Darcy Ellis is the CEO and founder of HitFit, a boxing fitness franchise based in Melbourne. At 29 years old, he has grown HitFit to six locations across Victoria and Queensland in under 18 months of franchising. His flagship gym in Melton has surpassed 1,000 members. His first franchise location in Craigieburn has hit over 750 members. Both gyms generate seven figures in annual revenue.
In this episode of The Franchise Marketer Podcast, Darcy shares how he chose the franchise model over company-owned expansion, why he built a board of directors at six locations, how his personal brand generates more franchise enquiries than the corporate account, and why local content outperforms generic fitness ads every time.
For anyone looking at the boxing fitness franchise space or considering franchising a boutique gym concept, this conversation covers the real decisions behind scaling a young brand.
From Boxer to Gym Owner to Franchise Founder
Darcy did not start with a business background. His father, Lester Ellis, was a five-time world boxing champion. Darcy grew up in the sport and initially planned to follow the same path.
The reality of professional boxing changed his mind. He trained for his first fight for eight weeks, three sessions a day. He earned $1,500. The economics did not work. But while training others for fitness on the side, he realised he was a better coach than boxer.
At 23, he opened the first HitFit location in Melton, Melbourne. He had no business experience. He learned Meta ads from a friend over coffee. That friend ran HitFit’s first campaign, a 28-day challenge. 60 people showed up. From that day, Darcy doubled down on paid acquisition and never looked back.
Eight months after opening, Melbourne went into COVID lockdowns. HitFit was barely established. Instead of shutting down, Darcy ran daily Zoom training sessions with 30 to 50 members. That kept the community intact. When the gym reopened, it was full from day one.
Why HitFit Chose the Franchise Model Over Company-Owned Growth
After the first location succeeded, Darcy reached a crossroads: company-owned expansion or franchising.
He opened a second company-owned location first. Then he explored franchising. His initial assumption was that franchising would be easier. He was humbled quickly. Setting up the franchise structure cost a few hundred thousand dollars in legal documentation and compliance alone.
The deciding factor came down to culture. At the heart of every successful boxing gym, the owner is on the floor. The owner drives the culture, delivers the experience, and builds the community.
Company-owned locations spread the founder thin. Darcy could not be on the floor at every gym. With franchising, each location gets an owner who shows up every day, rolls up their sleeves, and builds relationships with members.
“I think the key to having a successful gym is to have the owner on the gym floor driving the culture and driving the standards for that community,” Darcy said.
HitFit does not want corporate-minded franchisees who hire a manager and check in once a week. The model requires owner-operators who train alongside their members, especially in the early stages.
Building a Board of Directors at Six Locations
Most franchise brands wait until they reach 20 or 30 locations before assembling a board. Darcy did it before franchising a single location.
He learned the approach from high-performance coach Dan Pena, whose method centres on assembling experienced advisors before scaling. Darcy’s logic was straightforward: he lacked business experience. He wanted to learn lessons without the scars.
“Yes, as the founder, as the CEO, you are the boxer in the ring,” Darcy said. “But it helps having qualified and experienced people in your corner telling you what to do.”
The board’s chairman, Shane Bay, shaped HitFit’s entire first-franchisee strategy. Instead of having the first franchisee take all the risk, HitFit opened a company-owned location and had the prospective franchisee run and manage it. HitFit paid for the fit-out and setup. The franchisee managed the location for six months. Once both parties were satisfied, the location transferred to the franchisee at the originally agreed cost, regardless of how well it performed during that period.
This approach eliminated the “test dummy” problem. HitFit’s first franchisees were a father-son team who had trained at the Melton location and were family friends of Lester Ellis for over 30 years. Trust was already established. The location became HitFit’s highest-performing franchise, which then became the best marketing material for recruiting more franchisees.
How a Boxing Fitness Franchise Hits 1,000+ Members Per Gym
HitFit’s membership numbers are unusual for the boutique fitness industry. Most boutique gym franchises consider seven-figure revenue exceptional. HitFit has two locations doing it.
Darcy attributes the results to two advantages.
First, boxing has a wider market than most boutique fitness models. HitFit serves both kids and adults. F45, for example, focuses on adults. Not many kids want to do push-ups or box jumps. But kids want to box. HitFit runs separate kids and adults programs with similar fundamentals. Families of five and six train together in the same gym.
The kids market is a significant differentiator. It brings in families rather than individuals. Parents sign up their kids, then sign up themselves. Families become the core of the gym’s community.
