Former First Sports Group chair and Nuffield Health Consumer Fitness MD Nick Burrows is trialling a new yoga concept, which he hopes will ‘demystify’ the discipline and help yoga appeal to the mass market.
Burrows, who has co-founded Wellbeing Yoga, is aiming to scale up the concept to a minimum of five studios across Essex and the home counties by 2017, having enjoyed initial success with the company’s first studio in Brentwood.
Housed in the studio space of a local fitness club, Wellbeing Yoga Brentwood offers a wide range of inclusive yoga classes and is run by managing director Jessica Livingstone. A passionate yoga instructor with marketing savvy honed from her previous career in PR, Livingstone is an equal partner in Wellbeing Yoga, which she co-founded with Burrows late last year.
Pointing to the UK market’s tendency to adopt trends from the US, Livingstone and Burrows view the UK yoga market – estimated to be worth £760m annually – as having latent growth potential. Aiming to dispel the jargon and mystique which the pair feel have been a barrier to widespread yoga participation, Wellbeing Yoga hopes to bring yoga to the masses by offering a simple and engaging service.
“The key thing is recognising the things that create apprehension in customers, anticipating them and trying to provide an approach that makes it more inviting for customers to engage with what we’re offering,” said Burrows, who is harnessing his 25 years’ of leisure industry experience to provide strategic insights as non-executive chair.
“De-mystifying the offer is something I’ve always believed in as is having a strong, clear brand and a passionate MD to lead the business every day. Jessica Livingstone, is so brilliant at connecting with customers in simple language and giving them the courage to try and then stick with yoga.”
The growth plan for Wellbeing Yoga Brentwood sees the company plan to replicate the core values of the Brentwood Studio – aiming to reach new customers through targeted digital marketing, high-class instructors and a pay-as-you-go model with an automated booking service. Overheads and admin are kept to a minimum, with the policy of sub-letting under-utilised spaces from other operators forming a core part of this.
“Co-existing with the right partners has not proved a problem at all so we don’t find that a barrier to expansion,” adds Burrows.
“Already we have teachers approaching us to set up the next Wellbeing Yoga studio. They appear to like our formula which starts with a considered and strong brand, an understanding of who are customers really are, a financial model which produces profits and an automated booking solution which connects well with tech-savvy customers who increasingly make up the largest part of the market.”
