Owners of indoor cycling studios may have borrowed the model from SoulCycle Inc., but they don”™t compare themselves with cycling”™s biggest brand.
Fairfield County boutique studio owners said SoulCycle”™s recent $100 million IPO filing is proof the exercise method is here to stay.
SoulCycle has 38 studios in the U.S., with locations in Westport and Greenwich that opened in the past two years. The company reported making $112 million in revenue last year and said it has plans to expand to 250 studios. Studios sell classes for about $34 each (the prices decreases with the purchase of multiple classes) and merchandise.
Kristyn Clark, public relations coordinator for SoulCycle, said when the company started in 2006 the boutique fitness industry didn”™t really exist.
- Amy Pal in JoyRide”™s Wilton facility. Photo by Danielle Brody
“It”™s incredible to see how the industry has transformed since then,” Clark said.
Now Golnar Sharafsaleh, owner of LifeCycle in Stamford, Amy Hochhauser, co-founder of JoyRide Cycling Studio, with six locations, and Amy Pal, co-owner of JoyRide Wilton and Ridgefield, said they have found success putting their own spin on the popular exercise.
They said that, compared with gyms, which often offer cycling classes as part of broader memberships, their boutique studios offer better workouts and more athletic instructors.
Sharafsaleh, a cancer survivor who said she used indoor cycling as rehabilitation, said she wanted to open a studio for a couple of years, but did not expect it to be profitable at first. She opened a studio in May with 14 RealRyder bikes, which unlike stationary bikes, move side-to-side to simulate outdoor cycling. She said she needs to fill eight seats per class during the week to be successful and weekends are a bonus.
Since opening in May, her membership has doubled every month and she is breaking even. She charges $25 per class, $180 for a 10-pack and $199 for a monthly pass, with a discount for cancer survivors.
“A lot of my members dropped membership at gyms,” Sharafsaleh said. “That”™s when I know things are good.”
There is also room in the market for a company taking on SoulCycle more head-on. Hochhauser, of JoyRide, said she had done SoulCycle and Flywheel classes when she lived in New York City, but could not find a class similar to that when she moved to Westport. She and two other Westport residents, Rhodie Lorenz, a popular spin and Pilates instructor, and Debbie Katz, opened a Westport studio four years ago.
“I have respect for them because they were pioneers in this industry and we”™ll always be grateful for them for bringing this model to the metropolitan areas,” Hochhauser said of SoulCycle. “We”™ve made sure to differentiate ourselves enough in not just what we offer and our vibe, but also in who we are.”
Like SoulCycle franchises, her studios have about 40 bikes and offer merchandise. Still, when SoulCycle came to Westport in April, she said it did not hurt her studio. She said JoyRide differs with a lower price point ($30 per class, $225 for monthly unlimited and $3,050 for yearly unlimited starting Aug. 15 in Westport and Darien) and a proven 20-hour training program created by Lorenz that ensures instructors are knowledgeable and athletic.
Due to the success of the Westport location, Hochhauser and her partners opened a second location in Darien soon after. Then, with a push from Amy Pal, the business took off on its own.
Pal, who became an enthusiastic JoyRide member when she moved to Ridgefield, approached Hochhauser about licensing the brand.
“I thought they had it so right,” Pal said. “I thought it would resonate with people in Ridgefield.”
Hochhauser said she had not expected to license the business when she started, but realized she was on to something special by the way Westport customers responded.
- JoyRide Cycling Studio co-founders Amy Hochhauser, Rhodie Lorenz and Debbie Katz. Photo courtesy Julianne Mulvey
Hochhauser said licensees have access to the training program and manual, the company”™s four trademarks and use of the website, which lists all of the company”™s locations. Owners pay royalties, a percentage of their revenue, after six months of doing business. She said she carefully reviews applicants on a case-by-case basis.
“Someone has to have a strong entrepreneurial spirit to do this,” she said. “Unlike a franchise we”™re not handing over a business. People have to bring a lot of their own skills for business  and marketing and passion for the brand to do it.”
A former Westport couple opened JoyRide locations in Texas, another location will open in Cohasset, Mass., and Hochhauser said people are interested in Denver and Manhattan”™s Upper East Side.
She said unlike a franchise, she does not dictate marketing. JoyRide owners have to find their own location and find their own financing. The locations have to have the same vibe, but owners can decorate their own way, making each studio more reflective of the community.
Pal said she and business partner Corey Londoner of Ridgefield went back and forth between whether to start their own spin studio or go with a studio that had already proved a success Pal has a background in finance working at Barclays and eTrade in London. With no spin instruction experience, she said she and Londoner thought the brand was valuable enough to buy into and opened a studio in Ridgefield last year. Hochhauser and her co-founders are like silent partners, Pal said.
This year Pal opened a second location with her husband Kevin Manley in Wilton because she thought it was a similar market to Ridgefield, but with more corporations. She has already been approached by businesses to do company rides.
Now Manley helps with the finance end of the businesses and Pal said she is enjoying finding clever ways to market and promote the business and fundraise. She introduced “cycle lunches” in Ridgefield. When riders come to class they can choose a lunch from a nearby partner restaurant and it is delivered at the end of class.
While Darien and Westport locations have off-the-mat exercises like TRX, bosu and pilates in a second studio, and Sharafsaleh will soon offer yoga at LifeCycle, for Pal, spin is “definitely” enough for a business on its own.
“People get a healthy addiction to it,” Pal said. “I think the IPO is a super great strong indicator that it”™s not a fad.”
