The Numbers Guy: After years away, CEO returns to the franchising world

Name: Howard Brodsky
Title: Managing Partner and CEO
Company: Fraser Road Acquisitions
No. of units: 18 Pure Barre and 5 CycleBar
Age: 59
Family: 2 children
Years in franchising: 5
Years in current position: 2

Howard Brodsky recalls working as a sales and marketing executive at Crunch Fitness early in his career. He remembers the sweat equity he invested every day for four straight months to help launch the company before finally getting a weekend off. When he returned to the office, company owner Doug Levine asked about the performance of several Crunch locations over the weekend. Brodsky didn’t know the answer.

“Doug rather directly told me to never come in without knowing the numbers, and that always stood out to me,” Brodsky says. “Since that time, I’ve made it a point to constantly know the key metrics for success and how to grow. I’m a numbers guy. I love to dive into the numbers. There are people who feel comfortable keeping a business where it is while others want to see it grow. I am always focused on growth.”

As executive vice president of sales and marketing with Crunch Fitness, Brodsky helped increase revenue from $2 million to $98 million in his seven years with the company. He then moved on to become CEO of the New York Health & Racquet Club, where he doubled the revenue for its 11 clubs over his 11 years there.

Today, Brodsky is again making the numbers work as managing partner and CEO of Fraser Road Acquisitions. Two years ago, he got back into franchising with the purchase of more than 20 Xponential Fitness locations in the New York City metro area and one in Philadelphia. Through the first quarter this year, all 23 of his Pure Barre and CycleBar studios have increased their revenues by double digits since Q1 2024. Brodsky is quick to credit the leadership team and talent in the field for revenue increases.

Not surprisingly, Brodsky has ambitious goals of growing the business in the coming years despite the real estate challenges he faces in adding locations in the New York City area. He hopes to operate 100 Pure Barre and CycleBar units over the next decade. He considers studios in the city—at “the right space at the right price”—while also expanding into the suburbs for new locations.

While Brodsky’s primary interest lies in recognizing important KPIs to increase revenue and grow the business, he is also passionate about the fitness industry, where he has spent the majority of his career. 

“In fitness, we have the opportunity to make people healthy and improve their lives both mentally and physically,” he says. “I’ve seen so many personal transitions that are so motivating. It is not just the before and after photos or if someone lost a certain amount of pounds. Fitness and exercise have had a positive impact on weddings, anniversaries, and major events in their lives.”

Brodsky uses the lessons learned throughout his career, as well as the opportunities in franchising, to scale his company. His time with Crunch Fitness molded his drive and work ethic while tapping into his interest in business growth. He learned about branding, communicating, and leading a team in his tenure with New York Health. He is now applying those traits to his current role while taking advantage of the support offered by franchising.

“When you own a franchise, you are handed a playbook for success,” Brodsky says. “That’s what I like about the franchise system. Sometimes, the playbook needs to change market to market because running a business in Iowa City is different than Manhattan. But in general, you get delivered the playbook, and it feels comforting that you have a group behind you that wants you to succeed. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”

PERSONAL

First job: I was a caddy when I was 14. That lasted only two weeks because I was too skinny and small to carry two golf bags, no matter how hard I tried.

Formative influences/events: Doug Levine was owner of Crunch Fitness, and we worked side by side to launch the company. He was the owner of the Nutrisystem franchises that I worked for.

Key accomplishments: Turning around New York Health & Racquet Clubs by doubling its revenue from $19 million per year to $40 million. In helping launch Crunch Fitness, we took it from $2 million to $98 million before selling the company.

Biggest current challenge: Real estate opportunities for new Pure Barre studios. In Manhattan, it is about finding the right space at the right price. Our studios need to be column free, so that is a consideration. Although we have two studios in New York City under development, we have been doing better in suburbs like Westchester. 

Next big goal: Opening another 25 Pure Barre studios and finding other brands to bring into the Fraser Road Acquisitions fold.

First turning point in your career: Joining Crunch as SVP and working with the founder to start growing the small company. It gave me the passion and love for growing businesses. That is what I love to do. My experience with Crunch was like my working MBA.

Best business decision: Surrounding myself with people who are better than I am in general. At Crunch, we decided on a direction that we were going to grow the business, which was to become a sales organization that is the very best in the industry.

Hardest lesson learned: Letting my personal feelings about an individual I was fond of get in the way of a termination that should have taken place. I did not terminate them, and there were consequences.

Work week: I am always on, seven days a week, from when I wake until I go to sleep. I don’t sleep enough!

Exercise/workout: I try to get to the gym four times per week for weights, and I have started to ride the exercise bike.

Best advice you ever got: From Doug Levine when I worked at Crunch, “Always know the numbers.” I have never forgotten that and have operated that way for 30 years. It keeps me on my toes, and since my employees know that I know their numbers, they stay on their toes as well.

What’s your passion in business? I love to see growth in profitability first and foremost but also so many KPIs. Some of those KPIs are year-over-year growth, yearly net income growth, sales closing percentage, cost per lead, and cost per sale. 

How do you balance life and work? It has taken me 59 years and a serious life event to teach me to stop and smell the roses in my personal life. I have always been a workaholic, but as much as I worked and traveled, I never missed any of my kids’ games, recitals, or other important events.

Guilty pleasure: Classic cars and motorcycles.

Favorite book: It still remains The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain from my childhood.

Favorite movie: “The Godfather.”

What do most people not know about you? That I had a horse rescue, and I am a Penn State sports fanatic.

