How SWTHZ Is Bringing Contrast Therapy to the Masses
Partnership
Sponsored By SWTHZ
The brainchild of franchising expert Jamie Weeks, SWTHZ offers infrared sauna, cold plunge and Vitamin C showers in luxurious private suites
When it comes to health and fitness, the franchise market is booming. But Jamie Weeks is approaching things differently – on every level.
Week’s rapidly expanding brand, SWTHZ – a premium-experience contrast therapy studio featuring infrared sauna, cold plunge and Vitamin C showers – launched in 2019 and now boasts 15 studios in six states. By year’s end, he expects to have five times that. There are currently 50 new studios in 22 states under construction, with 24 franchisees holding 250 licenses. The brand is soon to set sights on an international launch, where a waitlist is expected.
This speed to market is unmatched, and the business model is flipping the script on the traditional franchising model.
“We are moving at locomotive speed,” Weeks says. “I know how to scale, and we are doing it fast.”
No stranger to franchising, Weeks is one of the leading OrangeTheory Fitness operators with 142 studios. In 2019, he launched Legacy Franchise Concepts (LFC), which owns and operates the rights to SWTHZ. He is also the largest area developer with 10 open studios and 75 licenses for Dogtopia, a dog daycare brand with over 185 facilities nationally.
A Different Approach to Franchising
There are multiple ways in which Weeks is approaching franchising differently with SWTHZ. First, he’s putting a limit on the number of franchisees.
“Many franchisors make the mistake of selling too many licenses to too many people and it becomes a tail wagging the dog scenario,” he explains. “We are being very selective to bring on a set number of capable franchisees and will then suspend additional licensing for a time in the states. Limiting the number of franchisees eliminates internal competition. In fact, the franchisees are working together toward the brand’s overall success. It’s truly a franchisee-first model where everybody wins.”
He goes on to explain other differentiating factors.
“I am an operator myself,” he says. “Of the 15 (SWTHZ) studios open today, 11 are corporate, and we are holding several areas for further corporate expansion down the road. This tells our franchisees that we are fully vested ourselves and wholly confident in the brand’s future success.”
Another distinction? His bullishness in opening doors. When asked where he sees the brand five years from now, Weeks says he sees north of 500 facilities in the U.S. alone.
The Value of Contrast Therapy
Weeks describes SWTHZ as a premium experience offering luxurious private suites, each outfitted with an infrared sauna and cold plunge, Vitamin-C Showers and a host of amenities and entertainment. Guests or members receive a scented or unscented cold compress upon arrival and can customize their experience with a chromotherapy color of choice. En-suite entertainment includes surround sound for streaming music, TV shows, meditation apps and podcasts.
“The suite becomes the guests’ private sanctuary to use as they see fit,” says Weeks. “Some may want a simple cold plunge, others will indulge in the Infrared Sauna followed by a cold plunge and then a Vitamin-C shower, while others might choose to go back and forth between hot and cold therapies. There is no other place that offers this all within one room – translating to a supreme experience that’s highly personal and private.”
Members can also bring a guest to share in the experience.
Weeks says the overall concept has been met with massive success. He also says SWTHZ won’t stray from offering scientifically proven hot and cold protocol, also known as contrast therapy.
“A lot of studios are trying to be a bit of everything, from Cryotherapy to IV infusions to float tanks etc, and that’s not a bad thing,” he says. “But our focus is hot and cold protocol with Vitamin-C showers. These are proven natural remedies that people have been reaping huge benefits from for centuries. SWTHZ has taken these protocols and created an exceptional destination for the everyday consumer.”
Weeks himself experiences a cold plunge daily and says it’s changed his life.
“I no longer need caffeine because the endorphins and dopamine I experience from the plunge last for hours,” he explains. “I sleep better and am more physically prepared to go harder in my workouts too.”
Other benefits of hot and cold therapy include reduced inflammation, calorie burn, skin health, improvements in heart health, circulation and lymphatic drainage, a boost in metabolism, enhanced mood and more.
The Perfect Complement to Fitness
Weeks says SWTHZ is the ideal complement to fitness given the myriad of recovery benefits of contrast therapy.
“We have a few locations where SWTHZ sits between an Orangetheory Fitness studio, a yoga studio and a Pilates studio, and that’s just perfect for us,” he says. “Patrons will work out hard and then come over to us for all the recovery and additional health benefits and walk away feeling fantastic.”
In the end, Weeks says the desire for hot and cold therapy is only going to grow.
“This is not a fad. It’s not going away, and no one offers a Contrast Therapy experience like SWTHZ.”