The Kindness Chronicles
We live in a world dominated by stories of divisiveness. The Kindness Chronicles hopes to give the world a dose of the "Minnesota Nice" it desperately needs. Hosted by Fox Sports North's Kevin Gorg, Steve Brown of Johnny Clueless fame and John Schwietz (a guy you've never heard of), the Kindness Chronicles delivers stories of kindness through the lens of Minnesotans who share their personal backstories and celebrate those who influenced them to become the people they are today.
The Kindness Chronicles
Ep. 196 Chuck Runyon (Scaling Kindness through wellness)
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
The KCP Crew welcomes Anytime Fitness co-founder Chuck Runyon, who reflects on growing up on the East Side of St. Paul and his journey in building Anytime Fitness, which comprises nearly 6,000 global locations. Chuck discusses the challenges and innovations during COVID closures, and outlines the company’s emphasis on training, nutrition, recovery, senior fitness programs, storytelling-driven culture, servant leadership practices, and the company's “Bleed Purple” tradition.
Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles where once again we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota kindness that it desperately needs. We are back in the studio. We took a week off, but we had a special uh Leno Rooley episode that we played last week.
SPEAKER_00That was episode 20. That was a long time. 2021, I think it was.
SPEAKER_01And uh in the studio we got uh Steve Brown. Hi, Steve.
SPEAKER_00Hi, welcome back to our world.
SPEAKER_01Uh Jeff Hoffman's back there. KG's got the uh the Kraken tonight. The uh the Wilder playing the uh the Seattle Kraken and uh we've got a very special guest, uh Eastside St. Paul guy, kind of a legend of St. Paul, uh somebody that I've been aware of and I've admired for many, many years. Uh we have uh with us the founder of uh Anytime Fitness, and it's now called Purpose Brands. Is that where we've uh uh Chuck Renin is with us. Welcome, Chuck.
SPEAKER_02Hello, gentlemen. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01Uh thank you very much. It looks like you're in a sunny place, so that's always fun. Your hair looks fantastic, so we we always have to comment on the hair. There's uh there's some hair envy going on here. Kevin, who's who's bald, is he always gets very upset when we see guys with great hair.
SPEAKER_02Well, so my my partner of 37 years, Dave Mortenson, he's also the co-founder of Anytime Fitness, he is short and bald, and I remind him of that pretty much every day. That's very nice.
SPEAKER_01That's what friends are for.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so speaking of so much for kindness too.
SPEAKER_01Speaking of the kindness chronicles, let's make fun of our partner. You know, uh Chuck, we want to explore a number of things with you, but take us back to how how where are you from? Yeah, I know you're from the east side of St. Paul. I understand that you worked at McDonald's.
SPEAKER_02Yes. So so born and raised on the east side of St. Paul, you know, went to Johnson High School, lived about three blocks away. If anyone knows like the Phalan Lake area, there's the beach, you'd kind of walk across the park. I was kind of like off of Maryland and Earl Street there.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, that is the heart of Eastside.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02100%. So Eastside Pride, man. Uh, you know, it used to I was I was we were all raised in the area where you could just ride your bike anywhere you want, your parents weren't tracking you, you could just kind of come and go. And so I I loved it. You know, I had a BMX bike, I had a skateboard, I had I had paper routes for my first real job when I was like eight, nine, ten years old.
SPEAKER_01No kidding.
SPEAKER_02Um, and and and that was a day back in the day when you had to do morning and afternoon papers. You used to get two papers a day. Um, and so my brother.
SPEAKER_01You have to go collect. You remember you had to go around and collect?
SPEAKER_02Yes, and then I would take that money and go play video games at 7-Eleven.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I uh I also grew up on the east side. I was in the Upper East Side, you know, up uh up on the uh the the Tony part of the East Side in uh the Battle Creek area. But yeah, I do I still claim East Side very proudly. And my dad grew up on uh Maryland and or not Maryland and Earl, on uh Margaret and Earl by the old Margaret Playground.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, and I used to go down there and play for sure. Very cool. Um and so if you remember, there's a McDonald's right now down in Phelan Parkway off of Maryland Avenue. It's still there. And so my mom started working there as a day lady, and then of course I went there and as a teenager, you know, 15 years age, started working there, and then she ended up being a store manager to open up the one in Woodbury, which ironically is on the same street as our office in Woodbury. And then and so it's funny because I'm like, uh, you know, I work on Weir Avenue, and it's the second largest franchise I've worked for because McDonald's is even bigger than us. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um, yeah, one of our uh our ardent listeners, Lisa McAuley, uh said that she once upon a time worked with you.
