one of the primary business decisions we’ve made off these surveys,” said Durkee. “And we had a lot of new clients sign up.”

15.  Accountability for Longtime Members – The Camp Transformation Center also heard from longtime members who were itching for more accountability. “We do the six-week challenge, and that’s obviously our biggest program,” said Durkee. “But to hear from our long-term members that they didn’t feel they had the same accountability? That’s really been eye-opening for us and has changed the way we operate.” The Camp Transformation Center responded swiftly.

16.  Within a few months, The Camp Transformation Center developed and launched a new tiered ranking program that allows members to measure their own progress and advance through Bronze, Silver, and Gold levels. “We put a big ranking board up so participants can see each other’s scores,” said Durkee. “And that came directly from hearing that we don’t provide enough accountability, or that they didn’t feel like they were progressing enough anymore.” And since The Camp Transformation Center took action, they were able to respond to feedback in the most effective way: by communicating that real change.

17.  Durkee added, “We had one customer that really wasn’t happy with our accountability, and was about to cancel. I responded to her survey comment and let her know about our new program coming out, and that we’d extend her membership for another month to let her try it out for free. And the cool thing is, after she did that, we ran a promotion for year paid-in-full membership. And she and her husband both bought one! So what could have been a lost customer ended up giving us another $2,000 in revenue.”

18.  The Power of Good People – “NPS helps you understand what clients care most about,” said Durkee. “We see with our franchise partners and corporate-owned locations that when there’s high turnover with staff, the Net Promoter Score drastically drops. It makes you realize how important it is to hire and develop your trainers, and keep them happy and make sure turnover is kept as low as possible.”

19.  In addition to paying trainers above the industry average, The Camp Transformation Center implemented a new hire program. “Before, we didn’t have a structured plan. Now, we have a new 14-day training plan to train our trainers, and we’re offering our staff trainers bonuses to help us train new hires as well.” Morgan agreed. “I like to see the numbers of how our trainers are doing. It’s really important to go to my franchisees and say, ‘Look, your trainers are what makes your business work so well. Eighty percent of your customers love your trainers – so you’d better treat them good!’”

20.  Coaching and Communicating with Franchisees – In her role, Morgan can use the customer experience reporting from AskNicely to communicate proactively with franchisees. “The leaderboard lets me see where everyone’s at, and filter through whatever I want to look at that day,” said Morgan. “I like to see the breakdown of numbers across the board, and if anything’s going on, I can reach out to my franchisees and ask if they’ve seen the recent numbers or comments. It’s a good way to start those conversations.”

21.  Even within corporate-owned locations, NPS plays a major role in coaching and accountability. “We’ve seen a correlation between the overall NPS and the overall health of the business,” said Durkee. “That score translates to higher member retention and client health, so we’re making it a focal point for our general managers and part of their bonus structure.”

22.  On a final note, Durkee said, “The better we serve our members, the better we serve our community, the more successful we’re going to be as a business. Our primary goal is to transform lives through a fitness community. The reason we bought AskNicely is to learn more about that community and how supported our members feel, because serving our clients better is the thing we care most about.”

Company History

23.  The Camp Transformation Center was founded in 2010 by Sam Bakhtiar, Alejandra Font and her husband Luis Font in Southern California. Bakhtiar and Font, who are both bodybuilders and personal trainers, wanted to fix the fitness industry. They both felt that the personal training model was broken and expensive, and gym membership lacked the results and customer service that was needed.

24.  They had the vision to open up a gym of their own, but not one filled with unnecessary equipment and weights. But rather, a space that they could fill with boot camps of people with a specific goal in mind, who could work to accomplish this goal as a team, all on one specific plan. To get clients in the door and to show off the results Bakhtiar and Font could get from these participants, they decided to offer something completely unique: a challenge to lose 20 pounds.

25.  After the first group successfully completed the challenge, Bakhtiar and Font knew that they were on to something with their fitness program. Building on this momentum, Bakhtiar and Font refined The Camp Transformation Center concept and began opening more locations around Southern California. Franchising began in 2016 and today there are Camp Transformation Center locations around the United States.

Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500

26.  The Camp Transformation Center ranked No. 166 on Entrepreneur’s 2021 Franchise 500 list.

Section II – Estimated Costs

• Please click here for detailed estimates of The Camp Transformation Center franchise costs, based on Item 7 of the company’s 2020 FDD.

Section III – Initial Franchise Fee, Royalty Fee, Marketing Fee, and Other Fees

• Please click here for detailed information on The Camp Transformation Center’s initial franchise fee, royalty fee, marketing fee, and other fees, based on Items 5 and 6 of the company’s 2020 FDD.

Section IV – Number of Franchised and Company-Owned Outlets

Franchised

2017

• Outlets at the Start of the Year:  0
• Outlets at the End of the Year:  66
• Net Change:  +66

2018

• Outlets at the Start of the Year:  66
• Outlets at the End of the Year:  86
• Net Change:  +20

2019

• Outlets at the Start of the Year:  86
• Outlets at the End of the Year:  98
• Net Change:  +12

Company-Owned

2017

• Outlets at the Start of the Year:  15
• Outlets at the End of the Year:  17
• Net Change:  +2

2018

• Outlets at the Start of the Year:  17
• Outlets at the End of the Year:  10
• Net Change:  -7

2019

• Outlets at the Start of the Year:  10
• Outlets at the End of the Year:  10
• Net Change:  0

Section V – Financial Performance Representations (Item 19, 2020 FDD) and Analysis

• In Parts 1 and 2 below, The Camp Transformation Center presents certain historical information for Centers that were open and operating for all of 2019. The explanatory notes following each table are an important part of the information presented.

Part 1 – 2019 Average Gross Sales

Company-Owned Centers