Oct 22, 2026 · 42 min · 11 segments
After helping grow Club Pilates from 28 to 1,400 locations, Sarah Luna could have stepped back. Instead, she’s building another Pilates brand. Sarah, CEO of Pilates Addiction, joins Wes Barefoot…
Sarah LunaGuestWes BarefootHostso i wanna i wanna talk a little bit about this just the landscape of the pilates category right because you know like i was just saying on on paper you know there's there's at least you know four or five other pilates franchise concepts that you know are give or take you know somewhere in the the same kind of range in terms of number of You know, locations open.
I think you guys probably have a lot more locations and development and license and sold than most of these others.
But, you know, like one thing I know I hear pretty, pretty often is, you know, Wes, I love the I love the fact that it's membership.
based and and you know everything that comes with that type of a business model but man there's a lot of pilates concepts out there and it looks like it's a little too crowded you you already touched a little bit on like where pilates addiction is is kind of different from like a club pilates when it comes to the the target customer and the type of workout but could you kind of give us just like a run through of like from your perspective what is the landscape look like today in Pilates and where does Pilates addiction really fit in to all of
that? I think, you know, there's a couple of things on that point, right? First off, we're not going to assume that the customer is going to be looking for the Rolls Royce or the Swiss army knife of machines, right? So while that is, it's a beautifully gold, you know, Orem reformer that we offer, really what the value proposition is scaling is, a a more intense you know workout um with an incredible design and and vibe you know our studios have these beautiful led lights and the lights change with um the movement and with the class type and format um and they're highly efficient in terms of the way that they're built out um but we you know really making sure that we're creating the space for our members that drive community, are part of their lifestyle, are a great workout, obviously, but then there's other benefits that come with that, entertainment, some of those things.
And the moment that we become where we're just competing on the machines that we offer, that's where I would become fearful.
And that's where I would say, yeah, maybe there's too much Pilates, right? But one thing that I do notice is that the execution of the business model is where there's a lot of, um, uh, just downside or, uh, risk, right.
For people who are getting into Pilates and just generally in franchising, you know, the road from zero to 200 open or the zero to 100 is pretty risky for a new franchise or getting into that because running one or two versus running a hundred or running 200, is a very different support model and resource model.
And so where we've gone from zero to 1400 and then, you know, cross exponential portfolio over 3000, we know what that pathway looks like.
We have the cash to be able to go do that and do that successfully without hitting your normal franchise or speed bumps.
But prior to launching Pilates addiction, I spent, handful of months just on the road going to, you know, all the different competitors and people who are in the space.
And outside of solid core, you really don't have a scaled, you know, more modern, intense Pilates in this area.
But outside of that, you know, if you look at, you know, the TAM that we've, that we've gone out and identified, there's over a thousand territories or locations where people want this type of product.
But that means that, you know, there's hundreds of other locations out there that are just dying for this type of concept.
And we're seeing that, you know, we're seeing that in the way that people are responding to our social media, the way that people are signing to VIP.
so i wanna i wanna talk a little bit about this just the landscape of the pilates category right because you know like i was just saying on on paper you know there's there's at least you know four or five other pilates franchise concepts that you know are give or take you know somewhere in the the same kind of range in terms of number of You know, locations open.
I think you guys probably have a lot more locations and development and license and sold than most of these others.
But, you know, like one thing I know I hear pretty, pretty often is, you know, Wes, I love the I love the fact that it's membership.
based and and you know everything that comes with that type of a business model but man there's a lot of pilates concepts out there and it looks like it's a little too crowded you you already touched a little bit on like where pilates addiction is is kind of different from like a club pilates when it comes to the the target customer and the type of workout but could you kind of give us just like a run through of like from your perspective what is the landscape look like today in Pilates and where does Pilates addiction really fit in to all of
that? I think, you know, there's a couple of things on that point, right? First off, we're not going to assume that the customer is going to be looking for the Rolls Royce or the Swiss army knife of machines, right? So while that is, it's a beautifully gold, you know, Orem reformer that we offer, really what the value proposition is scaling is, a a more intense you know workout um with an incredible design and and vibe you know our studios have these beautiful led lights and the lights change with um the movement and with the class type and format um and they're highly efficient in terms of the way that they're built out um but we you know really making sure that we're creating the space for our members that drive community, are part of their lifestyle, are a great workout, obviously, but then there's other benefits that come with that, entertainment, some of those things.
And the moment that we become where we're just competing on the machines that we offer, that's where I would become fearful.
And that's where I would say, yeah, maybe there's too much Pilates, right? But one thing that I do notice is that the execution of the business model is where there's a lot of, um, uh, just downside or, uh, risk, right.
For people who are getting into Pilates and just generally in franchising, you know, the road from zero to 200 open or the zero to 100 is pretty risky for a new franchise or getting into that because running one or two versus running a hundred or running 200, is a very different support model and resource model.
And so where we've gone from zero to 1400 and then, you know, cross exponential portfolio over 3000, we know what that pathway looks like.
We have the cash to be able to go do that and do that successfully without hitting your normal franchise or speed bumps.
But prior to launching Pilates addiction, I spent, handful of months just on the road going to, you know, all the different competitors and people who are in the space.
And outside of solid core, you really don't have a scaled, you know, more modern, intense Pilates in this area.
But outside of that, you know, if you look at, you know, the TAM that we've, that we've gone out and identified, there's over a thousand territories or locations where people want this type of product.
But that means that, you know, there's hundreds of other locations out there that are just dying for this type of concept.
And we're seeing that, you know, we're seeing that in the way that people are responding to our social media, the way that people are signing to VIP.
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