History
Sammie Kennedy (CEO & Creator), created and started instructing Booty Camp Fitness in April 07 because of three simple reasons:
- It was gorgeous outside in Toronto, and her female personal training clients (she used to own one-on-one with personal training company) were “bummed-out” they were exercising indoors. So Kennedy thought it would be awesome to have a fitness boot camp in the beautiful park of Music Gardens.
- At the time, there were NO fitness Boot Camp’s in Toronto exclusively for women. Most Fitness Boot Camps are designed for men, yell at their recruits, and some even try to make their recruits vomit – definitely NOT BCF!
- Kennedy was addicted to watching exercise DVDs and going to fitness classes
Clearly she wasn’t alone, other women felt the same, because within 24 hours the first BCF was SOLD OUT!
Within 3 months, I had an overwhelming “waiting list”, and no more time to instruct more BCFs…
Right from the beginning Kennedy wanted only Superstar Instructors who were invested in delivering an outstanding BCF experience. So instead of having ‘employees’ who were under praised and under paid into mediocrity, she opted to create an incredible compensation and ownership package which would attract Superstars through a business process of Licensing.
As such, all of BCF’s “Instructors” are much more than just ‘employees’. They each own a licensed territory (similar to a franchise), known as a “Licensee”. As a Licensed Booty Camp Instructor they share in the responsibility of creating a valuable experience for their recruits and licensed location, and are 100% compensated via profit sharing.
| 2007 | ||
| April | Launched first BCF for April 23rd in Downtown Toronto at Music Gardens park, and it sold out within the first 24 hours. Launched second BCF a week later, and it sold out within 48 hours. | |
| July | 4 BCF were running as “sold out”, and waiting list was started. | |
| September | Added 2 new locations in Toronto (The Beaches, and North York). A total of 3 locations at this point | |
| 2008 | ||
| January | A total of 6 locations at this point. Adding 3 new locations in the GTA (Mississauga, Midtown, and High Park). Selling out 101% of the available spots. | |
| “Waiting list” grows to over 1,000 members. | ||
| April | A total of 13 locations. Adding 7 new locations in the GTA. | |
| LifeFest “Canada’s Largest Women’s Health & Lifestyle Show” invites Sammie Kennedy to be key interactive presenter at show, previous interactive presenters: Billy Blanks (founder of Tao Bo) and Richard Simmons (founder Sweatin to the Oldies). | ||
| BCF marks its 1 year anniversary. | ||
| July | A total of 21 locations at this point. Adding 8 new locations in the Ontario becoming the fitness boot camp with most locations in Ontario. | |
| “Waiting list” grows to over 2,000 members. | ||
| September | A total of 29 locations at this point. Adding 3 new locations in the GTA (Mississauga, Midtown, and High Park). | |
| 2009 | ||
| January | Despite “recession” and increasing locations to 29 from the 6 locations in the previous year, BCF sells out 102% up from 101% from the previous year. | |
| “Waiting list” grows to over 4,000 members. | ||
| April | BCF goes NATIONAL, adding 12 locations to British Columbia (Vancouver, Burnaby, and Victoria) and 7 locations to Alberta (Calgary). | |
| A total of 66 locations at this point. Going National (see above), and adding 16 new locations across Ontario. | ||
| BCF marks its 2 year anniversary. | ||
| October | Recognized as the Woman of the Week by Women’s Post. | |
| November | Ranked one of the top ten emerging women entrepreneurs on Profit Magazine’s annual W100. | |
| 2010 | ||
| February | BCF ranked the #1 Best Small & Medium Employer in Canada by Queen’s School of Business. | |
| April | BCF marks its 3 year anniversary. | |
| June | BCF plans to open 100th location at Coronation Park in Edmonton.
Ranked #1 on Toronto Star’s Top 50 GTA Employers List. |
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As BCF continues to rapidly grow, they strive to sustain an outstanding experience which emphasizes fun friendly fitness.
Our three core values are:
- Fun. We are always seeking to make the BCF experience more fun via new interesting and exciting exercises, cardio drills, music, motivational incentives, and nutritional ideas.
- Friendly. We do our best to create an empowering and supportive environment for women where they can share, grow, and have fun.
- Fitness. We’re all about getting our recruits’ fitness results (losing weight, getting in shape, and having fun exercising)!