Peter Taunton, the founder and CEO of 24/7 franchise operation Snap Fitness, has launched a parent company – LIFT Brands – to act as an umbrella organisation for the Snap Fitness, Kosama, Fitness on Demand, 9Round and STEELE 365 fitness franchises.

He says: “We’re growing at a tremendous rate with start-ups and acquisitions, and needed to establish a company that reflected our elevated thinking, services, growth potential and variety of concept offerings.”

LIFT Brands will oversee expansion plans by providing finance, construction, marketing, and legal advice to franchisees paying between US$60,000 and $250,000 to launch and operate their own franchise.

Taunton adds: “In addition to the wide range of offerings that already exist under LIFT Brands, we’ll be adding several more concepts.” Future plans include a new yoga concept, dubbed Yoga Fit, and the expansion of the stand­alone  kickboxing  9Round concept, as well as widening the Fitness on Demand offering to limited-space areas like hotels.

Since its launch in 2003, Snap Fitness has grown to around 2,000 franchised fitness centres in 15 countries, attracting one million members.