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Folks in south Davis County who want to start working out, already are in an exercise regimen or are athletes wanting to build muscle without steroids now can go to a new Max Muscle Sports Nutrition store in Bountiful, one of the latest in a national chain of 152 franchisee-owned outlets.
On March 1, James Gustason opened his store at 416 W. 500 South, the county's second. Along with a store owned by another franchisee in Layton that opened in 2008, the two are the only Max Muscle outlets in Utah.
They offer, said Gustason, "customized food-based nutritional plans," along with counseling services by Gustason and his four certified employees.
"We will know each and every customer's name. We will educate them thoroughly on proper use of the products, and we will know the frequency of their purchases," he said.
The kind of customer he and his fellow franchisees target ranges from the high school athlete who wants to put on 20 pounds so he can play football, women who want to maintain a healthy lifestyle through pregnancies and people of all ages who want to develop healthy lifestyles through nutrition and exercise.
Max Muscle corporate executive Bill Warner points to another kind of customer as well: people under a doctor's care who have been diagnosed with Type II diabetes.
"We will talk [to them] about modifying their diet, what kind of physical activity they should do and how to use various nutritional products that will help them deal with the disease," said Warner, vice president for franchise development for the Orange, Calif.-based company.
"It's a consulting business, and we just happen to have a high-quality product."
All Max Muscle stores are owned by franchisees. In addition to the 152 open nationally, 11 more are under development, Warner said.
Each worker must be certified by the National Exercise and Sports Trainer Association. This requires 60 to 80 hours of online tested education — all part of the cost of the owner becoming a franchisee, he said.
Max Muscle started out in California in the 1990s selling products to nutrition stores. It owned 10 corporate stores at one time, but decided to go the franchise-only route in 2004, said Warner. The first franchisee opened that year in Scottsdale, Ariz., and still is in business, he said.
The company chose the franchise path so it "could better control the educational process [of employees] and what is sold."
Warner emphasized that Max Muscle does not allow the sale of any performance-enhancing drugs or steroids.
For folks who have gone down that route, "We get them cleaned up and show them the error of their ways."
Few of the products sold are in the form of capsules, he said.
"We will talk about food-based programs and protein supplements in the form of liquids or shakes. We're concerned with absorption and uptake of the product. A lot of what's in capsules is generally not absorbed by the body. We are very limited on capsules."