Snap Fitness aims to more than double its UK footprint by the end of this year, with the franchise hoping its meticulously honed property acquisition strategy will begin to pay dividends.

Matt Quinn, owner of TwentyTwoYards, set up a master development agreement with Snap Fitness to bring the franchise to the UK last year, with initial plans to open 200 sites over the next four years. As has been the case with many gym businesses, the team found sourcing suitable properties tougher than anticipated, but believe they have now hit upon a formula that will allow them to hasten expansion.

“The hard part has been finding sites and there’s been a lot of homework involved in identifying areas that are underserved by the existing market,” said sales manager Isaac Buchanan, who together with new CEO Todd Howard - the largest private owner of Snap franchises in the world - has taken the lead on developing the strategy which sees potential sites sourced predominantly in-house.

“We’re at that stage now where things are starting to move and we’ve got great partners coming in who are hungry to drive the business forward. We’ve developed a good structure for site acquisition, so there are properties in place ready for franchisees to take them on.”

With five Snap Fitness clubs currently in operation, the team hope to open a further five to ten sites by Christmas, including a new flagship club in St Neots that will be operated in-house as opposed to being launched with a franchisee.

The new sites will be approximately 5,000sq ft (464.5sq m) and feature a selection of gym equipment from Matrix Fitness, Cybex, Technogym, Octane, with MyZone also on offer. Memberships will typically cost around £30 per month, with Quinn eager to remain focused on bringing new people into gyms.

“We want to define value in the mid-tier segment of the industry, at a price point that’s affordable,” added Quinn.

“We’re focusing on the 87 per cent not currently signed up to a gym and believe that identifying underserved locations and offering a clearly defined point of difference will help us to achieve this.”