Yapping with...Dave Thomas, Founder of The Foundry
“No one has failed. We might have to start again - but at least we’ll be doing it from the same starting point.”
Dave, The Foundry
This week, we got some time in with Dave Thomas, founder of boutique gym The Foundry. When we started the interview - remotely, of course - Dave admitted that he’d considered cancelling it, concerned that there was nothing beneficial he could offer our readers at this impossibly difficult time. But that was before he’d made the toughest announcement he’d ever have to make to his staff - and seen the response.
“Breaking the news to our staff that we would be voluntarily closing and everyone would need to take a dramatic paycut was the worst thing I’ve ever had to do. There were tears. But the level of support and understanding was overwhelming. It made me realise what an incredible team I have, and that we really are all in this together. One of our core values is “we got each other’s backs” so the only ethical decision was to ride this out together rather than making job cuts. This decision was vindicated a week later with the announcement of the Coronavirus job retention scheme. We now have five full time employees running the business, and the rest of our team are furloughed on 80% of their salaries.”
Unlike the vast majority of gym groups, all twenty-seven team members at The Foundry - including personal trainers - are employed on a full time basis. It took a few years for Dave to reach a position where he could provide his staff with this level of security, “but I always believed it was the best way of doing things. It’s how you get true loyalty, real commitment, genuine dedication. It also means that - although they’ve taken a big hit - we’ve been able to keep them employed.”
“Our members have been amazing too,” he added. “So far we’ve retained 99% of our memberships.” The fitness industry, alongside leisure and hospitality, have been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. As Dave explained “cash reserves are low and overheads are high, particularly considering the cost of bricks and mortar buildings.”
The Foundry operates three large London sites in Old Street, Vauxhall and Bank. Together they serve close to 400 customers. “The combination of full-time staff and a relatively small clientele means we retain that sense of community.” And it’s during unprecedented times like these that having a strong community really counts.
But the route Dave took to get to where he is today wasn’t a straightforward one. Unbeknown to him at the outset, twists and turns awaited, setbacks reared their head unexpectedly and fuelled doubt. And yet Dave persevered. “We’ve been through a lot and still we’ve made it through. And now we’re going through it again - this time alongside the rest of the world.”
THE PAST
After attaining a degree in Philosophy and Literature, Dave moved to London where he worked as a conference director, curating corporate events within the transport and logistics sector. “I learned all my business acumen there. At the time it was stressful - it was a sink or swim environment - but looking back now I realise how valuable that was.” Dave’s role covered everything from sales and marketing to fundraising and managing budgets. “I was a twenty-four year old with a load of life experience but no business experience. But when my first big conference turned out to be a success, I realised I could do it. I had done it.”
But it wasn’t long until the London lifestyle caught up with him. “I started drinking and smoking. A quiet night was six pints down the pub and four hours sleep.” Having played semi-professional rugby for various teams in his late teens, “sport fell by the wayside in London. I was already too small, too injured, and now increasingly aware I was on a downward spiral.”
However that all changed one evening when Dave went down to the gym to work out. “I noticed a guy telling someone what to do in the gym. I’d never seen this before, so we started chatting and I asked what he did. “I’m a personal trainer”, he said. It blew my mind.” This was in the early noughties, when personal training was still a relatively new career. “Within a month, I’d quit my job and signed up to do my PT qualifications.”
For two years Dave worked freelance. He was in and out of people’s houses, training out of local rugby clubs and in parks. Then came the financial crash of 2008. “My wife got made redundant and retrained as a massage therapist. I had thirty clients by then but after travel expenses, was making close to minimum wage. We were wandering through Liverpool Street one day, and came across a great gym space. A few weeks later that gym went on the market. And we took on the lease”
Taking on a huge space at twenty-seven years old in the middle of London, in the grip of a global recession was either the riskiest or the bravest thing Dave could have done. “Our business plan consisted of me doing training and my wife doing massages. That’s as far as we’d got. After the first month we got a bill for business rates. We didn’t even know these existed!”
