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THE RIGHT MOVES
July 17, 2006, By Chris Coates |
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 Richard Giorla used his dance experience to create the Cardio Barre fitness system which he hopes to turn into a worldwide franchise.
This time six years ago, choreographer Richard Giorla was in big trouble.
A longtime professional dancer who had worked with the likes of Michael Jackson and the famous Chippendales dancers, Giorla found himself sidelined by a groin injury that wouldn't heal. At 37 - an old man in the cutthroat and injury-prone professional dance circuit - the likelihood of a full recuperation was, at best, a long shot.
"Here I am, no job, no money, no way to make an income," said Giorla, who at one point was $80,000 in debt.
To make ends meet, the classically trained Giorla started teaching aerobics at a tiny fitness studio in a Riverside Drive strip mall in Valley Village. He taught standard light aerobics, but soon Giorla began incorporating routines that he had created to stay fit as he recovered.
The exercises were low-impact and incorporated elements of dance and aerobics. He refined the moves over a number of months, eventually adding dance routines and light weights that focused on stretching, toning and resistance exercises. Giorla based it on a simple concept: "It promises the dancer's body without the experience."
He called it Cardio Barre, referring to both the cardiovascular system it looked to improve and the railing-like ballet bar that it utilized.
 Five years later, Giorla has taken the failing aerobics studio and made it into a thriving business with revenues nearing $500,000. His client list tops 7,000, most of them women. The 4,000-square-foot studio, which now takes up a good half of the strip mall at Riverside Drive and Whitsett Avenue, regularly appears in celebrity tabloids and was referenced on "The O.C."
Giorla has also written a book about the routines and introduced a line of videos and has plans to complete an infomercial and franchise the product.
On a recent visit to the studio, the fast-talking and animated Giorla, dressed in black tank top, green sweat pants and thong flip-flops, predicted the Cardio Barre product will be the next fitness sensation, following the likes of Tae-Bo, pilates and yoga.
He credited it to a simple reason.
"A lot of it's me. I'm the draw of my studio," he said with a broad smile. "Every year, it's growing and growing. It's ready to go worldwide."
Giorla grew up in Philadelphia and still has traces of a Delaware Valley accent. He studied dance at the Pennsylvania Ballet, then moved to New York, where for eight years he dabbled in styles from hip-hop and break dancing to ballet and classical dance. He eventually landed a gig with Chippendales and worked his way to become a dance captain.
He then moved to LA and landed parts in television, commercials and movies, including 1992's "Newsies."
Even amid the steady stream of gigs, though, the 30-year-old Giorla predicted the rigorous daily strain on his body would eventually take its toll. He needed something to fall back on, so in 1993, Giorla saved up and started a coffee shop on Riverside Drive and Colfax Avenue.
The shop proved successful, but Giorla said he was worried about being forced out by chains like Starbucks. He sold it in 1999 and returned to dance.
The experience, however, gave Giorla the confidence that he could start another business if it came along. Three years later, when he saw his aerobics clients losing weight and gaining muscle, he realized he found it. "I knew this was a goldmine," he said.
The opportunity for ownership came when the shop's owner wanted to sell. Giorla hired a business manager, who was less than enthusiastic about purchasing the business, which was losing $10,000 a month.
But Giorla wouldn't back down.
"I can do this. I have a great concept," he recalled thinking.
Eventually he found investors in friends and bought the shop. In June 2001, using an initial client list of 700 held over from the previous fitness center, Cardio Barre opened.
The shop operated on a straightforward business model, one influenced from the coffee shop.
Giorla offered only two classes - simple and advanced - held six times a day. He charged $15 a class and didn't advertise.
The idea was to keep a low overhead and hire sparingly while focusing on a single product, deliver it well and get people to come back, preferably with a friend.
The concept netted results. In 2003, total annual revenue totaled just under $300,000, only to grow to $372,000 in 2004.
Only within the past year or so has Giorla started to diversify. He started offering private training lessons for $65 an hour, then introduced a line of videos. Earlier this year, he released his first book, "Raise the Barre," which has sold 10,000 copies.
He also recently took major steps on the national level. Giorla said he has secured investors and has signed a contract this month to develop an infomercial for Cardio Barre products.
He is also in final talks to develop a franchise plan to take the company national. Giorla said he'd like to sell his rights to former dancers who, like him, are highly educated and experienced, but injured.
"When dancers turn 40, they don't know what to do with their lives," he said. "This gives dancers the opportunity to own their own little business."
As for the infomercial, Giorla is hopeful it will help sell not only his product, but his franchises.
"I get free marketing to catapult my franchises," he said. "The infomercial is going to brand me."
Franchises, of course, are difficult to launch and fitness clubs in general are a tough market in which to enter. (Just last month Woodland Hills-based Bodies in Motion, which had five clubs, filed Chap. 11 bankruptcy.)
Deborah Sable in 1991 created Corefit, a Woodland Hill fitness group that provides trainers to companies. Today, it has 17 trainers and Sable looking to add more.
She said the key to making a successful fitness product depends on differentiating it from the competition, which usually means by the personalities of trainers. "A lot of this is a personality. You have to be really competitive," she said. "There's so many of them."
Sable also advocated conservative business growth. "Don't open too many at once," she said. "Any new fad will fizzle out quickly."
That doesn't seem to phase the ever-confident Giorla. "I believe in myself," he said, adding that he'd like to keep expanding the Valley Village location. "I'd love to buy this whole building," he said, or maybe build a whole Cardio Barre center.
Giorla said it's just a matter of following the formula that has worked for him so far: "It's a great product. I care for the customer. A little bit of luck. You put all those things together and you have success." |
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