SPEAKER_02Yes, I know the McAulies for sure. That's amazing. That's very funny. I've not seen him forever, but oh yeah, they were uh I worked many, I slung many burgers and uh, you know, drive-throughs and all those with those guys. That was fun.
SPEAKER_01And my wife worked at McDonald's when she was in high school down in Albert Lee, and she said that she and her friend Michelle ran the fastest, most efficient drive-thru operation in the history of McDonald's. So you guys might have to battle, battle over that.
SPEAKER_02Um remember Flay of Fish Fridays during Lent? You have to have a green contest. Oh, yeah. We were dialed in, man.
SPEAKER_01Nothing like a little undercooked fish for you with a shamrock shake to slide it down. The green oh yeah. So as this is the kindness chronicles, you know, the angle that we'd like to explore with you is, you know, your business uh is really all about caring for oneself and kindness to oneself. And I know that uh, you know, the culture of uh of your company from the people that we've talked to, we had Mark Daly has led us to you.
SPEAKER_00So Mark Daly um was is a great storyteller, and he gave a and we had a great chat with him, and you came up a few different times. So we he led us to you. So that's why we're yeah, I said I know that guy.
SPEAKER_01My mom and dad were at a fundraiser at your house once upon a time in Stillwater. Oh yeah. I'm sure Hill Murray was uh trying to separate people from their money, so you know they do a pretty fashion job at it.
SPEAKER_02Very good.
SPEAKER_01They are very good.
SPEAKER_02And shout out, shout out to Mark Daly, by the way. I miss that guy. He's an exceptional human, great storyteller. Yeah, and he really uh he he really helped put some of the heart and soul in our brand with the storytelling.
SPEAKER_00Yep, he's a very talented guy.
SPEAKER_01Chuck, take us back to uh how did you get into the the fitness business? Uh I I I often wonder, were you a fitness guy first or a business guy first?
SPEAKER_02Uh fitness guy first. So back in, you know where that McDonald's was in Phalan Shopping Center? Yeah. Right, you know, probably about a five-iron away, back in the corner of the shopping center was a health club called Metalist Sports Club. I don't know if you guys remember that.
SPEAKER_01It had I do.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it had uh tennis courts and racquetball courts and basketball. And you know, one of my good friends started to work the front desk and I started to go down there and play tennis and play basketball. And then uh they were hiring for a part-time salesperson. I was going to Inver Hills Community College at the time. I was working at Super America and McDonald's out in Woodbury, and I started to work as a part-time salesperson on the weekends. And, you know, I got to be pretty good at it, you know, and I love the culture of a fitness center that had basketball and raccoon and all that. And, you know, competitive knee, you're trying to sell. And then over time, I just became pretty good. And I, you know, ended up leaving both Super America and McDonald's because I was making more money and enjoying it more, selling memberships at Medalists. And then I ultimately I left Inver Hills Community College. And so, you know, my partner and I both only have just high school educations, but we we got really good at doing like uh membership blitzes. We do like promotions and we could sell memberships. And so we turned that into a company called Health and Fitness Group that traveled the US, Canada, and Australia, and we did big membership promotions for clubs. And so we did that from 1990 to 2005 for 15 years as kind of our bread and butter, and we'd have we'd have teams doing it, and it may sound like a very odd job, but you know, the average you know club owner, maybe it's a doctor, maybe they know a lot about freeways to rack well, but they didn't they just lack the sales marketing savvy. So we did that over a period of time for 15 years, and out of doing that, all right, we built up our marketing muscle, our sales muscle, our operational muscle, and that's really for the genesis for anytime fitness started in 2002.
SPEAKER_01So uh it sounds like you might be described as a hustler. I mean, you hustle. It sounds like, I mean, the fact that you had a paper route, you worked at McDonald's, Super America, I mean, the and that you're an east side guy. I mean, you are like there should be statues of you, Chuck, somewhere.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I mean, Dave Dave and I are not that talented, but we're really gritty and we're super competitive and we're willing to put into work. And you know, it's I I think a lot of people our age back then had paper outs and worked at McDonald's or worked at Dairy Queen, or just that was what we did when you grew up. I mean, it was you know, you're we played sports, but we still had jobs. And things have changed now because like my kids, you know, the the sports are so encompassing, it's really hard to hold a job at the same time. But but our generation, it was very, very normal.
