December 13, 2023
Chris Rondeau, CEO, Planet Fitness
From The Front Desk To (Ex)CEO
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Founded in the 1990’s Step Aerobics era, Planet Fitness (PLNT) has seen its share of reboots. They went public in 2015 and today the $1B company is one of the largest and fastest-growing fitness brands, with 18 million members who “work out” in over 2,400 locations around the world.
Under their CEO, Chris Rondeau’s, leadership, Planet Fitness was rebooted and grown into a market leader that many of you have experienced firsthand. What we like most about them is 90% of the locations are owned and operated by entrepreneurs—independent businessmen and women like many of you.
Recently, Chris was fired and the board installed former Gov. Craig Benson, a longtime company board member, as interim CEO. Prior to being let go, Chris joined Dean DeBiase for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles to discuss his journey, from the front desk to the CEO’s office, and what’s next in the health and fitness club space—a market which is projected to soon reach $136B.
From The Couch To The Gym
For many, the couch is one of the greatest places to be. It is comfy, is an easy place to pass the time, and requires almost no energy to interact with. On the flip side, a gym can be uncomfortable, it can be anxiety-inducing, and it most definitely requires energy. So for people who are looking to get into the world of fitness, it is easier to just stay on the couch. This is what Planet Fitness is competing against, and why it has a fairly low barrier to entry and is marketed as a judgment-free gym. On the financial side of it, Chris puts it simply, for those interested in working out do you want “to spend $2,000 on a bike, or do [you] pay $10 a month for a membership and have 100 bikes?”. So it is a low committal endeavor, and if it ends up not working out, you are only down $10, versus $2000.
As for the atmosphere side, Planet Fitness promotes a judgment-free atmosphere through the gym equipment. All the dumbbells stop at 75 pounds, and Planet Fitness stores do not have power racks or Olympic benches, so nobody is doing such intense workouts that could intimidate a casual gym goer. These two aspects make for an ideal environment for people ready to spend less time on the couch.
TikTok, Your New Personal Trainer
Now although social media may not promote a couch-based lifestyle, it has also done wonders for marketing fitness. Chris notes that “there’s so much exercise content online that people are exposed to it and how to keep their exercises more entertaining”. Thanks to social media, people are getting excited to start working out, even if it is just because their favorite TikToker started working out.
Along with that, social media is removing the unknowns that people might be anxious about when preparing to go to a gym. Anxieties like how to operate the machines, gym etiquette, and techniques can now be learned through 10-second videos on TikTok or other social media platforms. Anyone can walk into a gym, have a relatively good understanding of how to workout and how to use the machines, and on top of that, come in with a full exercise routine prepared by someone else on Instagram.
The Future Of Planet Fitness
Now especially is a very rocky time for Planet Fitness due to the removal of Chris as CEO, but it does leave a lot of opportunities to learn. Most apparently, we can learn from why Chris was fired and avoid that as potential future CEOs. But, looking into the future, we can see how Planet Fitness adjusts with a new CEO. We get to see a huge company that is in a huge market make that transition, and how the business changes or doesn’t during that transition. All to say this company has the potential for another reboot, and in a few years we may even talk to the new CEO about it.