Pet peeve: Dishonesty.

What did you want to be when you grew up? An actor.

Last vacation: To Barcelona three years ago.

Person you’d most like to have lunch with: Unfortunately, he has passed, but it would be former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno.

MANAGEMENT

Business philosophy: Employees first! Build trust, loyalty, and customer satisfaction. Empower smart, goal-driven people.

Management method or style: Transactional and transformational. Transactional by digging into the numbers and making informed decisions through those. Transformational comes through empowering people to come up with new ideas. That is reflected through the growth and rebranding of a business. It is constantly trying to grow and get better and being open-minded. I will test almost anything if it makes sense. 

Greatest challenge: Hiring and retaining great people. Keeping people loyal and having them want to stay with you. I think it has always been that way, but it is maybe more the case today with people jumping from job to job more often. 

How do others describe you? Hopefully loyal and kind but tough at times.

Have you ever been in a mentor-mentee relationship? What did you learn? Doug Levine at Crunch. He taught me all about branding from the logo to the mission statement. I learned a lot from him in my seven years there. 

One thing you’re looking to do better: Continuing to drive growth and profitability.

How you give your team room to innovate and experiment: With open communication and the freedom to experiment. I am all for trying new approaches with the understanding that it’s okay to fall short sometimes. But you have to try.

How close are you to operations? Very involved. I try to attend as many meetings as possible, starting with weekly brand GM meetings and leadership meetings.

What are the two most important things you rely on from your franchisor? Innovation and reporting. Much like restaurant franchisees rely on occasional new menu items or promotions, it is important for our franchisor to create new classes to keep our members excited and coming back. That’s why we pay royalties. Reporting is also important, which goes back to the basic KPIs. It helps to have the correct POS systems and see rankings on where everyone stands and comparisons versus sister studios.

What you need from vendors: Quality, pricing, timely responses, and delivery.

Have you changed your marketing strategy in response to the economy? How? No. It hasn’t affected us yet. I was prepared to change our marketing with price points and discounting, but we haven’t hit that point yet.

How is social media affecting your business? We are very sensitive to social media and do our best to be on top of all comments and react to them in a positive way.

In what ways are you using technology (like AI) to manage your business? In the past year, we launched AI in all studios after testing it in a single CycleBar studio. Now, we’re using it across both brands and all studios. Every lead is now responded to by our AI sales rep immediately, and no lead goes unanswered, which is crucial in our New York City market.

How do you hire and fire? More carefully in today’s environment than ever before. I like to hire goal-driven people who care about the work we’re doing.

How do you train and retain? We constantly train using our secret shopper reports that we implemented a year ago as well as weekly sales trainings.

How do you deal with problem employees? Carefully. We have a terrific HR director who is involved with every employee at all levels. If we have a problem employee and they don’t fix the problem, we have to move on. It is often best for both parties. 

Fastest way into your doghouse: Dishonesty and not knowing your business data (KPIs, revenue, etc.).

BOTTOM LINE

Annual revenue: $19 million.

Goals over the next year: Open three or more new locations and have several more in development.

Growth meter: How do you measure your growth? The best KPI is year-over-year comps from revenue, net income, etc.

Vision meter: Where do you want to be in five years? 10 years? In five years, the goal is to have 50 operating Pure Barre and CycleBar locations and to be one of the best operators in the system. In 10 years, I hope to be deciding on a place to retire but running 100 units at the same time.

Do you have brands in different segments? Why/why not? Just the two brands at the moment but always looking for other opportunities.

How is the economy in your region(s) affecting you, your employees, your customers? People were jittery during the market crash earlier this year. We kept moving forward and were sensitive to their feelings. We wanted to make sure the employees felt comfortable and safe. We didn’t want our employees feeling like they were just a number. That will trickle down to our customers.

Are you experiencing economic growth in your market? Yes. Our year-over-year comps are very strong for both brands. That is through our general revenue numbers. We are doing less discounting this year than a year ago. 

How do changes in the economy affect the way you do business? We had a contingency forecast for a 6% decrease in revenue for the year if the economy takes a turn for the worse. My strategy is to move forward aggressively and stick with our goal of expanding even with a potential downturn. We will be extremely cautious and look at each dollar spent. 

How do you forecast for your business? At the beginning of the year, we forecasted a 4% growth for our existing locations. We are coming off a very strong 2024, where we had double-digit growth, and we forecasted a bit conservatively. Currently, we’re pacing at 7%.

What are the best sources for capital expansion? Banks and internal sources for Fraser Road Acquisitions.

Experience with private equity, local banks, national banks, other institutions? Why/why not? It is currently through self-funding. We are also looking into banking relationships. If we continue at our current pace, the plan is to grow the business with cash flow.

What are you doing to take care of your employees? We have several incentives and bonuses to take care of the employees financially, but we try to ensure that we are always there for them for any life challenges, etc.

How are you handling rising employee costs (payroll, minimum wage, healthcare, etc.)? We have to slowly raise our pricing while still staying competitive in the marketplace, and that’s why we have to offer exemplary customer service and an amazing customer experience.

What laws and regulations are affecting your business, and how are you dealing with them? We are just now getting our New York State regulations for our contracts. It is really dealing with consumer agencies and making sure we are compliant every step of the way.

How do you reward/recognize top-performing employees? Company-wide communications, bonuses, financial rewards, etc.

What kind of exit strategy do you have in place? We do not have an exit strategy at this point. Because we are a friends-and-family ownership group, we may hold on to the business while we continue to grow.