Interview: ​​Francis Dowdle, Head of Operations at KX Pilates

This week, we were lucky to sit down with Francis Dowdle, Head of Operations at KX Pilates, and hear about his journey in the boutique fitness industry. KX Pilates is Australia’s leading reformer pilates brand which uses a 50 minute, full body reformer pilates workout. Since their inception into the fitness industry in 2010, they have grown to over 100 studios Australia wide and launched in New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Taiwan and - most recently - the USA. KX Pilates is a longtime partner of Hapana, and we've loved being part of their expansion.

What’s your secret sauce for keeping everything running smoothly across multiple KX Pilates studios?

It certainly is not something done on my own! I am fortunate to work with a team of very capable individuals who are also capable of being great team members. This results in an overall capability to be flexible and agile when balancing reactive business critical decision making with proactive change.  This is the key driver of the network support, managing a team that can work together to deploy the best attribute to resolve issues and create forward momentum. 

A key driver of the network support is managing a team that can work together to deploy the best attribute to resolve issues and create forward momentum.

What inspired you to transition from the hospitality industry to managing boutique fitness studios?

This was quite a personal want. For me, to be able to work on something I can believe in for ethical and transformative purposes. Ultimately, for me, this was always going to be in fitness - as I have a deep love for physical fitness and a complete belief in its power to impact people and society positively. Hospitality is a great industry filled with passionate people; and I was fortunate to develop operational and leadership skills in challenging, high-pressure environments. However, the work on something I believe in is a great honor for me. 

What are your go-to tools and apps for making your job easier and keeping things on track?

As an operations manager first, I have lent into a minimalist approach to tools in order to remain focussed on theory and process. Firstly, Hapana is our primary tool for managing our company, from a studio level to the strategic decision making. I will work off data metrics created by Hapana and sometimes re-interpreted through Power BI.

To provide a framework for strategic decision making, we utilise Atlassian which allows key visibility throughout the operation. In addition, and like many, I work primarily off my phone; so mobile apps are incredibly valuable, particularly the Google framework of apps we utilise for emails / storage / calendar and time management. 

Hapana is our primary tool for managing our company, from a studio level to the strategic decision making.

What numbers do you keep an eye on to make sure your studios are thriving?

Firstly, revenue is the key metric that represents success. Growth of this is the most representative of the success and capability of an operational system to provide a product to a client successfully. However, there are other metrics which can better represent the inner working of an operation; specifically conversion of introductory clients and retention of existing clients.

These stats can represent the improvement of degradation of an operations capability to deliver the product completely. Finally, these numbers exist within the key contexts of the fitness industry and the wider economic circumstances of the areas we work. Understanding the value of numbers within these contexts is a key driver of future focussed decision making. 

What are some common slip-ups you’ve seen in fitness studio operations, and how can they be avoided?

At a studio level, the primary issue will mostly be client management. Either far too low a level of engagement and understanding of what clients are looking for, or a focus on too narrow a band of ‘hardcore’ clients.  Both result in failing to support clients experiencing learning the product and ultimately poor conversion and retention rates. 

At a network level, the responsible management of growth is becoming a greater issue across the industry. Following high profile network management issues, the requirement to establish studios within a framework providing the best chance of success (through expansion strategies, marketing and support structures) is key.  

At a network level, the responsible management of growth is becoming a greater issue across the industry.

How do you keep things fresh and innovative while maintaining a consistent experience across all studios? 

Referenced above is the balance we seek to manage between the immediate needs of the business with innovation projects to future proof KX. One should not necessarily be at the cost of the other, although at times more resources should be put into either depending on the criticality of items and the overall development of the industry.

Notwithstanding the balance, a significant portion of improvement should also be driven by understanding the issues in a business and designing fixes. The cumulative effect of this can and should be transformative over time. 

What’s the best piece of advice you’d give to someone new to managing a boutique fitness studio?

Understand, contribute to, and participate in your community. Every studio develops its own group who want to experience the workout together. Fostering that and developing that is both a core component of financial success and a key piece of the fitness experience.   ‍

What’s one piece of advice you’d give your younger self starting out in this industry?

It wasn’t that long ago! I started in the fitness industry during COVID, so it was hard to get a foundation on what the industry should be. My advice would be to be patient and be prepared to take the variations in that crazy time period into account when establishing a baseline understanding from which to work from. 

Do you have a favorite success story or moment from your time at KX Pilates?

I’ve been fortunate to have a few moments of really great team success I’ve participated in. However, the growth and success of the brand after the challenges of COVID are a key indicator of the success in reframing the operations methodology of the brand over the past three years.

In your opinion, what will the boutique fitness industry look like in 5 years?

A lot bigger for a start. Boutique fitness has a capacity to provide services that can both support particular wants from clients and create new wants; as such, the limit is only going to be the creativity of those in the industry to discover new modalities or new ways of providing established modalities. 

To surmise, the future will be about growth through accelerating differentiation driven by industry creativity and community engagement. Something we are all incredibly excited to be a part of. 

Thanks Francis!

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