A gym is a database. Elaine Jobson, CEO of BeWell Brands and Jetts Fitness, on why Gen Z is rewriting the budget-gym model.

Elaine Jobson led the management buyout of Jetts Fitness in 2022, then built BeWell Brands on top of it: a franchise house that runs the same franchise engine across gym, recovery and group-exercise brands.

On her count, Jetts runs 130 gyms in Australia and about 200 overall, with clubs in the UK, the Netherlands and now India. She puts the group at well over 100 million dollars in revenue, and says it is not even halfway.

Her argument is that Gen Z, now the majority of new members on her numbers, wants a gym worth filming from every angle and will pay a bit more for it. The big budget chains, she says, can only change at the pace of their refurbishment cycles.

She also explains why Jetts runs no contracts at all, why she will not put water into a gym nobody staffs overnight, and which market she is looking at for the first time.

🧠 What you will hear:

• Why the membership system holds almost all the IP of a gym
• How Jetts changes around 30% of its concept from Delhi to London
• What never changes, and how she takes the word love to a boardroom
• Why she says contracts only help the business, and what she does instead
• What makes the US interesting for the first time
• Why the budget chains will struggle to keep up with Gen Z
• What the industry gets wrong about unit numbers

⏱️ Timestamps:

00:00 A gym is effectively a database

00:11 Jetts, BeWell and three things to listen for

01:09 More products on the same shelf

02:16 Jetts, O-Studio and Fitesque by the numbers

03:22 Why franchise

03:33 Over 100 million and not halfway

03:49 Where the franchisee's dollar goes

04:26 The tech stack behind a 24-hour gym

05:09 Why every CEO loses sleep over security

06:01 HYROX: a trend more than an innovation

06:32 Why Jetts is not bleeding edge

07:11 No water in a gym nobody staffs

08:26 What changes between Delhi, London and Australia

10:04 The 70% that never changes

10:22 How to measure love in a boardroom

11:15 A Net Promoter Score that never dips

11:59 Contracts only help the business

13:19 Members who leave and come back

14:21 The Middle East, and the US for the first time

14:48 Gen Z is the majority of new members

15:48 Accessible premium versus the budget chains

16:50 Filmability in a design brief

17:45 Why HVLP is not going anywhere

18:25 Social strength

19:23 Why budget chains can't move fast enough

20:00 The obsession with unit numbers

20:51 One decision: how much to invest in AI

🌐 Links:

• Elaine Jobson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elaine-jobson-72a8a33
• BeWell Brands: https://www.bewellbrands.com.au/
• Jetts Fitness: https://www.jetts.com.au/
• Natalia Karbasova on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karbasova/
• Tomorrow Health: https://tomorrow-health.com
• Get episode alerts: https://tomorrow-health.com/#subscribe
• Apply to join FitTech Club: https://fittechclub.com/

This episode is sponsored by Zing.Coach: Every member, personally coached. Learn more: https://zing.coach/