🇲🇦 3MCB #23 : The End of City Club 🏀
3 Minute Coffee Break
Mgharba !
Sbah lkhir. Most of you know what City Club is. They are a major actor in the Moroccan fitness industry. They democratized the access to the gym to a big part of the moroccan population thanks to their price.
This is where most positive things about City Club end.
From now it’s only going downwards.
Recently City Club has been involved in Drama where major problems have been resurfaced by Tata Hala.
We’re talking fraud, no respect of hygiene procedures, unpaid employees, and much more.
On this edition of 3MCB we’re unraveling all the behind the scenes of City Club’s downfall.
Bdina ?
Markets Overview
The City Club “Business Model”
Everybody knows the classic business model of City Club :
Open multiple fitness clubs all around the kingdom
Offer a very competitive subscription price
Profit
But there’s more to that.
The real reason behind the “financial” success of City Club relies on their cashflow management :
Upon subscribing to a gym membership, every member pays upfront the annual fee. This is what most moroccan gym do. This means that City Club gets their “Cash In” as fast as possible.
But it is alleged that City Club is notorious for not paying all their expenses.
Expenses ranging from rent, to employee paid leaves and/or STC. This means that they “Cash Out” as late as possible. (Yes, if you’re asking yourself, this is illegal)
This has been the case since the very beginning of City Club but …
… Why has this only resurfaced now ?
Introducing Tata Hala.
Hala is a proud Moroccan and a fitness influencer on social media based in France.
Initially Hala started this drama to put a light on how bad was the service offered by City Club :
Dirty clubs - Dusty mats, No hot water available, Polluted Swimming Pools
Old & Broken machines
Unsafe working out environment
But then more secrets coming from City Club’s headquarters.
They Make Morocco a “Worse” Place :
Introducing Jonathan Harroch, Founder & CEO of City Club.
It is alleged that Mr Harroch would frequently insult his employees, using slurs such as “Fils de p*te”, “Vous êtes mes escl*ves”.
To add insult to injury (probably the best proverb for this situation), Mr Harroch has allegedly dislocated one of his employee’s shoulder during one of the tantrum he threw on the open space as he reportedly often does.
Here is a list of other alleged action Mr Harroch often does :
Disguised an “Accident du travail - Trajet” of an employee who died during his shift outside of City Club as “Absence”
Fired a Unique Fitness employee who wanted to empty the pool to clean it from feces
Not paying rent
If you were considering subscribing or resubscribing to a fitness plan in City Club, Unique Fitness, Elle or UFC Gym Morocco, think again.
That’s it for this Monday,
Conquer,
Aladin from We Make Morocco A Better Place.