Fast-growing Victoria-based franchisor Hot Mama has six locations on Vancouver Island and is expanding to Alberta and Ontario without first laying down roots in Vancouver or anywhere in the B.C. mainland.
“We’re not shunning Vancouver at all,” owner Lindsay Goulet told Business in Vancouver June 25. “We were marketing in the Lower Mainland and weren’t getting anywhere. My gut said, ‘Let’s try Alberta.’”
Goulet, in mid-2012, launched Hot Mama in Victoria’s West Shore area. She now has five other franchises on Vancouver Island, four franchises in Alberta launching this summer and one franchise in Ontario launching in the fall.
The venture does not require a brick-and-mortar location. The fitness business targets mothers with young children who want to take classes both for exercise and socialization. While the mothers do exercises, the kids can too. Franchisees hold sessions at parks and beaches in the summer and rent space at yoga studios or church basements in winter.
“We’re selling the brand that is Hot Mama and everything that goes with it,” Goulet said of her $7,999 one-time fee, 6% of gross revenue and 2% marketing fee.
“We provide the website, the promotional material and the class format. We have more than 100 workouts that we’ve designed. They have access to a newsletter. Everything that comes with starting your own business, we hand to them.”