SPEAKER_01Can we how many children do you have?
SPEAKER_02I have four kids, two boys, two girls, 27, 25, 22, 19. Oh my. They're all doing, they're all doing exceptionally well. Two are in college, two are out of college. Um, they're you know, athletic, they're kind, they're good kids, they're doing, they're thriving in life.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, I mentioned before we uh we got on this uh this call that my son Jack is uh is a I wouldn't call him a friend, but uh is aware of your son Conic and said the guy does uh Ironmans, and so he's a chip off the old block, it sounds like.
SPEAKER_02Oh, he no, he is outrunning his genetics. He's doing way better than I was.
SPEAKER_03Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I was just I was thinking about um John's questions. How was uh when you started out selling and helping those other franchises, was personal training a big thing, or was it just the memberships at that point?
SPEAKER_02It was primarily just memberships. There were some clubs doing personal training, it's not nearly as big as it is today. But yeah, I mean, over the course of the 90s, if the 15 years we're doing it, personal training became more and more popular, but it definitely wasn't as popular as it is today. So we were primarily focused on the membership drive.
SPEAKER_01So where was your first uh you you have a you have franchises, as I understand it? Yes. And did you start here in Minnesota?
SPEAKER_02We did. Our very first one was opened by a gentleman named Eric Keller, he lives in Woodbury, he is franchisee number one. He opened up the store in Cambridge, Minnesota. Um by the by the way, that that club is still open today, 23, no, 24 years later. Wow. Um now it's moved it's moved locations, but yeah, little Cambridge. And then our second uh was Janelle Abernathy, she worked for us, she she opened up in Duluth, and then our third was Tim Anderson down in Albert Lee. And the reason I bring that up is all three of those markets still have any time fitnesses in it. Tim uh Anderson, franchisee number three, is still the franchisee today. Janelle and Eric grew their platform to five clubs each, they ended up selling them. Janelle's off on an island somewhere, and Eric now works works in our international division, helping you know grow people around the world. So it's really cool, those those first three franchisees.
SPEAKER_01Amazing. So I had read somewhere that uh when you uh that you merged with Orange Theory?
SPEAKER_02We did. About a year and a half ago, we did a merger with Orange Theory. I mean, they are the largest boutique hit studio, high-intensity interval training, and they have about 1,700 locations around the world. And it really was to combine both our growth synergies and our cost synergies to create you know more capabilities on behalf of our franchise owners. And uh that was the creation of purpose brands. That is the parent company that has anytime fitness, orange theory. We also have the bar method, waxing the city, base camp fitness, and stronger you nutrition.
SPEAKER_01So we get uh you know, we have people on from time to time, and I'm always enamored with the idea of coming up with these brand names. And self-esteem brands, I think was before it became purpose brands. And purpose brands, when I, you know, see videos of you and your partner, clearly when that name what when you landed on that name, you had to have been high five in each other because it really does it in a single word describes kind of what the whole point of your existence is professionally. So who came up with the name? Is that a controversy or uh who's taking credit for it?
SPEAKER_02Um well, I said for first of all, it I think it's worth telling that in 2002, when we started Anytime Fitness, Dave and I were really just fitness guys, like trying to figure this out, right? We didn't know much about franchising. And over the next eight years, you know, we're developing what I'd call capabilities and and competencies to like now leverage with other franchise brands. So as we started to look to acquire more brands, we created self-esteem brands. And the goal was, you know, everything we do, right, raises people's self-esteem, helps them feel more competent, helps them be healthier, like helps them uh achieve generational wealth with franchising. So self-esteem brands was our parent company, and then we had brands underneath that. And then when the Orange Theory um merger came along, we knew we had to change our parent company name. And I mean, I hate to take credit for it, but it was, you know, I had the idea of purpose brands, but initially our lawyers would not allow it because there were some you know other marks out there that had purpose brands in the fitness space. But I argued with them saying, wait a second, we're in the franchise space, we're not in the fitness space. So make a long story short, we got it approved, and uh yeah, you're right. I think in one word, I mean everything we do is purpose-driven, and so we love the name, and uh it's the parent company, and and we'll be for quite some time.
