Keep Up With Global Black News

Sign up to our newsletter to get the latest updates and events from the leading Afro-Diaspora publisher straight to your inbox.

Avatar photo
BY Abu Mubarik, 4:20pm January 27, 2025,

How ex-professional soccer player Verdine Baker made history growing StretchLab to 500 units in just 5 years

Avatar photo
by Abu Mubarik, 4:20pm January 27, 2025,
Photo credit: Xponential Fitness

Verdine Baker, a former professional soccer player and the president of StretchLab, has guided the franchise brand to grow to an impressive 500 units in just the past five years. One of Xponential’s most successful brands, StretchLab is now the first assisted stretching franchise to reach 500 studios in North America, according to a statement on Businesswire.

Baker ventured into the wellness and fitness field following his own battle with multiple knee injuries while playing soccer. He told Business Enterprise that he has always been intrigued and curious about small businesses and the scalability that can come from them.

“When it comes to StretchLab, I had an immediate connection with the brand and its mission,” he told the platform. “Combined with my personal relationship with the service, I knew my wellness and fitness business background would serve me well in taking on leadership with the brand as well.”

Before joining StretchLab in 2018, Baker was at Crunch Fitness where he worked for 10 years, starting out as a membership advisor and growing within Crunch Fitness corporate in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

He said he first joined StretchLab as national sales director. In his position, he helped build sales and operations processes for the brand when it had just three locations. His gym experience and studio level helped him to build and optimize the business model.

Over a period, he learned other aspects of franchising, like franchise development to franchisee relations, which saw him grow to be Vice President of Sales and later President, where he has now served for the last three years.

Touching on how he has grown the brand from three units to 500 units while preserving strong unit economics, he noted that his leadership prioritized maintaining high-quality support for their franchisees, which has been essential to the brand’s growth.

“As we expanded, we were deliberate in structuring our corporate team and refining the systems and processes that our franchisees implement daily. By continuously enhancing our foundational practices and seeking innovative methods to boost efficiencies across our network, we’ve successfully fueled our growth without sacrificing performance,” he said.

In October 2024, StretchLab celebrated the opening of StretchLab Honolulu in Hawaii. “Exceeding 500 locations just 10 months after celebrating 400 open locations, along with awarding over 1,000 licenses worldwide, is a testament to the rapid rise of this once-niche practice and how beneficial assisted stretching is for consumers across a variety of communities,” Baker said at the time.

StretchLab currently has studios located in 45 states, with new studios in over 15 U.S. states in 2024. The brand is also making waves internationally, particularly in Canada, Kuwait, Japan, Australia, Mexico and at sea across Princess Cruises’ fleet of cruise ships, the statement on Businesswire said.

Last Edited by:Mildred Europa Taylor Updated: January 27, 2025

Conversations

Must Read

Connect with us

Join our Mailing List to Receive Updates

Face2face Africa | Afrobeatz+ | BlackStars

Keep Up With Global Black News and Events

Sign up to our newsletter to get the latest updates and events from the leading Afro-Diaspora publisher straight to your inbox, plus our curated weekly brief with top stories across our platforms.

No, Thank You