Second, HitFit runs all paid advertising centrally. The franchise head office acts as the agency for every location. Darcy knew how to run Meta ads, generate leads, and convert. He did not want to trust an outside agency to replicate those results.
The standard pre-launch model is a 28-day fitness challenge marketed to the local area. HitFit typically spends around $8,000 to fill challenges for a new location. The Bundaberg location in Queensland, powered entirely by organic social content from the franchisees, filled their challenge with only $400 in ad spend.
Why the Founder’s Personal Brand Outperforms the Corporate Account
Darcy made a direct statement during the interview: his personal brand generates more franchise enquiries than HitFit’s corporate accounts.
This matches a pattern across franchising. People follow people, not logos. Darcy compared it to Tesla. He buys into Tesla because he follows Elon Musk’s work, not because he saw a Tesla corporate ad.
For the past 12 months, Darcy has doubled down on personal brand content. Since doing so, HitFit has awarded more franchises than in any previous period.
The math also works differently when you sell franchises rather than gym memberships. A single franchise sale has a high lifetime value. Darcy makes 30 videos. He needs a few franchise leads from those 30 videos to generate a return that far exceeds the time invested. Compared to posting content for individual gym memberships where one video might not produce a single sign-up, franchise recruitment content has a disproportionate return.
Darcy’s advice for founders hesitant about personal branding: share stories of people in your community first. That feels less uncomfortable than talking about yourself. A member who could not walk across a shopping centre before joining HitFit and now does it without assistance generated more engagement than anything else the brand has posted.
Local Content Beats Generic Content Every Time
One of the clearest takeaways from this conversation: specificity wins on social media in 2025.
HitFit tested generic boxing ads against location-specific content. An ad showing Darcy standing next to the Ravenhall suburb sign in boxing gloves outperformed a generic ad of someone in a boxing gym.
The Bundaberg franchisees proved it at scale. They wore HitFit shirts around town. They posted content specific to the Bundaberg community. People recognised them in shops from their videos. They filled their opening challenge almost entirely through organic social without paid ads. That result is rare for any franchise opening, in any industry.
Darcy referenced an article about Mr. Beast’s manager explaining how algorithms now reward specificity. Platforms identify what a creator is known for and serve that content to people interested in that specific topic. A franchise marketing account gets shown to people interested in franchise marketing. A Bundaberg boxing gym account gets shown to people in Bundaberg interested in fitness.
The old approach of trying to go viral with generic content is less effective than being specific to your location, your niche, and your expertise. The algorithms reward the specificity.
I see this at Jim’s Group too. Jim’s Laundry Services started from zero franchisees three years ago. They now have around 135. Roughly half of their leads come from direct Instagram messages to their franchisee accounts. Not the corporate page. The local franchisee accounts. Franchise-generated content at the local level is one of the most underused growth strategies in franchising.
HitFit’s Franchise Selection Process
HitFit’s recruitment process is still developing. Darcy is working with Jason Clark from BFT to refine it. But the current approach focuses on culture fit over speed.
Every HitFit franchisee so far has come from within the network. Former members, team members, or people connected to the HitFit community. They already know the product, the culture, and the experience.
The process:
Someone enquires. HitFit sends the information pack. They also send all existing franchisee interviews. Darcy wants prospects to hear from current franchisees rather than relying on head office claims. Once the prospect has consumed that content, they fill out an extensive questionnaire. Then HitFit schedules a call to check value alignment.
If the fit feels right, HitFit gets the prospect into a gym for sessions. Even if the prospective franchisee does not plan to be the trainer, they need to experience the culture firsthand. They need to see how members fist-bump after every round and how staff interact with the community.
The Bundaberg franchise tested the interstate model. Lee, the franchisee, had been a member at HitFit Melton for years before moving to Queensland. When she enquired about a franchise, Darcy and his board put the prospect through extra due diligence. Bundaberg is a completely different demographic from Melbourne’s western suburbs. The board was hesitant. After research and vetting, they approved it. The location has outperformed expectations.
PR Strategy: Ambassadors, Stories, and Getting on National TV
HitFit appeared on national television 10 times in one year. That type of coverage builds credibility that paid ads cannot replicate.
Darcy’s approach combines two elements: real stories from the HitFit community and celebrity ambassadors from the boxing world.
HitFit has six ambassadors including Tim Tszyu, Jeff Fenech, and Lester Ellis. When a member loses a significant amount of weight and then trains with a four-time world champion, that becomes a story television producers want to cover. The personal transformation alone might get coverage. Attaching a recognisable name increases the odds significantly.