SPEAKER_01Tell us about the uh the the COVID era. Um I I always was concerned about fitness centers. I like it, I felt like the the legislature, like nobody seemed to care about fitness centers. Let's get the bars open, let's get the restaurants open. But where the health takes place, to hell with those guys, they could figure it out. You know, you can go outside and run around. Is it is that an accurate depiction of of how the how that era was?
SPEAKER_02It's kind of sad and pathetic, isn't it? But that is the way politicians think. I mean, yes, it it I worked in fast food, and I you know look, I love a good cocktail, but it's crazy that like liquor stores and restaurants and and tattoo shops and you know, those places could remain open, but gyms and studios were forced to close at a time when people needed physical and mental well-being more than ever before. And and look, you know, we we talked to policymakers saying, look, we can limit the amount of people in here, we can partition off, we can you know do all the things necessary to make safe environments, but most of the states were closed. In fact, most of the around the world were closed. I mean, never did we think we'd have to close down 5,000 locations around the world in a matter of three weeks. And so, you know, our number one is worry about our members, how do we support them at home? Number two, worry about our franchise owners, how do we help them navigate with their landlords and their lease and their debt? And then number three is we we had to worry about our employees. And so we kind of took that approach um and you know, it served us well. Uh, we survived COVID much better than our competitors did. And I give so much credit to our team. You know, we were working seven days a week because you know, at the time we had we had clubs in 15 time zones around the world. And so we're helping our owners, you know, close down, reopen responsibly. Um, you know, I'll give you a quick bet we made. During COVID, we didn't know when we'd be reopened. So we talked to our team, we're like, hey, look, we should create a reservation system, almost like an open table for gyms, knowing that maybe somewhere in the world they would limit the amount of people that could be in the club. So we created that during COVID, and lo and behold, you know, there were a few countries and a handful of states that said, all right, you can reopen, but you can only have like, say, six people per, you know, 4,000 square feet, for example. So people could go online and book their hour, book their half hour, book their slot. And so and we made a bet, we so we did things like that that really helped our franchise owners navigate COVID as best they could.
SPEAKER_01And so you you mentioned 15 time zones. When did this go international?
SPEAKER_02In 2008, we sold our first international deal in Australia. And in franchising, we use something called a master franchise strategy. So if you're from Australia, you buy the rights to sell and support your own franchisees. And so we support the master franchisee. They sell and support their own franchisees in in each region, and we're doing that now around the world. And so 2008, we started in Australia. You know, today, with nearly 6,000 locations around the world, 3,500 are located outside the US, 2,500 are located inside the US. And for example, no one knows this, but we're the largest fitness brand in Japan with nearly 1,500 anytime fitness is open. No, we're the largest, we're the largest fitness brand in Australia with nearly 700 open. And we're the largest fitness brand in New Zealand and and uh Southeast Asia. And so, uh, and by the way, we will open over 400 locations this year, so over one a day, and 300 of those or more will be located outside the US. And so franchising and wellness and all those wonderful opportunities are alive and well outside the United States.
SPEAKER_01Are you the largest fitness operation in the world? I mean, I can't bigger.
SPEAKER_02Number of units, yeah. I mean, uh, you know, if you look at membership, Planet Fitness has maybe more members, but in terms of units, anytime fitness is the largest in terms of system-wide sales, purpose brands is arguably the largest your you know global wellness uh platform out there. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, I have a question. So so when I heard about this idea that you could have a gym open anytime you want, I thought that was a brilliant idea to begin with. But do you think that is the uh kind of the key, the linchpin as to why you guys are so what is that what sets you guys apart?
