We would like to congratulate Vince Topui on being the proud new owner of Plus Fitness 24/7 Carlingford! This is Vince's second Plus Fitness Franchise after having opened Plus Fitness Macquarie Park back in December of 2014. The larger than life character, that many of you know and love, is very excited to be entering the realms of multi-unit franchise ownership, as are we all here at Plus Fitness Head Office!

The purchase of Plus Fitness Carlingford by Vince does however come with a twist, one that is both exciting and sad at the same time. We say this based on the fact that this sale see’s our very first Plus Fitness 24/7 Franchisees Billy and Paula Van Der Kooi leaving the network.

Billy and Paula met John and Nigel back in 2010 and a great friendship, and partnership was formed. Since then we have seen Billy and Paula own up to three Plus Fitness Franchises at one time with them being strongly regarded, both in the network by their peers and by Head Office as ‘The Benchmark’ for so many aspects of the operation of a Plus Fitness Franchise.

Opening the first Plus Fitness 24/7 franchise in Thornleigh, NSW, back in April 2011, the dynamic duo went on to then open two further Plus Fitness franchises in both Alexandria and Carlingford. Having driven success across all of their gyms, Billy and Paula reduced their portfolio as they entered into new and exciting adventures. These include having produced a beautiful family of three wonderful children during their time with Plus Fitness, building an impressive property portfolio, acquiring land that they have turned into a family farm retreat, and throughout this they have always remained two of our strongest and most loyal brand advocates.

When asked about his experience as a Plus Fitness Franchisee, Billy had this to say; “Being part of the Plus Fitness Family has been a life changing journey for us, we never imagined the growth and success that Plus Fitness has had over the past 7 years, this is a true testament, of well polished systems and the hard work of Franchisors John and Nigel, Franchisees and the whole team at HQ. Paula and I believe that if you want to be successful, then you need to surround yourself with successful likeminded people and we did exactly that at Plus Fitness. A Huge Thank you to all of our friends at Plus!!”.

Billy and Paula, not the kind of people to sit still, have now decided that after educating and helping so many Australians become fit and strong, that they want to focus now on educating Australians in making healthy eating choices. With this in mind the next adventure for the pair is going to be in the Food and Beverage Franchise space which will see them embarking upon a journey with Zambrero, the healthy alternative to fast food. When looking for a new franchise opportunity to throw themselves into, Billy and Paula were not only inspired by the healthy option franchise chain but also by the fantastic ‘Plate For Plate’ initiative that has already seen the Zambrero team give away over 17 million meals to the less fortunate, worldwide.

Congratulations once again to Vince Topui as he takes over the reins at Plus Fitness Carlingford and ’all the best’, but never goodbye, to two amazing individuals who will forever remain a strong part of the Plus Fitness Family and journey and will forever be held in the highest regard by Franchisors John and Nigel for the faith they showed back in 2010 when this awesome foursome sat down to have a ‘chat’ about a home grown, Australian born 24 hour gym franchise concept!

Congratulations Vince and all the best to Billy and Paula in their future endeavours!