Neither Dave nor his wife took a salary for the first two years, but the successive three were hugely successful. ‘It meant that, as the economy steadied, we were able to open another gym. But it turned out that it wasn’t meant to be. When the lease came up, the landlord quadrupled the rent. So, sadly, we had to give it up.”
“This gym was also called The Foundry, and the best decision I ever made was to keep all of the intellectual property.” This meant that when Dave men Ben Gotting - now his business partner - they were able to fuse Ben’s bootcamp concept, which utilised modified strongman equipment, with Dave’s brand assets. “When Ben and I first met up and chatted about what our perfect gym would look like, there was so much synergy. All the values we have now were discussed over that very first beer.”
Cycling through Vauxhall a few years later, Dave came across a group of footballers walking into a council estate. Guided only by instinct, he followed them. “I saw pitches and huge open spaces. I’d toyed with the idea of setting up an outdoor gym space using things like old shipping containers.” Within a matter of days, Dave had tracked down the CEO of the community hub to enquire whether he could use the space to set up The Foundry bootcamp. “The CEO trumped our request and said “We have a gym that's been closed for a year, are you interested?”
Along with other fitness operators, Dave and Ben pitched their idea to the board. “Our big USP was that we’d provide free community training for locals,”,’ which helped them secure the site. In 2016 the Vauxhall gym opened. They moved all outdoor equipment inside so it could be used all year round and within six months, they’d secured a full timetable and five self-employed trainers.
“It was a very profitable business, but Ben and I were both adamant that we wanted to build something that had real-world value, and could reach more people.” So they bid for a gym in Old Street, and secured it - their second large scale space. “By this point we’d taken on board a couple of investors. It was time to join forces with people who had real commercial experience and expertise.” With the aid of their investors, and in light of the growing success of their gyms, Dave and Ben were able to do what very few fitness companies have done before - “we put all of our trainers on an employment model. In one day, ten PTs became permanent members of staff.”
Then last summer, The Foundry opened its Bank branch. “It was going rather well,” Dave said. “January and February of this year saw a big upward curve - and then this hit.”
THE PRESENT
Which brings us back to the harsh reality of the present. For most business leaders, this will be the most challenging and uncertain period of their careers. Workforces have been cut overnight, sites have been closed for the unsettling period of the ‘foreseeable future’; even handshakes have become socially unacceptable. But in the midst of all that chaos, Dave is still hopeful - and he’s doing everything in his power to ease the strain social distancing is having on his members, and the general public.
“Most people have never experienced any form of isolation in their lives. You can get used to your own company, but it’s essential to keep a routine.” For Dave, one positive that comes out of this is the opportunity for a bit of self-care. “How many of us have said ‘I wish I had more time to read’, or ‘I’d love to spend more time with the kids.’ Well, now you can…although a month into full time childcare I might take this request back.” Dave also urges everyone to utilise social media to stay connected with their loved ones. ‘Call in and jam with someone with a guitar, but remember to pace yourself! No one should be under any illusion that this won’t be difficult.”
“Maintaining good mental and physical health is key right now,” Dave stressed. “That’s why we’ve moved all of our training sessions online. The ability to check in and coach our clients weekly has remained invaluable. Plus we’re posting live Instagram workouts daily for non-members too. I’ll also be publishing a daily fitness philosophy diary, and we’ve temporarily loaned out our equipment for free to members.”
THE FUTURE
“Once this is all over, there might be opportunities for mergers,” Dave said. “If some gyms don’t make it through, we’d love to make them a part of The Foundry Family. It’d be amazing to see other business owners doing this and supporting others.”
As our hour Zoom meeting drew to a close, Dave explained that his “attitude to risk is different. I don’t have a fear of losing things, because I've lost them before. But that doesn’t make me a failure. No one right now is a failure. Things might be wiped to zero but everyone will be starting again at the same place. Maybe this is our chance to begin again.”
