Barry's CEO went from joining the gym to running the business in 11 years: I 'never expect to know what's next'

Joey Gonzalez, 45, made what would turn out a pivotal career decision at the age of 26, when he attended his first Barry's Bootcamp exercise class. Little did he know that a single workout would ignite a passion within him and set him on a path to leadership. 

Gonzalez worked his way up from a regular attendee to an instructor. He assumed the role of CEO in 2015, 11 years after he took his first class, overseeing a business that generated, according to him, an impressive $120 million in annual revenue as recently as 2019.

Then, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company's revenue plummeted to zero. 

"Here was this company I dedicated my life to and invested so much in — not even financially but emotionally. Everything meant so much to me," Gonzalez says. "It was awful, and the most challenging time of my life."

Gonzalez embarked on a journey to revive the brand, and his resilience and strategic vision have led to a successful recovery. Today, Barry's is once again profitable, with annual revenue surpassing $100 million, according to the company.

After dedicating 12 years of his life to trying to break into the Entertainment business in Los Angeles, Joey Gonzalez realized that he wasn't achieving the financial stability he desired, no matter how hard he worked.

"Aside from my acting career, I was a real estate salesperson, massage therapist, waiter. I mean, I probably had like five or six different careers within a short amount of time," Gonzalez says. "But I knew what it was like to absolutely love what I did, and for work not to feel like work. And I was not going to stop until I found that again."

In 2004, at the age of 26, Gonzalez took his first Barry's Bootcamp class in West Hollywood. "I had someone that I was dating at the time kind of challenged me to take a class," Gonzalez recalls. "I was nervous about it."

In 1998, entrepreneur Barry Jay established the inaugural Barry's Bootcamp in West Hollywood. His vision was to transform the fitness industry by merging the vibrant atmosphere of a nightclub with the rigorousness of a high-intensity workout: As loud dance music played and red lights glowed, participants switched between treadmill running and weightlifting.

"I showed up [to my first class one] Saturday morning and the 10:00 was packed," Gonzalez says. "But I had the best experience ever. My walls came down within the first five minutes, everybody was friendly. The clients were, you know, just surrounded by like-minded people."

Shortly after, Gonzalez started taking classes twice a day before embarking on a new chapter of his career. He was asked to join Barry's as an instructor, where he could leverage his background in performing arts to connect with clients.

"You're a DJ, you're entertaining people, you are working the room, you have to be good with relationships. So it was a perfect role for me. And that was really how I like cut my teeth and got, you know, even more obsessed with the business," Gonzalez says.

Gonzalez was driven by a desire to contribute to the company's growth. "For the next five years, [I'd ask], 'When will you allow me to invest and scale the business?' [And] after five years of saying that, I walked in the office ... with the other investors, and I said, 'I'm going to do this with you, or without you. So you make the choice. Take my money. Let me do this.' And they said, 'OK.'"

Such ambitions came at a personal cost. Gonzalez made the difficult decision to leverage his house as capital for the business and, despite having just gotten engaged, relocate to New York City to spearhead the opening of Barry's first location in the Big Apple.

"I really sacrificed everything. And there was a world where if it didn't work, I would be, you know, homeless on the street with no money and probably not engaged any longer. You know, it could have gotten very bad," he says.

Over the years, Gonzalez worked hard to move up the ranks, from instructor, manager, and director of operations, to COO and now CEO.

"I learnt every facet of the business and because of that was able to visualize its potential and then execute on that vision," Gonzalez says. "I also became an investor, putting every dollar and cent I had (or could leverage) into the vision I had for Barry's."

After North Castle Partners invested and named him CEO in 2015, Gonzalez started to build a strong leadership team.

"I made sure I hired the right people for each role, bringing all functions in house so we could begin to scale the business without jeopardizing the brand or experience," he says. "We invested in a digital infrastructure, developed studio optimization best practices, and strategically began to open more Barry's studios across the country and world."

Today, Gonzalez leads a team of 1,400 employees at Barry's (the company dropped "Bootcamp" from its name in 2019), with 84 studios spanning 14 countries. His then-fiancé, Jonathan, became his husband, and they have two children together, Francesca and Jake.

Barry’s Bootcamp arguably helped launch the boutique fitness trend, now a competitive $50 billion-a-year global market, according to Azoth Analytics.

