Heritage Martial Arts: Rebuilding Stronger with Resilience, Community, and 90% Retention

ABC Glofox Customer: Heritage Martial Arts

• Kitchener, ON, Canada
• Martial Arts & Fitness
• ~3 Years with ABC Glofox

Key results:

• ~90%+ retention on average
• 100% payment visibility
• 3-step visitor to member journey
• 150+ clients and counting

From a Backyard to a 28-Year Legacy

James Fries started teaching martial arts in his parents’ basement and yard. He worked landscaping on the side to pay the bills while he built a client base, one student at a time.

As the community grew, he moved into his own space, a 6,000 sq ft facility in Kitchener, Ontario, where Heritage Martial Arts & Fitness Centre has operated for nearly three decades.

Today, Heritage offers Goju Ryu Karate for kids and adults, CoreFit Conditioning, and a separate self-defense business, called Full Spectrum Defense, under the same roof. James has stayed in the same location, with the same mission, through everything the industry has thrown at him, including COVID.

Here’s how he rebuilt and came back stronger.

The Challenge

For years, Heritage ran on minimal and old-fashioned software, so much so that it eventually went back to being fully manual. For a stable, relationship-driven business, that worked.

Until COVID hit and memberships dropped fast. All the gaps that manual operations had quietly been hiding became impossible to ignore. Rebuilding the community meant getting in front of new members fast, but the admin was consuming the time James needed to do that.

The solution had to cover:

• Automated recurring payments with visibility into missed or failed transactions
• Signups and booking integrated directly into the website
• A member app that made scheduling simple and consistent

Why ABC Glofox

Heritage evaluated several platforms before making a decision. ABC Glofox covered everything James needed operationally:

• Membership and payments automation
• Website and app integration
• Streamlined sign-ups for new members
• Fast visibility into missed payments

One of the real differentiators was the support, just like in his own business. James knew that features alone don’t tell the full story. How a team responds when something goes wrong, or when you just need a straight answer, matters just as much.

ABC Glofox delivered on both, quickly, consistently, and from the very first interaction. For a business rebuilding from the ground up, that partnership made all the difference.

“ABC Glofox’s customer service has always been fantastic from day 1, answering any questions immediately, always there, when you have questions.”

Manage: Full control to run the business

With ABC Glofox as a partner, James now has more free time to focus on members and their families, without increasing the administrative workload.

• Automated monthly payments and membership management: Less time chasing, faster remediation of missed transactions
• Website-integrated sign-up and scheduling flow: A direct, frictionless path from prospect to member
• Member app for booking and schedule management: A consistent weekly experience for every member
• Entry-level passes and intro options: A simple on-ramp for new members to get started
• Monthly financial reporting: Tracking payouts and reconciling everything down to the dollar
• Lead follow-up support: Making sure new interest doesn’t slip through the cracks

Heritage doesn’t use automated late cancel or no-show fees. Not because the option isn’t there, but because in martial arts, the audience is different. Students who commit to the discipline rarely drop out at the last minute, and penalizing them would undermine the very culture that keeps them coming back.

Delight: Personal connection is the product

Heritage’s differentiator is its people. The friendliness, the sense of belonging, the genuine attachment members feel to the community, that’s what keeps member retention above 90%.

ABC Glofox protects that by keeping admin off the team’s plate entirely. Staff spend their time on the floor, knowing members by name, knowing their families, understanding their goals, and not chasing payments or managing bookings manually.

Grow: The right members, for the long term

In martial arts, finding the right members and keeping them is everything. Members only see real results when they commit long term, so building the right community from the start is what drives the business forward.

Heritage is rebuilding steadily from COVID, and the results reflect it:

• 90%+ retention on average, driven by consistent engagement and strong relationships
• Full payment visibility, missed transactions caught quickly, awkward money conversations eliminated
• A smoother 3-step member journey from website to sign-up to booking
• No-shows and late cancellations naturally minimal
• More time for staff to know members and families without growing the admin workload

Future: 28 years of resilience, and counting

Nearly three decades in, James is exactly where he wants to be, doing what he loves, with a team he’s proud of, and a community growing back stronger every month.

Running a martial arts or fitness business will always bring ups and downs, but resilience comes from building strong relationships and having the right tools behind the scenes.

ABC Glofox is what creates the bandwidth to stay close to clients, keep the vibe friendly, and help the right members stick to long-term goals.

Get a tool like ABC Glofox to run the admin tasks for you, and focus on personal relationships to maximize retention rates and to help your business thrive naturally.

Running a martial arts business comes with its own rules. See how ABC Glofox supports them. Book a demo today.