Lifetime Fitness 2009 Annual Report Download - page 19

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14
Nutritional Products. We offer a line of nutritional products, including Men's and Women's Performance
Multivitamins, Omega-3 Fish Oil, Joint Maintenance Formulation, LeanSource Soft Gels, Whey Protein isolate, and
Fast- Fuel Complete, our new meal replacement, that we believe deliver the highest possible quality, value and the
performance when it comes to helping our members achieve their health and fitness goals. Our products use high
quality ingredients and are available in our LifeCafes and through our Web site, lifetimefitness.com. Our current
nutritional product line focuses on four areas, which are daily health, weight management, energy and athletic
performance. Our weight management products work safely and effectively to help manage weight. Our
formulations are created and extensively tested by a team of external scientific experts. We use experienced and
professional third parties to manufacture our nutritional products.
Our Employees
Most of our current model centers are staffed with an average of 225 full-time and part-time employees.
Approximately 11 center employees are in management positions, typically including a general manager, operations
department head and sales department head to ensure a well-managed facility and motivated work force. All
employees are provided dedicated training and/or certification to support the member experience we expect.
Additionally, our personal trainers, massage therapists, physical therapists and cosmetologists are required to
maintain a professional license or one of their industry’s top certifications.
All center employees are required to participate in a training program that is specifically designed to promote a
friendly and inviting environment at each center and a consistent standard of performance across all of our centers.
Employees also receive ongoing mentoring, and continuing education is required before they are permitted to
advance to other positions within our company.
As of December 31, 2009, we had approximately 17,400 employees, including approximately 11,600 part-time
employees and approximately 500 employees at our Corporate office. We are not a party to a collective bargaining
agreement with any of our employees. Although we experience turnover of non-management personnel, historically
we have not experienced difficulty in obtaining adequate replacement personnel. In general, we believe relations
with our employees are good.
Information Systems
In addition to our standard operating and administrative systems, we utilize an integrated and flexible member
management system to manage the flow of member information within each of our centers and between centers and
our corporate office. We have designed and developed our proprietary system to allow us to collect information in a
secure and easy-to-use environment. Our system enables us to, among other things, enroll new members with a
paperless membership agreement, acquire digital pictures of members for identification purposes and capture and
maintain specific member information, including usage. The system allows us to streamline the collection of
membership dues electronically, thereby offering additional convenience for our members while at the same time
reducing our corporate overhead and accounts receivable. We have a customer relationship management system to
enhance our marketing campaigns and management oversight regarding daily sales and marketing activities.
Competition
Due to the innovative nature of our comprehensive centers, programming, product and service offering, we believe
that we are well positioned in the health club industry. However, this industry is highly competitive and our
competition may have greater name recognition than we have or greater economies of scale. We consider the
following groups to be the primary industry participants in the health and fitness industry:
x health club operators, including 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide, Inc., Bally Total Fitness Holding Corporation,
Equinox Holdings, Inc., LA Fitness International, LLC and Town Sports International, Inc.;
x the YMCA and similar non-profit organizations;
x physical fitness and recreational facilities established by local governments, hospitals and businesses;
x local salons, cafes and businesses offering similar ancillary services;
x exercise and small fitness clubs and studios, including Anytime Fitness, Curves International and Snap
Fitness;