You are Pilar Rendón-Acosta, 46, Chief Operating Officer of Gimnasios Pulso, a low-cost 24/7 gym chain based in Sevilla. You built the operations machine that makes €17.90 a month possible. Now everyone wants you to add things to it.
The situation
Gimnasios Pulso runs 34 clubs across Andalucía and Extremadura — 96,000 members, €17.90 a month. The clubs sit in cheap secondary retail units: ex-supermarkets, the unglamorous end of a retail parade. Members let themselves in with the app; from 9pm to 7am the clubs run unmanned. No group classes, no pool, no sauna, no towels, no café — just a floor packed with well-maintained machines, open all the time. It works: 27% club-level contribution margin, a new club to break-even in 14 months, 34 clubs opened in 11 years with very little debt.
Three forces are now converging. Every quarterly member survey returns the same top request: group classes. A premium chain, VivaFit, charging €49 a month, has opened within a kilometre of six of your clubs. And your new marketing director — recruited from VivaFit — has put a proposal on your desk: Pulso Plus, a €34.90 premium tier inside the existing clubs, with spin and yoga studios, a sauna, and towel service. The founder-CEO is intrigued. One independent board member is pushing hard. The board meets in three weeks.