SPEAKER_02Well, so if you go back to 2002, right? Completely different time when it comes to technology. You know, there were no smartphone, no social media. Yeah. I mean, we're just really in the early ages of of uh, you know, uh connectivity and technology ubiquity, right? And so we came up with an access system that with like a prox card key that gave members 24-7 access 365, but you can go in anytime you want. But our owners did not always staff the club. Now, so we were really the first technology-enabled fitness brand out there, much like an Uber of Fitness, using technology to give our members a better experience and provide lower operational expenses for our owners. And so today it makes complete sense. Like, hey, I know I'm joining a non-staff club, but back in 2002, there were numerous states that had ambiguous laws that prevented our business model. And so I found myself going to California, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, lobbying with lawmakers on the consumer need for this, the operational need for this, and the safety. And ironically, the biggest battle we had was in downtown St. Paul. Like our own hometown, St. Paul, was not allowing us to do this. And so I'm meeting with people on in the Capitol, and I and I'm asking them, you know, look out the window. You can see the St. Paul Hotel. On the top floor, there's a fitness center. Do they have it? Is it staffed? No. Is it under, do they have cameras? No. Do they have personal uh surveillance devices? Do they have AEDs, automatic distributors? No. And so I'm like, you know, here's people working out down there. And the the irony is more people die of shoveling snow in Minnesota than they do in healthcare. Yeah. And so it, you know, it's just ignorance. And so we had to get through that. And now, of course, if you buy a membership to say in uh in Woodbury, Minnesota, you get access to every club in the world. It's global reciprocity. And, you know, we have a million visits a year, we have 50 million visits of people using different clubs throughout the year. So it's really become uh, you know, an incredible proposition for members, but also a great way to like you know uh minimize employee headaches and payroll for owners.
SPEAKER_01So tell us about uh the the role that anytime fitness plays in the nutrition space and the mental health space. Because, you know, when you look at the holistic approach to uh kindness to oneself, you know, it's not just uh what you do with your body, it's what you put into your body. And it's uh more than just the physical health, but the mental health. And I know that you guys have have uh have definitely gotten into that arena.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'd say what I love about the conversations going on in personal wellness today, it's all about longevity, quality of life, and you know, it's not just about having six-pack apps, right? And it's about mental health. And so at Anytime Fitness, we it's uh, you know, we've kind of changed our value prop to include training, nutrition, and recovery. So, you know, through both local services in your local club as well as through digital services like through your mobile app and and uh others. Uh, you know, we provide nutrition coaching, we provide recovery services, we provide training, we can do virtual coaching as well as in-club coaching. You know, we can take your biometrics and we can, you know, deeply personalize a program for you based on like, you know, your protein intake, your your uh carb intake, whether you want to gain weight, lose weight. So we can get hyper personal in our coaching, both virtually and inside the club. And so I love where our brand is going in training nutrition recovery, and I love just you know, where where the conversations are going for people to achieve better mental and physical well-being.
SPEAKER_01One of the uh the areas that that my organization is very interested in is healthy aging. Um we recently made a substantial gift to the uh University of Minnesota to create what's called the Masonic Institute for the Biology of Aging and Metabolism. And the uh we operate a 214-bed nursing home in south uh southwest Bloomington. And one of my goals is to to have that place be a place where you know people aren't just active physically but active mentally. Do you do any work specifically for the senior population?
SPEAKER_02Uh yeah, you know, we have plenty of programs like silver sneakers and paper visit through health insurance programs, and uh that and and we invite seniors in, and so a lot of those programs are targeted at seniors and we create an environment where they're comfortable to come in, you know, we provide coaching, uh, we're we're always there to kind of help. And so, yes, we get a lot of seniors, you know, but obviously during the day parts, and we love those programs, we embrace them. And again, I just you know, I it's becoming more and more important now for people to continue strength training in their 60s, 70s, and 80s and and balance. And and so I I think more and more of that demographic now is be is coming into fitness centers, understanding the need for it to have that health span instead of lifespan, right? How can they live the healthiest years of their life? And like you said, mental health is so important. And by the way, you know it's another kind of dose of sad irony. Both of my parents have passed away in the last five years, both of them due to preventable lifestyle issues. So the irony is I know how hard it is to talk to loved ones to get to help them be healthier. I couldn't even get my parents to step inside the club. I couldn't really get my parents to change their behaviors. And you know, they they grew up in a in a at a time when health wasn't that important. And so um, you know, yes, I I've got a lot of purpose to help people of every age, of every demographic, like achieve the best version of themselves and be mentally and physically healthy.
SPEAKER_03I loved some of the member stories that I saw on your YouTube channel and just uh kind of catching up with some of Mark's uh Mark Daly's old stories. Is is that, you know, with thousands of locations, how do you scale kindness? Um, what systems and values do you use to ensure consistency across the communities? Is it that's storytelling or are there other means?
