Franchisee Spotlight: StretchLab, Raleigh & Wilmington, North Carolina

From “love at first stretch” to five profitable studios, Henry Gonzalez reveals how being “grease and glue” helped him build a profitable web of StretchLabs

Henry Gonzalez was ready to pack it in for the day. While out in California looking for a new business venture, he and his wife had just spent an entire afternoon sitting through PowerPoint presentations. They did the same thing the day before as well. 

“Honey, I’m exhausted,” he said. “Let’s go back to the room.”

His wife, however, insisted they stay out. Something caught her eye as she and her husband exited their latest exhibit. It was a logo they’d both come to know quite well — and the end of their franchise vetting process. 

“She saw StretchLab on the wall and asked, ‘What’s that?,’” Gonzalez said. “Their chief marketing officer happened to be in the office. He came out, told us what it was and that night, we went down to visit one.”

Gonzalez called the experience “love at first stretch.” He and his wife were blown away by the assisted stretching brand’s services and noticed an abundance of consumer satisfaction and from others in the studio as well. 

“We were convinced that it helped us solve a problem, and that’s what really compelled us,” Gonzalez said. “We called Xponential Fitness about a week and a half later and told them we would like to start with the Raleigh market, and StretchLab is a brand we would like to partner with.”

Gonzalez’s operation began with three Raleigh, North Carolina, locations, but has since blossomed to include two in Wilmington. He also has two more licenses for Durham and Chapel Hill sites. As the growth continues, he’s maintaining a focus on team-building while leveraging inside and outside help. 

Advice for Multi-Unit Operators 

Gonzalez argues that multi-unit operators need strong, dependable teams to keep their business humming on all levels. Along with handling administrative responsibilities, they help deliver a top-notch product that’s noticed at the consumer level.  

“It’s an incredible feeling where if you go into a studio, you know they can run the business better than you,” he said. “Once you’ve assembled a great team and the culture is right, it’s like magic, not just for you as an owner, but also the customer because they feel it. If you look at the culture and the people, it’s obvious why my best performing studios do so well. It’s not just the neighborhood.”

With that “magic” established, Gonzalez prioritizes being a culture-cultivator and creating conditions for those team members to thrive. 

“Now, my job is to remove obstacles for them,” he said. “I had a really good leader once tell me that you have to be like grease and glue — grease to remove the obstacles out of the way, and glue to bring the culture in, and keep it together and keep it right. That’s really where we’re spending a lot more of our time.”

Gonzalez also understands that within large organizations, small inefficiencies can compound quickly and impede productivity. For that reason, he’s made bringing in more automation and AI-infused technology a priority of late, whether it’s with vendors provided through Xponential or others he finds himself. 

Collaboration Is Key

Gonzalez isn’t afraid to look for help outside his immediate staff as well. To help grow his locations and further ingratiate them within their local communities, he mentioned he’s recently spent time networking with local pickleball organizations to set up collaborations. 

Gonzalez also syncs with other franchisees in the Xponential to discuss ideas and exchange insights, even if they’re not directly affiliated with StretchLab. He often speaks with Jon Smith and David Shuck, who are two of Xponential’s most successful Club Pilates franchisees. 

“There’s certainly a network of owners who bounce ideas off each other,” Gonzalez said. “I’m always trying to learn about things I can cross-pollinate from the most successful brand to ours.”

Additional collaborations include bringing their “Flexologists” into different corporate settings to educate individuals on the benefits of a good stretch. Gonzalez called the in-office events “fun and fruitful,” noting how people who sit for hours at a time often experience elevated relief. 

When You’re Feeling Behind

While business owners can follow all this advice laid out by Gonzalez, they’ll likely still need to navigate a series of challenges to get where he’s at today. When adversity inevitably hits, Gonzalez encourages franchisees to avoid acting on negative impulses and continue to look for help from those around them. 

“You’re going to have a dark moment at some point along the way where you’re going to say, ‘I don’t think this is for me. What have I just done?,’” Gonzalez said. “I had that moment, and I reached out to David, one of the Club Pilates owners, and I still remember the words he told me, which probably changed my trajectory. He said, ‘Henry, don’t make a hard right or a decision off a speed bump.’ So, as a new owner, when you hit that moment, pick up the phone and call somebody who’s been there. You’re going to need to hear some words of encouragement from somebody else.”

Gonzalez now holds up one of StretchLabs’ most promising factions of its franchise networks. One of his locations has ranked in the top three for brand revenue for five years straight. He shared that two others are trending just behind that one as well. 

“We’re really proud of that,” Gonzalez said. “We’re very proud of the fact that we run five and five that are all profitable. That means that we’re being grease and glue.”