City Cave expands as people look for an escape from their stressed-out lives

They turned over $65 million in the last financial year and opened 30 franchises in the last two years. And these Brisbane ex-tradies have no intention of slowing down.

City Cave founders Tim Butters and Jeremy Hassell. Picture: Liam Kidston

Cost-of-living pressures, work stress and the palaver of everyday life have sent an increasing number of people on a journey to find new ways to de-stress.

And an Australian leader in float therapy is riding the wellbeing wave with more than 13,500 people weekly coming through the doors of the 80-plus City Cave venues in Queensland, NSW and Victoria.

The brand is now expanding into South Australia and Tasmania and has also opened a City Cave in the US and there are more to come.

Founded by Jeremy Hassell and Tim Butters in 2016, the franchise-based business, which offers float therapy, infra-red sauna and massage therapy, has found a niche among 19-45 year-olds looking to splash out on alternative health regimes.

Mr Hassell said reports suggest that up to 80 per cent of Australians are currently experiencing burnout or stress.

“It’s quite stressful out there. We are seeing a rise in our customer count, which is really telling. People are looking more at health and wellbeing options to manage stress rather than clubs and pubs,” he said.

The idea of City Cave came about after Mr Hassell, a former builder, and Mr Butters, a former tiler, met on a Gold Coast construction site in 2014.

Keen to establish a new business, two years later they landed on the wellness sector and opened the first City Cave on James St in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley. And the name says it all – the City part represented the fast-paced industrial environment and Cave was the naturally formed place where you would probably escape to and get respite.

A float therapy tank that City Cave says “helps heal the body, reduces stress and anxiety, and immerses the body into deep relaxation”.

In 2018 they kicked off their franchise model and a year later, the duo was named winner of the prestigious NextGen in Franchising Competition at the International Franchise Association Convention, becoming the first non-American brand to win the award.

The bootstrap business turned over about $65m in the 2024 financial year, having opened 30 franchises in the previous 24 months. It plans to open 10 new locations across Australia in 2024 calendar year and has long-range plans of between 200 to 300 locations across Australia and the US over the next five years.

More ambitiously over the next 10 years, they are aiming for about 2000 locations globally through their franchise model.

Mr Butters found on a recent trip to the US that overstimulation and technology were adding the people’s stress. But they were also looking at new ways to de-stress and consumers were “much wiser these days”.

“Back in the old days it used to be go to the bar and have a drink and we know that is a bit of a band-aid fix where as City Cave is a long-term fix. We’re trying to position ourselves as an antidote to stress.”

Mr Butters said they had three main categories of people who go to City Cave: “The CEO, which stands for completely exhausted and overworked, and we have the mindfulness person which is someone who are already into health and wellness and medication and yoga and things like that,” he said. “Then we have athletes coming in looking for ways to speed up recovery.

“But one segment that’s really emerging is through our partnerships with NDIS. People are coming in with medical ailments and I can see that becoming an even greater part of City Cave’s future.”

City Cave offers float therapy, infra-red sauna and massage therapy.

City Cave has opened a franchise in the US in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Another site in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas is under construction and they’re looking at another two opportunities.

While Mr Hassell and Mr Butters own City Cave Global without the need for capital raising, for their US expansion they work with their friend and mentor, former Subway Global chief executive Suzanne Greco, who has invested in their North American operations.

Dustin Hansen, the former CEO of InXpress is president of the US operations.

Mr Butters said they were taking on the US market slowly.

“We’re really trying to crawl before we start walking and then running. There is no need for us to blow it out of the water at this stage,” he said.

Mr Hassell said as people’s demands change, City Cave will continue to expand and evolve and they have changed their pricing structure to more “bite-sized chunks” to enable people to continue to maintain their wellbeing in a stressful environment.

He said the search for ways to de-stress is growing has seen the wellness industry expand.

“I’m seeing more in the last 18 months than I’ve seen in the eight years we’ve been doing this,” Mr Hassell said.

“We are the biggest in the world in what we do but I’ve seen different types of wellness services on offer.

“We’re seeing social bath houses and some recovery type but we sit heavily in the relaxation space.”

City Cave has also given a nod to one of the hottest segments in the wellness sector – iced cold baths. But they will do it their way.

“We are actually looking at ice showers to complement our infra-red saunas and to offer contract therapy in our locations. We are nearing the end of our first trial and its really going well.”

Originally published as City Cave expands as people look for an escape from their stressed-out lives