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Nifty After Fifty
Franchise caters to the whole senior
| Nifty After Fifty doesn’t just help seniors get fit; it helps them age gracefully. |
After selling CareMore Medical, a service that provides health care coverage for senior citizens, Dr. Sheldon Zinberg turned his attention to developing a tangible health service for seniors. He came up with Nifty After Fifty, a multi-use facility that caters to the whole person—from fitness and nutrition needs to a healthy social life.
Nifty After Fifty officially launched in 2006, and is now primed to begin franchise sales in every market, starting with the Southwest.
"The demographic is right. There is a tremendous population with significant spending power entering this age group. They are a generation that wants specialized care and we provide the right services at the right time. Timing is everything," says Vice President of Sales and Marketing Michael Conigliaro.
Nifty After Fifty is more than just a niche fitness business. It differs from competitors like Curves and Club 50 Fit because of its focus on aging well. Nifty After Fifty offers members high-quality workout equipment, consulting, a comprehensive day spa, physical therapy and a driving simulator. Other profit centers include private-label, skin-care products and a private-label clothing line.
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At a glance Nifty After Fifty Franchise Fee: $50,000 Royalty: 8 percent Ad fee: N/A at this time Total Investment: $400,000-800,000 Number of units: five corporate |
"We believe in providing an experience for all the senses. It's not just what you see—it's what you feel, what you hear, what you smell," Conigliaro says. Nifty After Fifty promotes a clean, contemporary environment that welcomes customers, as well as age-appropriate music selections.
The equipment is state of the art, including fitness machines that record settings for theclients and download the information to central systems that help their exercise experience to build off of past sessions.
"We want to be Cheers. Where everybody knows your name. That's why the social aspects of the concept are so important," Conigliaro says. This includes programs aimed at becoming a community center. Such programs include card games, movie nights, classes designed for seniors, such as fall prevention and the driving simulator, as well as yoga.
The approach is a total look at senior citizens and their unique needs. The driving simulator, for instance, is designed to help seniors maintain their independence by honing their driving skills to keep their driver's license. In fact, in all programs at Nifty After Fifty the aim is to create a better quality of life for the 76 million aging baby boomers in the U.S.
Nifty After Fifty is in the initial offering of franchised units. Those with medical, fitness, physical therapy and other related backgrounds are of particular interest. As Conigliaro puts it, "A savvy entrepreneur will see the need in the demographic and the potential in the concept. A person who is passionate about running a business for the right reasons will love it.
