Richmond’s JF Fitness of North America, a Crunch Fitness franchisee, is getting an injection from private equity.
Dallas private equity firm Trive Capital and Maui, Hawaii’s 808 Capital Partners said Friday they have made an undisclosed investment in JF. The investment will spur JF’s expansion in the Southeast via new gym openings and potential future acquisitions, the companies said.
In connection with the investment, JF has also acquired Team Roldan, a Crunch franchisee with eight gyms in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. JF, led by John Freeland, already operates 16 gyms in Virginia, Maryland and the Carolinas. With the Team Roldan acquisition, JF becomes one of the five largest Crunch franchisees in the country.
Crunch Fitness counts 2.5 million members at its big-box franchised gyms, which include cardio, strength training and weightlifting equipment and offer group fitness classes.
Shravan Thadani, a partner as Trive, said in a statement that Crunch’s positioning in the high-value, low-price segment of gyms makes JF a compelling investment “given the consistent, long-term growth trans we’ve seen in both the value and broader fitness categories.”