Empowered Brands

About us
Empowered Brands is a fitness franchise incubator that acquired the énergie Fitness Group in 2020. Experts in UK franchising, énergie was ranked number 3 in the Elite Franchise Top 100 UK Franchises for 2021 and has consistently featured in the top 10 UK rankings over the last 5 years. Winner of the British Franchise Association HSBC Award for Brand and Innovation and in the top 6 UK franchises for resilience through the pandemic, énergie provides Empowered Brands with the capacity and strength to leverage new brands across health, wellbeing and fitness. Empowered Brands recent acquisition of the Master Franchise for UBX in Ireland and UK provides the many hundreds of applicants for énergie Fitness club franchises with alternative opportunities to invest in fitness at a lower level of capital requirement. Further brand acquisitions which compliment the Empowered Brands product offer are in the pipeline

How much does it cost?
At the top level, a franchisee needs a minimum investment of £130,000 in a franchise fitness club. Empowered Brands can work with the franchisees to leverage the remaining finances needed to open a full size énergie Fitness Club through bank and lease financing. Initial levels of investment in a UBX boutique, can be as low as £35,000 including franchise fee. New brands coming on stream in 2023 will provide potential franchisees with even greater choice.

Which consumer group/ demographic is the franchise targeted at?
Empowering people to transform their lives is at the centre of the Empowered Brands mission. At both énergie and UBX, female members make up over 50% of the fitness community. Attracting people of all ages, abilities and fitness levels is a key ingredient of a strategy to appeal to consumers who see service and value as well as affordability as important. It is no surprise, therefore, to find that énergie attracts a wide range of members from people taking their first steps into fitness as well as ‘savvy’ exercisers.

What sort of franchisees are you looking for?
We increasingly appeal to entrepreneurs with an ambition and passion to own multiple sites in large territories across UK, Ireland and, more recently, Spain. Franchisees with experience of retail franchising are increasingly seeing fitness and health as an ethical investment that can make an attractive financial return. Individual franchisees seeking to change their lifestyle and with a passion for fitness also make up a significant proportion of our franchisee community.


Plans for the next 12 months
The company plans to acquire several new fitness and health brands by the end of 2023. Building a strong recovery from the pandemic across the existing club network remains an important objective. The roll- out of UBX boutiques across UK and Ireland is well underway and, given that UBX are targeting to open at the rate of one per week, we have good reason to anticipate strong growth across towns and cities during the course of the year. With a 3-tier membership across our fitness clubs, we expect value and service to distinguish us from the ‘budget only’ providers.

Testimonial
“We did some research online and were impressed straight away with énergie’s visual branding, and well-informed website material. That sparked our interest in the company. Then we went to a discovery day and we’ve never looked back. We were made to feel so welcome. We also loved énergie’s unique positioning within the market, representing the low-cost, high-service sector. From day one énergie has been there to help us, which is why we opted for a franchise.”
– Glyn and Nathalie Stephens, owners, énergie Fitness Deeside