One segment on A Current Affair ran five to six minutes. A 93-year-old woman in a wheelchair who punches the bag at HitFit with a never-give-up attitude. That story resonated with millions of viewers.
Darcy works with PR professional Michelle Stamp. He also leverages his father’s relationships with media contacts from Lester Ellis’s fighting career.
The PR strategy doubles as an SEO play. Every television appearance generates high domain authority backlinks from outlets like Daily Mail, Herald Sun, and Nine News. Those links strengthen HitFit’s online brand authority.
For franchise founders reading this: consider bringing on ambassadors early. They do not need to be A-list celebrities. Someone recognisable in your industry helps media outlets say yes to your story. And treat ambassadors as content creators, not logos on a website. Get them producing content, doing sessions with members, and creating material you use across every channel.
Content Creation Advice for Franchise Business Owners
Both Darcy and I discussed this at length: content creation is a non-negotiable for business owners in 2025.
At Jim’s Group, I teach social media and AI to 120 new franchisees every three weeks. Out of 120, five will follow through consistently. Those five will have better businesses than the ones who do not post.
Darcy referenced Alex Hormozi’s approach. Hormozi does not enjoy making content. But every week he blocks out time and does it anyway. He spends 75% of his time on strategy, hooks, and concepts. Then 25% on filming. Discipline, not motivation, drives the output.
For franchise owners struggling to start: make 200 posts before you judge the results. Stop evaluating each individual post. A baby learning to walk does not get criticised for stumbling. Your first 50 videos will be bad. Your next 50 will be average. By post 200, your approach to content will look completely different from where you started.
At Jim’s Group, we run content competitions. Jim’s Mowing offers $1,500, $1,000, and $500 prizes for the best franchisee content. For $2,500 total, we get six months of content from franchisees across the network. Even the non-winners get featured on our social accounts and website. Small monetary incentives create consistent content output.
Darcy’s closing message: simplify your expertise. You operate at level seven knowledge. Your audience is at level zero or one. The art is making complex ideas simple enough for a first-timer to understand. The more you practise that, the better your content performs.
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Listen to this episode:
YouTube: https://youtu.be/iU7u6ORNh2Q
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2JJxBhFeKD7PxzgfKBbwgZ
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-boxing-gym-franchise-that-sells-franchises/id1813790645?i=1000744187436&l=pt-BR
Related reading on joelkleber.com:
- Glenn Walford on Franchise Content Marketing: Why Surge Content Fails and What Works
- Jason Clark on BFT Franchise Growth: How BFT Sold 500 Franchises in 13 Countries
- Joel Kleber on Jim’s Group Franchise Growth: How Content Added 2,000 Franchisees
- How TikTok Generates Franchise Enquiries for Local Businesses
Frequently Asked Questions
What is HitFit and how does the franchise model work?
HitFit is a boxing fitness franchise founded by Darcy Ellis in Melbourne, Australia. The model requires owner-operators who are on the gym floor driving culture and member experience. HitFit’s head office runs all paid advertising for franchise locations. Franchisees focus on delivering sessions, converting trial members, and building community. The brand serves both kids and adults through boxing-based fitness classes.
How many members do HitFit gyms have?
HitFit Melton, the flagship location, has surpassed 1,000 members. HitFit Craigieburn, the first franchise location, has hit over 750 members. Both gyms generate seven-figure annual revenue. These numbers place HitFit in the top 5% of boutique fitness franchise locations by membership.
How does HitFit recruit new franchisees?
All current HitFit franchisees have come from within the network. Former members, team members, or community connections. HitFit sends an information pack and franchisee interview videos before scheduling a call. Prospects complete an extensive questionnaire and attend sessions at an existing gym to experience the culture firsthand. Darcy Ellis’s personal brand content generates more franchise enquiries than the corporate accounts.
Why does Darcy Ellis run Meta ads centrally for all franchise locations?
Darcy learned Meta advertising hands-on over five years before franchising. He runs all paid campaigns centrally because he already knows how to generate leads, structure offers, and convert. This frees franchisees to focus on the gym floor experience rather than learning digital marketing while running a new business. HitFit’s standard pre-launch offer is a 28-day fitness challenge.
How did HitFit get on national TV 10 times in one year?
HitFit combines real member transformation stories with celebrity boxing ambassadors including Tim Tszyu, Jeff Fenech, and Lester Ellis. The combination of a compelling personal story plus a recognisable name makes pitches more attractive to television producers. HitFit works with PR professional Michelle Stamp and leverages media relationships from Lester Ellis’s boxing career.