An increasingly popular gym franchise in Japan is charging its users around $20 a month, offering teeth whitening, photo booths and — almost as an afterthought — exercise equipment.
The patchwork concept is called Chocozap, run by Rizap Group, a billion-dollar fitness company that made its name in high-end personal training. In less than two years, the sub-brand has tapped into a casual and frugal gym user base with more than 1,500 locations and 1.2 million-plus customers.
Typical memberships in Japan’s ¥278.4 billion ($1.9 billion) gym industry are on par with the United Kingdom or the United States, at around $60 to $80 a month, but Chocozap has taken the concept and adapted it for a wider base, seeking to draw in casual users willing to sign up at a lower price. That’s made the business a major player in the sector, which saw a 2.2% rise in the number of customers to 2.8 million last year.
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