Gonzalez attributes his strong work ethic and unwavering belief in the American dream to the influences of his father, a Cuban refugee, and his mother, an Italian immigrant. Their warmth and support also made it easier for him to come out to them.

"I remember we'd like walk around downtown Chicago [growing up], and we'd see a gay couple holding hands. And my brother or someone might be like, 'Oh, look at that!' And my mom would turn to us and scold us and say, 'That's love. That's beautiful.' So I knew I knew growing up that my mom would accept me no matter what," Gonzalez recalls.

His dad, on the other hand, handled the situation with humor. "He kind of like didn't react [when I came out]. And he looked at me goes, yes, I've seen 'Brokeback Mountain.' That was like, 'Good talk. I love you. Give me a hug.' And we moved on."

In elementary school, Gonzalez remembers being different and facing discrimination because of his ethnicity and cultural background. "I'd be waiting to get picked up, and [the other kids at school would] be like, 'Is your dad picking you up on his lawn mower?'" he says.

Despite these challenges, Gonzalez says he believes "adversity fuels greatness" and his experiences have helped him develop resilience and compassion.

Today, he describes himself as a "servant leader," someone who sees his position of authority as a privilege. He aims to encourage his direct reports by prioritizing development, accessibility, and accountability in his leadership approach.

"I had no business background. I didn't know anything about types of leadership," Gonzalez says. "That's how I led and years later, when I actually learned about it, I was like, 'Oh, that's exactly what I do.' It just kind of came naturally."

In March 2020, the day after the world shut down due to the global pandemic, Gonzalez took to social media to reach people. "I gave everybody a workout from home on Instagram. We had 25,000 people join us, which was shocking," Gonzalez says.

"Obviously, we knew we had to continue doing it. And maintaining our connection to our clients."

The company launched Barry's At Home, to serve clients who wanted to workout and needed the support of the Barry's community, according to Gonzalez. (During the pandemic the company innovated Barry's At Home and launched Barry's X, its digital workout platform, which combines video-on-demand classes with live classes and instructor interaction.)

"We were committed to safely opening our studios whenever we could, always while abiding by local mandates. In some markets that meant we'd open and then have to close again in the same week. We also launched Outdoor studios across markets. "

One of the biggest challenges he recalls in his entire career was the devastating effect of going from $120 million in revenue to zero overnight. "I had to lay off 1,000 [hourly] people, you know, and furlough more and reduce my HQ," Gonzalez says.

A recent case study by Harvard Business School captured the moment when he had to decide whether to divest in the business and close all the studios or find a way forward. In the end, Gonzalez learned valuable lessons and found inspiration in adversity.

Throughout the pandemic, the company raised money twice to make sure all of its full-time employees and instructors remained employed. By doing so, Gonzalez says, Barry's retained a lot of its top talent that it needed when they were able to reopen.

"When we could, we continued through COVID, opening new markets including Austin and Denver. And we opened new studios in infill markets including New York, Chicago, and LA. Globally we opened Frankfurt, Berlin, Copenhagen," Gonzalez says.

While one in four gyms closed permanently during the pandemic, according to Gonzalez, all of Barry's Bootcamp locations persevered. Recently, however, one studio in downtown San Francisco had to shutter. The closure was primarily a result of the work-from-home trend affecting the city's business district, where the gym was situated, he says.

Barry's revenue for 2022 surpassed $100 million, according to the company, and experienced a 40 percent year-over-year increase in 2023.

Barry's will continue to expand business by opening new locations and introducing new modalities to enhance the customer experience, including entering the cycling market with RIDE — replacing the treadmill with a bike — emphasizing that it is a way to extend the brand and offer a differentiated product rather than competing with existing brands like SoulCycle and Peloton, according to Gonzalez.

"My plans for the Barry's Chelsea [location], that were stamped in 2010, had the treadmill experience on the ground floor and RIDE in the basement," Gonzalez says. "It just took 10 years for us to actually execute on it because we were so busy expanding the original core product."

In the near future, the plan is to open a second RIDE location in West Hollywood, as well as expand the company's LIFT modality, a weight-lifting class.

"I've learned never to expect to know what's next," Gonzalez says. "I've devoted the greater part of my adult life to this company and will continue to do so until I feel my work is done and I have fully served the business.

"I'm grateful to have had this professional experience and to have felt so much purpose in my work," he says. "It's one of life's greatest gifts."

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