From Restaurants to Reps: Massimo Antinoro's Plan to Shake Up the Fitness Franchise World

Massimo Antinoro, the founder of Love Fitness, is sharing his view on how his new venture is aiming to bridge that gap by offering a premium experience at an affordable price. With over 16 years in the fitness world as a trainer and gym owner, he’s now channeling the operational savvy from his previous career running a multi-location restaurant business into a compelling and inclusive franchise model. We explore his journey and the vision behind Love Fitness.

Massimo, let’s start at the beginning. What inspired the vision for Love Fitness?

At 16, as soon as I left school, all I wanted to do was get working and so I went straight into working and learning my father’s restaurant business. I started from the shop floor, working my up before eventually running the business of 7 locations from the age of 22 until we sold the business in 2006. I have a passion for health and fitness and so it seemed a good fit to combine this with my experience of customer service and became a personal trainer. I launched Love Fitness as I wanted to progress within the fitness industry and have seen a gap in the market and am now driving the plan to expand the business.

For those who aren’t familiar, how would you describe the core mission of Love Fitness?

Love Fitness is all about bringing amazing value to the fitness market. We combine all the most popular services and aspects of our industry within a single gym premises. We can offer a premium fitness experience that typically comes with a premium price tag, within an affordable membership package. Our LVF360 classes ensure that our self-employed coaches bring a premium group fitness experience to all of the market, this adds even more value to our brand.

With such a broad offering, who do you see as your ideal member?

I know it is a cliché, but our business model really is suitable for anyone. We have members of all ages, experience levels, fitness goals. The only thing we don’t offer are wet facilities and tennis courts. But we can leave that to the uber premium clubs. If someone wants a place to exercise, alone or part of a group, and feel welcome then we are the go to place.

Why should someone consider a Love Fitness franchise over other gym concepts?

We are going through a difficult time economically, and as time goes by, we see that businesses and services that offer great value for money are becoming the leaders of their industries. The fitness industry is no different, affordable 24hr gyms have become the dominant sector of the market, but they have done that by offering very simple, limited, faceless services. Love Fitness are the only gym brand that offers this fitness facility alongside the extremely popular functional group fitness training that you find with brands such as F45, Crossfit and other premium priced group training studios. Our focus on our front desk customer advisor team also brings a service normally limited to clubs with premium membership fees. This means that the Love Fitness business model offers more value for money that any of the competition and becomes the standout gym and fitness premises within a community.

So, for a franchisee, what would their role actually look like?

The Love Fitness opportunity is a management franchise model. The service provided by a Love Fitness gym is that of a fitness premises or facility where members can use the club as and when they wish and for fitness professionals to run their personal training business or to offer their skills to teach on our group fitness timetable.

As a franchisee, your role is to build relationships with your membership base and to make sure that the facilities are clean and in working order. Of course, if a franchisee wanted to run their own personal training business from within their Love Fitness club that would be considered a bonus and a very lucrative opportunity for them.

Beyond financial investment, what kind of person are you looking for to join you on this journey?

Franchisees need to be well organised, have good communication and management skills, good listening skills, disciplined and a strong work ethic.

Building a new brand is never easy. What would you say has been your biggest achievement so far?

Launching a completely new brand in a small town with plenty of competition and becoming the busiest gym and fitness facility within that town was our first goal and we have achieved that. It was a huge learning curve, it wasn’t easy, especially dealing with Covid lockdowns at the same time but we succeeded.

Finally, what’s next for Love Fitness? What does the future hold?

In the short term our future is all about finding our first few pilot franchises, proving the franchise model works and then expanding from there. I genuinely see Love Fitness offering a more complete experience to the market and I think although we are just starting, I would see launching a Love Fitness gym a safer bet than the larger, out of date well-known brands.

The Bottom Line on the Love Fitness Franchise

Massimo Antinoro reveals a clear vision: to democratize the premium fitness experience. By blending the operational savvy gained from years in the restaurant business with a genuine passion for fitness, he’s crafted the Love Fitness model to be both member-friendly and investor-focused. For potential franchisees, it represents an opportunity to lead a community-focused business without needing to be a fitness expert themselves. In a crowded market, Love Fitness is betting on one timeless principle: incredible value always finds its audience.