“I want everyone in the world to do yoga!” goodyoga owner Flannery Foster said as we enjoyed cupcakes at Ovenly along with her partner and goodyoga co-owner Ray Gonzales. With plans to franchise you may see more goodyoga studios opening up locally, and perhaps nationally and maybe even internationally if Flannery has her way.
In the past year they have opened two new successful locations in Brooklyn: Goodbush goodwick in Bushwick (36 Wyckoff Ave) and goodhill in Clinton Hill (602 Myrtle Ave), in addition to goodpoint (73 Calyer St) their Greenpoint flagship location. And they are not stopping there.
The Bushwick location, which is right off the Jefferson L, was opened after they began to seek space during a messy dispute with their Greenpoint landlord. Ray said that the “$10,000 per month rents on Greenpoint Ave.” made them fear they might be “priced out.”
“It’s a yoga studio, not a Mercedes Benz dealership,” Ray said.
Not to worry Greenpoint goodyogis, the Greenpoint location is not going anywhere for at least two years and they intend to always keep a flagship studio in the neighborhood.
While the Bushwick location was “a dream” – great space with great landlords – the Clinton Hill location Flannery described as “a grower, not a shower.”
They actually took the location over from a former student who went through their 200 hour teacher training but failed at the business because it was “too good to be true,” Flannery said.
The “home depot build-out” had “no soul,” Ray said. It also didn’t have heat in the winter and cooling in the summer and has little foot traffic, which makes their newly opened cafe serving fresh pressed juices a challenge.
“We know how to run a yoga studio,” Ray said, explaining that the Clinton Hill cafe was costly and at first diverted their attention from setting up the studio to something that is a more “complicated operation.”
But along with providing juice for the other locations, the cafe serves as “the lounge,” a place for community, like the other two locations have, which is an important aspect to their business model. This and their charitable arm which donates 20% of profits to helping women and children in India.
Now that all three locations are running smoothly, their expansion plans into the world of “goodyoga corporate” have begun.
Aside from teaching me how to make a cupcake sandwich, Flannery explained that yoga is the fourth largest growing industry after generic drugs, for profit universities and solar panels. But “yoga teachers want to teach,” not necessarily run a business, which is where the franchise model comes in.
“We give them our playbook,” Ray said.
Using the experience they have gained opening three yoga studios, the “partnership” as they refer to it offers fledgling yoga studio owners Flannery and Ray’s expert guidance from finding a space, to design and build out, to marketing the business and “renting” the trusted goodyoga trademark and branding.
“They get everything,” Flannery said.
At a buy-in between $30-50,000, with a possibility to use sweat equity in the negotiation, not just anyone can get in on this deal and all buyers will have to go through the 200 hour teacher training. After the buy-in, 10% of gross profit will go back to goodyoga and 10% goes to goodyoga for marketing purposes.
“We are vetting the buyers,” Flannery said, and “we’re not going to let them fail.”
While the up front cost may sound high, building a yoga business from scratch is not a simple turn-key operation as their former student at their Clinton Hill location learned.
Ray and Flannery “love” their students and don’t want to lose them. They also don’t want to see them fail, which is why goodyoga’s “keep it in the family,” approach may prove to be a great option for teachers who want to hit the ground running with an already well-respected yoga brand behind them.
Are you thinking of opening a yoga studio? Would you consider buying into a franchise?