Franchisee Spotlight: StretchLab Charlotte & Columbia

Steve Hitzemann built his StretchLab footprint by trusting managers, supporting staff and scaling with strategy

Paging through the Wall Street Journal one morning in 2017, Steve Hitzemann’s eyes found their way to an article on assisted stretching. Having worked in banking for the past 20 years, it wasn’t totally in his wheelhouse, at least not from a career standpoint, but it sparked his interest nonetheless.

“Man, that’s pretty awesome,” he recalled of his reaction. “I wish we had one of those here in Charlotte.”

The modality was indeed popping up all over the country by that point, paralleling the boutique fitness boom. Having previously alleviated some of his own back issues through stretching, Hitzemann included himself among those with a vested interest in it.

But what began as a quick “wouldn’t it be nice” thought for Hitzemann eventually blossomed into something more — a humming subsection of the StretchLab franchise network. Now with seven sites in the Carolinas, including cities like Charlotte and Columbia, Hitzemann represents one of the brand’s more compelling success stories.

“My thought process migrated to ‘Maybe that can be me,’” Hitzemann said. “I was a big believer in the importance of stretching, but I had always done things on my own, like following YouTube tutorials. But then I saw the business, realized I like it and that got me going.” 

Staffing Is Essential

When it comes to running his franchise operation, Hitzemann relies on his management team to handle his businesses’ ground-floor operations.

“I have a GM in every studio, so I’m not running the ‘day to day’ operations,” he explained. “I’m looking at dashboards, numbers and metrics on a weekly basis, making sure they reflect what behaviors I’m expecting to have in there.”

However, Hitzemann noted that delegating responsibilities shouldn’t be confused with avoiding them. Finding the right individuals to support your enterprise is a crucial task, especially in a business that’s “people first” and experiences a natural staff churn.

“We’re always hiring, always looking for good folks, and when we find them, we make sure we’re doing all the right things to ensure they enjoy coming to work,” Hitzemann said. “This isn’t a passive investment by any stretch. If you don’t want to be in the studio on a daily basis, you need to plan for and budget to have a manager and you need to go out there and find those good folks.”

Hitzemann also prioritizes working closely with his managers, especially those running newly launched sites. Even with Hitzemann’s “on the business, not in the business” approach, he runs an active, not reactive, operation.   

“It’s important that I’m hands-on and I’m close to all my managers, especially if we’re launching a new location,” he said. “I want to get it off on the right foot, so I’ll spend more time there early on.”

A Strong Relationship With Xponential

Hitzemann channels support from above as well. There’s essentially an open line from franchisees to the StretchLab HQ level, run by parent company Xponential Fitness. That makes reaching out for more support swift and simple. The same goes for pitching adaptations or leveraging franchisee assets to better serve local markets.

“Obviously, they don’t do everything that we ask them to do at all times, but I’ve never had anybody turn down a conversation that I wanted to have and listen to ideas,” Hitzemann said. 

In one instance, Hitzemann thought to launch a promotion with the PGA Tour, noting the demand for assisted stretching among golfers. The combination of his market intelligence and StretchLab’s trust in franchisees culminated in a successful marketing campaign. 

“Golfers are an important target market for us,” Hitzemann said. “I brought an opportunity up with some retired, but still active, PGA pros to sponsor one of their radio shows on Sirius XM. We got that done, and did it for about six months earlier this year. It was a good first foray into StretchLab and PGA, and I hope there’s a lot more we can do in the future.”

Scaling Isn’t Easy 

Having grown to seven studios, Hitzemann understands the importance of having back-office tools that ensure consistency, quality and scale with the operation. It’s something he strongly endorses for others intent on expanding as well. 

“At scale, you need to have some more sort of support functions making sure that all the different pieces are running correctly,” Hitzemann said. “We’re always hiring, so we need to have resources dedicated to recruiting. Continuing education and making sure the quality of our product is always a plus is a critical piece as well.”

This only grows in importance as units do the same. 

“It’s easy to keep eyes on one or two studios, but a lot tougher when you’ve got seven, so we’ve got to create more of those back office support functions as we grow,” he added. 

Hitzemann also argues that adaptability and a willingness to roll up your sleeves are necessary for success. 

“It’s a lot of work, for sure,” Hitzemann said. “It doesn’t get any easier over time, it’s just different challenges. You’re wearing a lot of hats early on and learning a lot, especially if it’s a first-time franchisee. I was, so I’d never signed a commercial lease before, run marketing, managed sales and things like that. You learn a lot, which is cool, but you have to be ready to jump in.”

Hitzemann will aim to continue putting those words into practice, mentioning an intent to continue growing within his region in the future.