SPEAKER_02That is a great question.
SPEAKER_01He's so good at these questions. Show off.
SPEAKER_02Well, you know, that's what I love about Mark's. Stories. So we did those member success stories. And by the way, yes, there if we did four at an annual conference, there might be one about weight loss, but one was about someone overcoming like a depression or someone overcoming uh like a physical disability. And and so we we tried to teach our owners that we were embrace every, like meet people where they're at. And you know, empathy is what unlocks and listening to our like listening and empathy is way more important than a treadmill. And so we did that through training, we did it through storytelling. Like we would take Mark's stories and show them all of our trainings events and our annual conference, and we would celebrate the member success, but also celebrate like the owners and the staff who showed that empathy, who showed that heart. And so we just kept beating that drum with our owners saying, look, other clubs are bigger than us, other clubs are cheaper than us, but no one's gonna care more than Anytime Fitness. And so I think a secret to our success over the years is we are franchisee owned, which means we have a local owner operator who cares about their members, who cares about their community, they engage in their community, they they know their members unlike like a like uh some of our competitors, and we truly can't all care about the competition.
SPEAKER_00And that really taps into exactly what Mark was saying, where you you guys, you should be so proud of yourself for creating a culture and a lifestyle brand for people to uh become uh join a community and and do something great for themselves. It's it's it's awesome. And those stories that Mark told us, he had a few of them that were just really remarkable and inspiring.
SPEAKER_02Yes, our annual conference is every year, we it's now it's every other year, but it used to be every year. And our last night of the conference was our big gala, you know, everyone got dressed up, we celebrate all of our award winners, but we'd show these Mark Daily videos, and these member success stories would get up on stage unscripted, and oh my gosh, it was the most emotional moments of my life. And I I could not be any more proud. Wow. Everyone was touched by those videos, and I mean, just uh I'll just never forget them. And it really have been some of the favorite weekends of my life, and the exclamation point have been those member success stories.
SPEAKER_01That's fantastic. Um We have uh a lot of business owners that listen to this uh program and you know get the feedback from them about you know how important kindness and how important you know empathy is in their leadership of their businesses. And I've heard you described as your typical or an extraordinary servant leader. What does servant leadership mean to you and what uh you know how has that helped you in your uh your success?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I think my partner and I, you know, we see people not just as employees, but kind of like you know, the whole person. We understand that outside of work, they are they're a parent and they have kids they've got to raise, or maybe they're dealing with aging parents, or they also have hobbies, you know, they want to live a full life. And so like Dave and I think about that. We're like, all right, how can we help them be a better individual, a better parent? Um, and so we always had like unlimited personal time off. Like we you, if we hired you, we trust you, we know you'll get the work done, like go do your thing. And we've always been a very, very good place to work for mothers. And by the way, one of the secrets to our success is that over half of the people of influence at our company have been women. And look, most of our consumers are women, and so at the end of the day, I think you know they have wonderful empathy and great communication skills. But the reason we do that is because we just Dave and I, as parents ourselves, understand the flexibility needed to do that. And so we we grant a ton of autonomy, a ton of flexibility. We we do employee growth funds, so we we always wanted a culture of growth, and so we used to put a half a percent of our revenue into an employee growth fund and we'd invest in our employees for personal and professional growth. So we paid for people to run their first marathon, we paid for them to take guitar lessons, we paid for them for continued education. And you're like, Chuck, well, that's got nothing to do with the business. I'm like, wait a second. We want a culture of growth, we're always growing personally and professionally, and so we just invest in people our time, our effort, our heart, and uh, you know, we want them all we want is let's say they're they work with us for five years. We want them to look back and say, I made the company better, and here's how, but the company made me better, and here's how we so we want to make them better too. It's a mutual investment.
SPEAKER_00We uh we talked before this. Um, well, Mark Daly told us about his tattoo.
SPEAKER_02And let's talk about we didn't talk about this on on the tell you like he got in trouble for because he didn't even tell his wife until like weeks later. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00That was the story, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I was there when he got it, by the way, and I'm like, Mark, and he's like, he was all in.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he he was like, What am I doing? And he was he was very proud to be part of that culture of uh it was a contagious culture of the city.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's like part of this family, this you know, and and who came up with the running man logo?
