SYRACUSE — Metabolic, an Albany–area-based fitness company, is planning to use its recent expansion into the Syracuse region as a launching pad to franchising.

Metabolic in September opened a 3,500-square-foot fitness center in the Bayberry Plaza on Route 57 in the town of Clay. It’s the company’s sixth location but first outside the Capital Region. 

Metabolic gyms offer its signature 45-minute workout of the same name, which combines strength training and cardio workouts. The company calls it “strength training at a pace.” 

Metabolic now expects to open more Central New York gyms, and elsewhere, by selling franchises.

“I knew I wanted to franchise but I knew that if I was going to franchise I had to prove I could succeed out of market,” says Matt Phelps, Metabolic founder and CEO, who spoke with CNYBJ on Jan. 10. 

That process is underway now and Metabolic is targeting personal trainers who would like to be their own boss instead of working for someone else.

“We are slated to start selling franchises this April and hope to have the first one sold by the end of the year,” says Phelps. He’s working with iFranchise Group, a franchise consulting firm based in the Chicago area, to help do it.

Josh Swearingen, the head trainer and studio manager at Metabolic’s new Clay gym, is interested in becoming one of the franchisees, perhaps the first, according to Phelps. Swearingen, a certified personal trainer and Syracuse–area native, worked for Phelps for two years in his Albany–region gyms before taking on his new role in his hometown.

Possible future Central New York locations for Metabolic include the towns of Onondaga and DeWitt, Phelps says.

“I love Syracuse. It’s a great town and I knew it would be a great fit for the type of business we have,” he says, when asked why he chose Central New York for its first foray outside the Capital District.

“The risk in CNY is low because the cost to operate is low. It made a lot of sense to me,” Phelps says.

His wife Cara Phelps, the company’s project manager, is a native of the Syracuse area and graduate of Westhill High School, he adds. So, he’s very familiar with the area and its suburbs.

Matt Phelps’ sister, Kirstie Harris, also works for Metabolic as its director of business administration. So it’s a family business, he says. 

Metabolic Meltdown, LLC is the name of the operating company. Phelps started the business about a decade ago, operating from a small garage-style gym and later, at an area farmer’s market, before opening its first facility. 

Metabolic’s large flagship gym, measuring 7,500 square feet, in Green Island, N.Y. (the Troy area) has 800 members. The firm’s other four Albany–region fitness centers, which average about 4,000 square feet each, have about 400 clients each. Those gyms are in Colonie, Clifton Park, Delmar, and Saratoga Springs.

In its first four months of operation, Metabolic’s Clay gym has so far signed up 65 members. “We have a great product to offer but getting our brand out there in CNY is something we’re obviously trying to work on,” says Phelps.

The Clay fitness center has three employees and offers the Metabolic training program in 10 classes per day. The capacity is 48 people per class, says Phelps. It offers a range of membership options with most of them monthly-based.

“I’m super excited to be in CNY,” Phelps concludes.