Dan Summerson, MD of Everlast Gyms, reflects on powerful learnings from the early days of TRIB3, the boutique gym business he co-founded with Kevin Yates. He talks to Kath Hudson

In 2013, Kev Yates and I – who’d met as gym instructors at Fitness First when we were only 20 – set out to create a boutique brand in the north of England. At that time there were Barry’s and 1Rebel, but no one was really doing it outside London and there was an assumption it wouldn’t work elsewhere. Coming from the north we thought differently – we knew there were affluent people there and so we co-founded TRIB3.

We brought in two investors as silent partners and had enough money to build three clubs. The first was in Sheffield and went really well – it was in a good location and has always been the strongest performer.

I wanted to open the next two sites in Manchester and Leeds, but the consensus was to get critical mass in Sheffield with two more locations.

My gut feeling was that Sheffield wasn’t big enough for three gyms and that the proposed locations didn’t have the right footfall or traffic.

There’s more flexibility with big box gyms, whereas with boutiques you have to be more selective in terms of location, because of the higher price point.

However, it was an exciting time and there were other people involved in the decision-making and so I agreed with the consensus for the good of the relationships within the business.

These second two sites in Sheffield never worked as well as the first and this put the business on the back foot. We were growing too quickly and never fully recovered from opening these two sites in the wrong locations.

A few years down the line this led to us having to sell a controlling stake – which was bought by Holmes Place – and ultimately exit the business.

I’m not allocating blame, or saying I wasn’t part of the decision making – of course I was – but I did go against my better judgement and looking back I realise I should have been more vocal about expressing my reservations.

It’s something I regret and that Kev and I have talked about since we left. If we’d got it right in the beginning, I think we would still be operating TRIB3, instead of just being shareholders.

A more measured approach
The whole TRIB3 situation changed me massively as a person. I realised I should have gone with my own judgements – it was one of those situations where the needs of the business should have come before the relationships.

A lot of the time life is gut instinct. It’s the feeling that you get from those environments, regardless of all the stats. You get reports saying that a location is going to be outstanding, but for me it’s just as important to look around – at the traffic and the people and get a feel for the place.

In the fitness industry there’s often the desire to expand, but I’m more measured now about opening new sites and being more selective. I like to make sure that all operational aspects are running smoothly at the existing sites before starting on the next one.

Looking back to TRIB3, we should have gone more slowly and made sure the business was prepared for change. We were rushing to expand too quickly.

These are lessons I’ve continued to be inspired by ever since – the experience taught me about attention to detail: get the team and the processes in a row and don’t move until everything is right.

Get the right locations, encourage your team to put all the facts and opinions on the table before a decision is made and don’t expand too fast.

TRIB3 was a stepping stone that got me where I am today, so I don’t look at the experience negatively.

It’s difficult to get to a good position without having made a few bad calls and anybody who says they’ve never made a mistake is probably lying.

Because of the lessons I learned with TRIB3, Everlast Gyms has the strongest version of me. I’m proud of what we’re accomplishing at Everlast and excited about where we’re heading next.