SPEAKER_02Uh I wish I could tell you, like, we had some like uh I don't know, some color theory or some, but we hired some graphic designer. Now, this is again this goes back to like late 2001. We're like weeks away from opening our first club in Cambridge. We don't have a logo yet, we're typical entrepreneurs, right? And so we we hired a guy who back in the day was an early adopter of herbal uh enhancements. Let's put it that way. Early adopter. And and and and we'd put him in the back room, and you know, there's always a funky little smell coming out of it. Sure. And he would just he'd come to us with all these ideas, and he came to us with the running man, and we're like, we liked it, and then we're like, and at the end of the day, we decided on purple because it's Minnesota, it's neutral, it's passionate. And so honestly, it was more of a hey, we like it, let's go with it. We didn't really put that much thought into it.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god, that's fabulous.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, even some of the success stories I heard people would walk in and say, you know, it's like my home away from home, and I'd see the purple carpeting, so I think uh plus you got prints too with the Minnesota. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I don't know if it's prints or our Vikings heritage, what it is, but yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03There you go. Another one.
SPEAKER_02Well, I didn't know. And by the way, we are the Minnesota's most winningest purple team, you know, because we've won uh franchise of the year a couple times globally.
SPEAKER_01So in our industry, that's like winning the Super Bowl, and as you know, well, that's not a real that's not a very high bar in Minnesota these days. Congratulations. Yeah. Um just real quick on the tattoos, and then we'll uh we'll we'll shut this down and let you get back to uh Scott's Dale, uh the Scottsdale weather. Who got the first tattoo?
SPEAKER_02Um in downtown St. Paul in 2005, our very, very first annual conference. Uh, we went on the riverboat cruise. We had two nights, one riverboat cruise, and you know, a little bit of fun and party involved. And a gentleman named Mike Gelfgott, he's an immigrant from Russia, he was working in one of our clubs, he was a franchise owner. He said, Hey, um, I want to go get the running man tattoo. There's a tattoo shop down the street. And so I'm like, if you do it, I'll pay for it. So he goes down there, you know, I'm still at the party. He comes back, he pulls off his bandage, and there it is on his shoulder, and it's literally still bleeding. And I'm like, dude, you bleed purple, which became like our phrase for 20 years, like bleed purple, bleed purple. And so he's the first guy to do it, and that was in 2005. And then, like, it started to just, you know, one more and two more and three more. And finally, by 2009, at our annual conference, we now have five full-time tattoo artists from you know, for the last 16 years at our annual conference. It still blows me away. Hundreds of people um get it to get a tattoo at the conference, and and somewhere around the world, if someone gets a tattoo, the owner can send us a picture, a receipt, we reimburse it. And I bet you we spent over a half a million dollars on tattoo spots. And and by the way, if anyone wants to come to our Woodbury office, we're I think we're the only corporate campus in the world with a full-time tattoo room. It's a and you know what the tattoo, by the way, years we we opened that building in 2016. The name of the room is Bleed Purpose. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01There once again, pretty smart market. Now we're purposefully.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's from the east side of St. Paul. What happened? Where the hell is he?
SPEAKER_01Wow. So uh so you're on a riverboat cruise. Um my senior prom was on a riverboat cruise that took 24 hours. Dude, I was there. No, I was there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think they combined school sometimes, yeah.
SPEAKER_02But you but you're a senior. I no, I I I think I was sure it wasn't like a junior.
SPEAKER_01I don't think it was my senior, I think it was like a junior, but it would have been your junior year because I was 86, you were 87. Yeah, I think it was on the same boat. You're shitting me. Snowwater. We got we got stuck on that thing. No, we got stuck on the way. We went down to like uh Prescott, Wisconsin, and we got stuck in a line. Oh fuck, and the the it was the worst. Who did you go with? Can we ask that question?
SPEAKER_02Oh gosh, I don't uh no. So okay.
SPEAKER_01Stag. Okay. Well, on that note, Chuck, it has been an absolute pleasure having you on. Uh will you be back at Hill Murray for their big event on uh April 26th?
SPEAKER_02Normally I do make it, but I'm gonna be out of time. I'm not making this year, but by the way, it's an incredible event. That's a great job. And uh yeah, Hill Murray's great.
SPEAKER_01Well, again, we appreciate your time and uh great to meet you, Chuck.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for hanging with us.
SPEAKER_01Have a great meeting purple. Thank you.