# Empire Portfolio Group gains real-time spend visibility with Brex With a consolidated view of spend and real-time reporting, Empire Portfolio Group can manage its Orangetheory Fitness studios more efficiently with Brex. **URL Source:** https://www.brex.com/resources/customer/empire-portfolio-group --- ![Empire_Hero](https://brand.brex.com/transform/57bb02aa-8e3d-4268-a44c-818ae3ea1a93/Empire_Hero) # Empire Portfolio Group gains real-time spend visibility with Brex. ![Empire stats](https://brand.brex.com/m/137292ed4dc4d6a2/webimage-Empire-stats.jpg) ### About Empire Portfolio Group Building a healthier future one Orangetheory Fitness at a time Empire Portfolio Group is a leading area franchisee of Orangetheory Fitness, a fast-growing brand known for its signature blend of science, coaching, and technology. Since 2013, Empire has been delivering fitness results for a healthier world while supporting the dreams and goals of its members and team. Headquartered in New York City, the company owns and operates over 140 Orangetheory Fitness studios up and down the East Coast. ### Challenges Multiple card and payment solutions and poor spending visibility Empire had been outsourcing its financial functions to third parties and using multiple cards and payment solutions, including Amex, Chase, Venmo, and Zelle — making it difficult to track spending. As Empire grew, the team decided to build out its financial operations in-house, leveraging a modern approach to [spend management](https://www.brex.com/spend-trends/expense-management/spend-management) that would help them move faster and more efficiently across their Orangetheory Fitness locations. Because Empire was starting from scratch, they needed more than a provider — they sought a partner who could quickly implement a new solution with high-touch service and scale as Empire grew its studio portfolio. ### Solution Cards, expenses, and reimbursements on one platform Empire chose to consolidate corporate cards, expense management, and reimbursements onto Brex to improve spending control and visibility. Empire first issued Brex cards to employees and used [spend limits](https://www.brex.com/platform/spend-limits) to allocate budgets to managers at each location. Tiffany Miller, Director of Accounts Payable at Empire Portfolio Group, said the clear limits and expense policies make it easy for teams to do the right thing for the individual location — and the business as a whole. “There are so many great functionalities in Brex, and it’s not just for the finance team,” Tiffany says. “It’s also given managers a way to be recognized for managing their budgets and allows us to give them ownership.” Positive employee feedback around Brex cards led Empire to accelerate the rollout of expense tracking and reimbursements. With Brex’s comprehensive [spend management solution](https://www.brex.com/product/spend-management), Empire’s controllers and managers finally had real-time visibility and granular control over spending across their Orangetheory Fitness locations in one place. ![Brex UI](https://brand.brex.com/transform/f6da641f-efd7-45eb-82fe-30ce62a01911/ScaleAI-inline-2-8) “Coming to Brex was a great decision for us because we formed a partnership, and they made the preliminary setup process go really smoothly,” Tiffany said. “With Brex, we’ve seen a huge shift in accounts payable from being a back-office data entry function to a powerhouse of information that creates a decision-maker and stakeholder.” — Tiffany Miller, Director of Accounts Payable, Empire Portfolio Group ### Impact Improved reporting and visibility that drives studio efficiency An integrated corporate card and spend management solution gave Empire the platform it needed to build a world-class finance department that’s driving business strategy. “With Brex, we’ve seen a huge shift in accounts payable from being a back-office data entry function to a powerhouse of information that creates a decision-maker and stakeholder,” Tiffany said. Fast reimbursements, real-time expense tracking, and improved reporting enable Empire to increase its overall financial discipline and performance. “Now we have the tools to easily run information to the C-suite,” Tiffany said. “It’s why we needed Brex — to see in real time what’s being spent across multiple locations.” Empire Portfolio Group leveraged these new insights into incentive programs to empower studio owners and improve business results. “Because we’re able to see spending at such a granular level, we’re able to benchmark our studio locations against one another and truly understand the cost of running the most efficient studio.” Empire Portfolio Group continues its impressive growth and dream-big mission, with the strength of Brex’s AI-powered spend platform — and partnership — behind them. “When we moved to Brex, I felt like I had a partner in this space,” Tiffany says. “Brex is willing to work with end users directly. Having the Brex team there, like they were part of my team, was really helpful.” ## Related Articles ### [A CFO’s checklist for going international](https://www.brex.com/journal/cfo-checklist-for-going-international) Getting people paid, managing expenses, taxes & accounting — there’s a lot to consider before expanding operations in a new country. ### [A survival guide for new CFOs who aren’t CPAs](https://www.brex.com/journal/survival-guide-for-cfos-who-arent-cpas) Tech CFO CJ Gustafson shares best practices for managing finance teams without an accounting background. ### [BambooHR case study](https://www.brex.com/resources/customer/bamboohr) See how an integrated spend and accounting platform accelerates expenses and streamlines the month-end close. ### [Rippling Integration](https://www.brex.com/journal/rippling-integration) Brex and Rippling are even better together with first-of-its-kind features to drive employee compliance and efficient spending, all in one place. ### [Founder Series Part 1](https://www.brex.com/resources/founder-series-part-1-the-importance-of-personal-finance-for-founders) We worked with Compound, an all-in-one personal finance solution for founders and a customer of Brex, to put together a personal finance “cheat sheet.” ### [Building the Brex API](https://www.brex.com/journal/building-the-brex-api) We’re excited to launch the Brex API this week! Now customers can programmatically read their data, issue cards, invite users, send payments and much more.