How anti-spas sell well-being to men

NEW YORK Rapper Drake, pop star Shawn Mendes and Zedd all submerged themselves in a tub of ice water at Remedy Place. David Grinberg, CEO of Achilles Ion Gabriel and investor in the fitness space, opts for vitamin C showers. Joe Holder, founder of the Ocho system and GQThe New York wellness columnist combines remedies like these with treatments during his football days at the University of Pennsylvania.

They have different reasons for going there, but they share one thing in common. They are part of a growing cohort of men who, in the past, were less likely to go to spas, but who now frequent recovery-focused establishments like Remedy Place, seeking restorative therapies like ice baths, vitamin IV infusions, hyperbaric oxygen chambers, acupuncture and infrared light therapy.

There is a growing trend of men whose habits and interests are based on their health, wellness, mental health and community, said Anthony Vennare, founder of Fitt Insider, a health and wellness media company. fitness. This is a new type of consumer.

In 2023, half of Remedy Places' customers were millennial men, making up the majority of its highest-spending customers, with some shelling out $27,000 a year to the club. Although it refused to disclose its turnover figures, activity is dynamic according to the company. In 2022, it raised a $5 million seed round. But in its first full year of operating two locations in Los Angeles' WeHo and New York's Flatiron neighborhoods, it logged more than 64,000 bookings and became profitable in 2023. It is now embarking on an ambitious plan expansion of 16 sites in the United States, starting with a 7,400 m2 project. football club, the largest to date, on Greene Street in SoHo, New York this spring. And it wants to expand the physical on-site experience into at-home personal care tech products, starting with its Remedy Roller, an $11,900 myofascial release machine launching next month.

The Anti-Spa Boys Club

Establishments like Remedy Place are well-positioned to capitalize on the expanding wellness economy, which is expected to reach $8.5 trillion by 2027, according to the Global Wellness Institute. But why do men flock to Remedy Place? Well, it doesn't consider itself a spa, which generally targets women with beauty enhancements like facials. But rather a members-only social wellness club for social self-care, terms it owns. While the vast majority of Remedy Places treatments are done through memberships, a la carte reservations are available to everyone.

I really wanted to take care of myself, and for me, self-care is just about helping people feel better. I think once you help someone feel better, they come, said Dr. Jonathan Leary, former wellness concierge physician and founder and CEO of Remedy Places. And by focusing its services on the universal human need for self-care, it takes gender out of the equation.

Today, health has become a status symbol and many men are looking for other ways to connect with each other outside of the drinking culture. In recent years, Grinberg has noticed more and more of his friends getting sober. Many of us don't necessarily want to spend money on alcohol anymore, but you still want a place where you can hang out and see your friends, Holder added.

It's also one of the first places to promote ice baths as a wellness treatment. While some experts debate its physiological benefits such as strengthening the immune system and reducing muscle pain, the psychological challenge of being able to last six minutes in a tub of ice appeals to customers. As a $50 entry-level offering, the Breathwork ice bath class was the most popular treatment last year, averaging around 1,000 bookings per month.

They can brag about it and how [Remedy Place] is that it's considered a success, Grinberg said. It's like a sound byte, a very shareable moment on social media. It also comes with the #6minuteclub flex on Remedy Places TikTok, where some videos have over 10 million views.

But the appeal is broader than the ice bath and other treatments they offer. In the 2010s, pushing your body to its absolute physical limits through workouts like CrossFit was all the rage. But things have changed since the pandemic. People are moving a little bit toward slow living, and male care and identity is more about How Do I Recover?,” Holder said. We are at an inflection point in the culture of health and wellness that is now about understanding the importance of slowing down so that we can go faster.

Today, men are increasingly prioritizing their overall physical well-being, influenced by the rise of wellness and fitness technology products like Whoop and HyperIce, as well as global icons such as basketball legend LeBron James, who allocates $1.5 million per year to take care of his body. .

When athletes show you what a complete athletic experience is outside of sport, then you start to see how much they invested in their diet, how much they invested in their recovery and what it all looked like, that's what it's like. that moment you have everything [these treatments] start to explode, Holder said. Add social media and soon treatments like these had maximum exposure. Vennare believes these trends are no longer fueled by today's athletes; on the contrary, they trickled down to the masses. In my neighborhood, there are three places that have saunas, cold pools and float tanks, said Vennare, who lives in Pittsburgh, squarely in America's rust belt.

The road to mass adoption

To expand its ambitions, Remedy Place has adopted a unique strategic and financially savvy approach. Instead of signing conventional lease terms, the company has partnered with commercial and residential developers, positioning itself as the luxury hotel amenities partner to help them attract and retain tenants. In such collaborations, it is common for developers to subsidize often costly architectural constructions. In addition to its upcoming SoHo location, Remedy Place wants to open 16 additional clubs across the United States, aiming for two openings per year.

However, their vision extends beyond physical locations, as they explore opportunities to host more on-site wellness experiences at cultural events such as Coachella and even expand services into people's homes. people. Next month, Remedy Place will introduce its Tech-Remedy collection with the Remedy Roller, a premium foam roller designed for self-administered myofascial releases, priced at $11,900. In 2024, they plan to unveil The Framework, a free health and wellness educational platform. Additionally, Leary is collaborating with Kohler, an American company widely known for its bathroom and kitchen accessories, to transform its wellness division.

Vennare admits that many wellness treatments are expensive, making them inaccessible to most of the population. Holder said this should not create further division between the haves and have-nots. How can we take these ideas as a community and integrate them into the culture so that everyone can experience them in some degree of participation?, Holder said. This is where we continue to be ahead of the curve, not only as a business proposition, but also as a cultural revolution. This is where it is most needed.

But Leary thinks he's just getting started. I want to use Remedy Place to help more people, make more people feel better than any healthcare company in the world.