Franchise Pick

Mysterious Disappearance of Hot New Franchise Cuts Fitness for Men Part 2

by sean on October 11th, 2007

(FranchisePick) A little more than a year ago, Cuts Fitness for Men was a “hot new franchise,” and one of the “fastest growing fitness franchises in the world.” Today, they’re missing in action. What happened?

An April, 2006 Cuts Fitness press release boasted that the men-only 30 minute fitness company (basically, a Curves for men) had more than 100 franchises open in 5 countries, more than 200 franchises sold and expected to sell 250 more franchises in 2006.

The media touted Cuts Fitness for Men as one of the hottest of the hot franchise investments. Entrepreneur Magazine ranked Cuts Fitness #17 in its “Top 20 New Franchises” list, #65 in its “Fastest Growing Franchises” list and #300 in its “2006 Franchise 500″ The PR hype and media validation of the concept was an important franchise sales tool, as it is for any franchise (image right is from the company website).

The hype continued through mid-2006, when the company press releases slowed and stopped mentioning the number of units. In September, 2006, in an otherwise positive article, the New York Times reported that “67 Cuts for Men clubs have either closed or never opened.” Steven Haase, the company’s managing director, was quoted as saying that “closings were part of the process as a franchise grows.”

[Also read Mysterious Disappearance of Hot New Franchise Cuts Fitness for Men Part 1: What Happened to the Cuts Fitness For Men Franchise?]

In March of this year, notices of store closings appeared on the Virginia Attorney General’s website. An April, 2007 company press release stated that the company had “acquired” (sold) a total of 75 franchises… a far cry from the press release issued a year earlier that listed 200 “acquired,” 100 opened and 250 that would be sold in 2006.

I have heard, through the grapevine, that there are maybe 40 Cuts Fitness for Men still open and operating in the U.S., but their relationship to the corporation is unclear.

Currently, the active Cuts Fitness for Men website is dedicated to promoting founder John Gennaro’s book [pictured left], with no mention of the franchise opportunity.

Web searches still link to the previous web pages, including a list of 88 locations (some marked “closed”) and a franchise section that states At the present time, we are not accepting franchise applications for locations in the United States other than AR and VA… If you are interested in the recently released Cuts Fitness For Men book, you can purchase at your nearest bookseller or click here.

What happened to the Cuts Fitness for Men, celebrated as one of the fastest growing fitness franchises even earlier this year?

I’m not sure.

If anyone can shed some light on the current situation, please post a comment or email in confidence to info[at]ideafarm.net.

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POSTED IN: Cuts Fitness (RIP), xBuyer Beware, xFranchise Graveyard