The world has grown accustomed to the typical exercise regimen, which makes innovation impossible. Devan and Morgan Kline recognised this loophole and set out to redefine fitness. This fitness-obsessed couple co-founded Burn Boot Camp in 2012 with the goal ‘to sell confidence and not fitness.’ Burn Boot Camp believes that confidence is the key to realising one’s full potential and rejects preconceived notions of fitness. Moreover, the company is aware that a community is one of the motivating factors for inspiring one’s inner desire to transform. It can also serve as the foundation to help one continue on one’s fitness journey. “When you step into one of our gyms, you become a part of #BurnNation. With our supportive, inspiring, and motivating community, you’ll have all you need to achieve greatness. We’re proud that this sense of community has been authentically translated across our franchise partner network,” says Devan.
Burn Boot Camp provides fitness and wellness programs for women. Burn Boot Camp, based in Cornelius, North Carolina, has changed many people’s lives by providing them with a new perspective. Its community empowers, encourages, and connects to build confidence and inspire mental, emotional, and physical transformation through community-based fitness and empowerment. Its elite trainers help its clients with energizing and challenging 45-minute high-energy cardio and strength workout camps. It also offers personalized goal setting, nutrition guidance, and Childwatch services to members to help them crush their lives—inside and outside the gym. In the Burn Boot Camp gym, one can find everything one requires to transform. “From free weights, hurdles, kettlebells, and jump ropes to resistance bands, battle ropes, and our coveted pull-up rig, we chose all of the equipment intending to give members the full-body strength and conditioning they need to maximize their workout,” says Devan. To further help its members’ reach their goals, Burn Boot Camp offers personalized nutrition guidance, including one-on-one Focus Meetings to help them form a customized plan for success. “Whether it’s guidance on nutrition, performance, mindset, or fat loss that one needs, we’ll help you crush all your goals,” says Morgan. Their elite trainers present a new workout routine, making sure to target different muscle groups throughout the week. Its camps are designed around a weekly protocol, including a combination of strength and high-intensity interval training. “Understanding shock to the body’s muscles is key, and Burn Boot Camp never does the same workout twice, making sure to target different muscle groups throughout the week. This allows everyone a chance to experience something new and fresh,” says Morgan. Additionally, the company utilizes specialized workout regimens like STACK and UNSTACK workouts, unique to Burn Boot Camp.
Burn Boot Camp wants to create a long-lasting business that will last for many generations. Devan and Morgan view competition as healthy, and they prefer to work with businesses that they admire and collaborate with to achieve similar outcomes. Devan adds, “I should also note that competitors do not get a seat in our boardroom—meaning, we know what they are up to, but we rarely consider what they are doing as a proxy for our decision making.” Orange Theory, according to the founders, does a great job operationally and is usually who they look at in the space. Burn Boot Camp is attempting to surpass Planet Fitness in the revenue category since its objective is to grow into the largest fitness company on the planet. When it comes to the level of competition, Devan believes that every industry is crowded and hyper-competitive, especially in fitness.
Devan and Morgan Kline
The idea of loving oneself
Burn Boot Camp began with a small gymnastics parking lot with $600 worth of dumbbells and exercise mats. Within eight months, it acquired four ‘parking lot’ locations, hundreds of members, and began franchising in 2015. “It will be interesting to see technology evolve and shift in terms of technology changes. We [Burn Boot Camp] want to leverage technology, but we don’t want to be reliant on technology,” says Morgan. According to Devan and Morgan, it is critical for Burn Boot Camp to dispel the unhealthy narrative of how women should look and to remind its female members that they are beautiful just the way they are. Burn Boot Camp nationwide has also ditched all studio mirrors and appearance-based fitness goals to incorporate self-love and body confidence into its everyday workouts. Burn Boot Camp strives to demonstrate that one can still have weight loss or health goals while leading with confidence.
“Successful candidates are confident, tenacious, and demonstrate leadership qualities. Of the utmost importance, we embrace candidates that have a passion for Burn Boot Camp and/or fitness in general, along with the drive and determination to transform their community.”
Being a franchise
Jolene Purchia, Senior Vice President of Franchise Development, shares that Burn Boot Camp continuously offers a multitude of ongoing training and resources to its system. Regional training, gym visits by its field support team, learning management systems, plug-and-play promotions, and growth action plans are just a few of its offerings. Burn University, its core learning mechanism, is offered every 6 weeks and can be re-attended by any Franchise Partner who needs a refresher. Beyond initial training, it also has a Trainer Portal, where all workouts are loaded, and franchise partners have access to this. It is constantly developing challenging exercises and formats to assist franchise partners in keeping workouts fresh and inspiring. Both co-founders have been able to travel extensively with its Master Trainer, Matt Morris, over the last year and a half, which has been fantastic to be in-person, working together, educating, and supporting each other. “That’s important to us,” says Morgan.
Jolene is pleased to say that many of the company’s franchise partners are expanding their empires with Burn. “Many of the Burn Boot Camp franchise partners started with one gym and have since become multi-unit owners,” says Jolene. “A large percentage of franchise agreements signed this year come from within our current owner base.” The company seeks to partner with those that possess entrepreneurial zest and business savviness. She says, “Successful candidates are confident, tenacious, and demonstrate leadership qualities. Of the utmost importance, we embrace candidates that have a passion for Burn Boot Camp and/or fitness in general, along with the drive and determination to transform their community.” The community that is built in its gyms begins at the top; thus, franchise candidates must align with Burn’s core values in order to be considered. The franchise instils in its franchise owners the values of integrity, authenticity, pride in results, and putting people first. “Finally, we ensure our candidates are financially sound, so they are set up for success. We expect our Franchise Partners to involve themselves in their community, be energized by hard work, and deliver and execute our proven processes with pride and integrity,” says Jolene.
Unveiling what lies ahead
Burn Boot Camp is thrilled by its rapid growth. Currently, it has over 300 gyms open in 40 states and should have as many as over 50 additional gyms open by the end of the year. It also had its 500th franchise signing, a super exciting milestone for its team. Having said that, the franchise intends to further foster connection and provide more benefits to its community through new digital offerings, while continuing to support its members in all aspects of their lives. Moreover, Burn Boot Camp plans to empower its community and its members by bringing back some of its annual challenges and initiatives, such as the Be Their Muscle campaign in July, which has raised over a million dollars for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA).
