Tara and Russell Jarrett are at the helm of a large and successful ship headed straight into international waters.
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Let’s be clear, Tara and Russell Jarrett always knew their pilates business would be a success.
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They just didn’t know it would be this successful.
Tara and Russell started @pilates in 2021 in the midst of COVID-19 lockdowns after identifying a gap in the wellness market and have since franchised their business to become a multi-million dollar brand.
Their first international @pilates studio is scheduled to open in April 2025 in New Zealand, with plans to expand beyond Australasia within the next two years.
So how did they get to this point?
The married business partners grew up in the same small town of Kyabram, living separate lives until fate brought them together.
They first really connected at university in Melbourne when they were studying a physical education degree.
After building a career in the fitness industry they decided to move back to Kyabram to be closer to their families, where they opened Kyabram’s first 24-hour gym, Infinity Heath Club.
It was Tara who brought up the idea to bring pilates into their gym in the height of COVID-19.
“We were smack bang in the middle of lockdown … I found at the gym there was a whole group of women who didn’t want to go to the gym … where they felt like they just didn’t fit the stereotype,” Tara said.
The pilates trend was on the rise, but Tara said the classes were targeted toward a specific type: “pilates princesses’’.
She identified a vacancy in the fitness market: catering to women of all ages and backgrounds.
Russell said because of COVID-19 people were changing the way they wanted to work out.
“(People) didn’t want to be part of a group any more … they wanted to just do their own thing,” he said.
So @pilates was launched at Kyabram in 2022; a first of its kind: a 24-hour gym dedicated to pilates.
The couple saw immediate results.
“We had only four reformers, but 90 members and 15 classes,” Russell said.
“People just got it. They loved the fact that you put the headphones on … and you become immersed in it.”
Members could work out on their own, choose their classes, in their own time – and still have the assistance from instructors who could help people put feet in the reformer straps, or help with springs.
Russell said when they found success, they consulted fitness experts who advised testing the concept outside Kyabram to gauge its broader appeal.
“We (set up) in Echuca ... and it just blew up,” he said.
The couple replicated its success in Shepparton, then Wangaratta and Bendigo.
Tara and Russell knew they were on to something big.
A couple of years on, there is now 33 @pilates studios across the country, projected to reach more than 50, and the business is about to hit the international market.
Tara and Russell Jarrett and their South Melbourne team for @pilates.
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However wide-spread their franchises may reach, Tara and Russell understand the importance of bringing quality gym experiences to regional towns.
They consistently achieved success in regional areas: for instance, in Bundaberg and Yeppoon, Queensland, where studio memberships sold out within days of opening.
Russell said the regional structure worked so well because there wasn’t a conglomerate of gyms available in those areas.
“All other franchises, they go to the city first. All they care about is the city because the population is there,” he said.
“As country people, we were sick to death of there being no resources … they have got the same amount of needs as everyone else and they also have the funds to do it as well.”
The pair still calls Kyabram home, making its way up from its South Melbourne office every weekend to see its family, but has its eyes set on outside Australia for the future of its franchise business.
The Jarretts are also looking at launching an IOS app to make working out more accessible, while also making sure their IP is as strong as ever so they are ready to expand further across the world.
Tara emphasised that despite their remarkable success over the past two years, they remained committed to learning and improving.
“Success is different now than it was probably 10 years ago. Success now is about the fact that we’ve produced something that genuinely has an impact on so many people positively,” Tara said.
“Russ and I have been working in this industry since ’92 … we’re dinosaurs … but all of that has led to this … so every little thing that we’ve done, we couldn’t have done it without the lead up.
“It’s been the world’s longest apprenticeship and we’re still learning things.”
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