LOS ANGELES - Earlier this year, Bikram Choudhury, founder of Bikram Yoga College of India, held a seminar on yoga philosophy and practice in San Diego that attracted hundreds and highlights the continuing popularity of the famous brand of yoga. Exposure once again sparked talk of launching a franchise for Bikram Yoga.
Los Angeles-based businesses that already operate on the same scale with many franchise companies. Began in the United States in 1973, Bikram Yoga has more than 1,700 schools, 5,000 teachers certified in the whole world and 500 affiliated yoga center with the agreement. The validity of the concept has been pioneered by founder Choudhury, who first came to the United States at the invitation of President Richard Nixon and then became the de facto yoga teacher to the stars. A three-time winner of the All India National Yoga Championship in his youth, Choudhury has taught world leaders, sports figures and celebrities, including Indira Gandhi, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, John McEnroe, Serena Williams, Quincy Jones and Raquel Welch.
Bikram Yoga, also known as "hot yoga" because of the temperature and humidity in the room is done, is a specific sequence of poses and breathing exercises that integrate body, mind and spirit, and is intended to help ease the pain - pain from stress, insomnia, arthritis and return to a more serious chronic diseases.
Choudhury started training other Bikram Yoga teacher in 1994 and this approach has evolved into a system very similar to the typical franchise chain. Teachers receive nine weeks of training and serve a six-month internship at the location of Bikram Yoga. Once certified teachers launch their own sites, they must adhere to some standards that keep the brand unified across all locations. These include: using only certified Bikram Yoga teacher, using methods similar to Bikram Yoga Bikram Yoga and just, the facility was approved with standard heated room, mirrors and rugs. Bikram Yoga location of all schools are also approved by the school principal Choudhury in Los Angeles.
Jim Kallett, director of Bikram Yoga College of India, San Diego, said that talks about Bikram Yoga franchise has been going on for years, but it is certainly closer to happening now.
"This is great for the franchise process. It is not just a country, but internationally," said Kallet, who has been teaching Bikram Yoga for over a decade. "Franchising is being worked on .... It always seems to be close. Hopefully, it will in the near future."
Kallet running a 7000 square foot Bikram Yoga school in San Diego, which was originally launched in 1998. His school is now one of about eight other locations in San Diego, but it was the largest with six classes a day and more than 200 participants a day. Kallet Bikram Yoga opens second school in La Jolla, California, in 2001 and sold it a year later.
An active member of the Bikram Yoga community and brand spokesman on numerous occasions, Kallet said that the sentiment among certified Bikram Yoga teachers who welcomed the franchise.
He wrote a number of factors make the best selection of brand franchise, particularly the ability of schools to do things as a group, such as dealing with a vendor or insurance company, a stronger network of communication between the schools, the entire system of financial accounting systems and data centers that can accumulated to better understand the performance of the overall brand.
Kallet said that perhaps the best benefit of the franchise will create a stronger brand name. "Franchising is the real thing. It is a great way to reinforce your brand," he added.
Choudhury has copyrighted a sequence of poses and exercises in Bikram Yoga, a move that was controversial among yoga community and has been challenged in court, but upheld. From the perspective of Kallet, the model Bikram Yoga franchise will provide legal protection even more than other schools of yoga teach Bikram Yoga method and just call it something else.
Although Bikram Yoga has been the support model, with teachers coming back for re-certification every three years, Kallet believe a franchise model will shore up more support for certified teachers and their schools.
Kallet admits that some of Bikram Yoga affiliates currently afraid of the process of switching to a model franchise, but he was sure, once they are properly educated about what it means and benefits, they will see the light. "It's really to our advantage. Benefits we get from it will be amazing," he said.
At the end of the day, Kallet is the main reason for franchising is attractive because Bikram Yoga has proven to be a successful and popular concept, which does not make sense not to follow the model that has proven to be the best way to deliver a brand of locations around the world.
"[Choudhury] made packages and systems that make yoga accessible to Western culture. He took something away from religion ... and easily accessible," says Kallet. "You can practice and make a better life .... When your body healthy your mind work better and vice versa."
"Many employers are turning to yoga as a way to improve their health and in turn become more successful," he added. "Yoga helped it back into balance."
As Kallet school has grown over the years, he said what drives him most is to increase the variety of people who take yoga classes. While used mostly women and housewives taking classes, he said he now owns 40 percent of men and people from all walks of life.
"In the past, if you do yoga you may be into the New Age movement ... now there," says Kallet. "We have judges, lawyers, truck drivers, homemakers. Your name and people come to this school and doing yoga."
"Demand is not limited to," he added. "We want the whole world to do yoga."
Kallet passion for Bikram Yoga is reflective of other teachers certified Bikram Yoga like Diane Ducharme, who teaches Bikram Yoga in Boston.
Ducharme for your Yoga school, which opened in 1995, was the first Bikram Yoga center in Massachusetts. When he started school, Ducharme has taken a Bikram Yoga class for over a decade and jumped at the chance to become a certified teacher once Choudhury started training in the mid-1990s.
"I have never taken or done any other yoga," he said. "It's brilliant and wonderful and I love it and I never felt the need to go and explore more yoga."
"I knew I wanted to go and teach this and get certified," he added. "When I found out it was my passion. This is what I know I would do for the rest of my life."
Ducharme's Bikram Yoga center teaches 24 classes a week and he has a staff of about 10 teachers.
Ducharme is an affiliate of Bikram Yoga which will really on board with the franchise. "I'm not worried at all," he said.
He says he understands the power of a brand name and already feel as if their business benefits from it. "Just being on [Choudhury's] Web site brings in business," he said. He acknowledged the belief that the franchise is really going way up Bikram Yoga business and take it to a whole other level.
The main questions in mind about the franchise affiliation BikramYoga now, he says, is what exactly they would get if the franchise model is launched.
Though Kallet optimistic about Bikram Yoga franchise model launched in the near future, Ducharme more hesitant to discuss the reality of it, said he was still waiting after hearing about franchising many times. He chalk this up to the main focus Choudhury on yoga and not the business of selling franchises. "The great thing about him is he loves yoga. He does not love the business," he said.
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