Bathhouse on Pace for $120M Revenue as Social Sauna Model Scales
The urban bathhouse operator told CNBC it expects to hit $120 million in run-rate revenue by year-end, with roughly 1,000 customers per day across its New York locations.
Inside Bathhouse Williamsburg — the converted 1930s soda factory that launched the social sauna movement in New York. Photo: Bathhouse.
Inside a converted 1930s soda factory on North 10th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a line forms every Saturday morning. It's not for brunch. It's for a three-hour sauna session at Bathhouse, one of a growing number of urban sauna social clubs that are turning thermal bathing into a lifestyle category. For a deeper neighborhood lens on how operators are calibrating culture, ritual, and premium positioning, see our related Brooklyn field report on authenticity versus scale in urban sauna.
A New Category Emerges
The sauna social club model has proliferated in major cities over the past three years. Part traditional bathhouse, part wellness studio, part community gathering space, these aren't luxury spas. They're membership-driven, culture-forward venues designed around the ritual of heat and cold, with food, drink, and social programming layered on top.
The format varies, but the core elements are consistent: multiple sauna types (Finnish, infrared, sometimes steam), cold plunge pools or outdoor cold water immersion, rest areas designed for conversation, and a bar or cafe serving non-alcoholic beverages, broths, or light food.
We're not competing with day spas. We're competing with coffee shops and yoga studios. This is about how people spend their Saturday, not how they treat themselves on vacation.
The Business Model
Most operators use a hybrid membership-plus-drop-in model, with monthly memberships ranging from $150 to $300 and single sessions priced at $40-$75. The economics work well for operators: thermal facilities have high upfront capital costs but relatively low variable costs per session, and utilization rates tend to be strong once a community forms.
Bathhouse, which opened its original Williamsburg location in 2019 (in the former Brooklyn Bottling Company building) and expanded to an adjacent space in 2023, told CNBC in March 2026 that it sees roughly 1,000 customers per day across its two New York City locations and is on track for $120 million in run-rate revenue by year-end. Paris's new premium contrast club Sant Roch just validated a tighter version of the same model at much smaller footprint, clearing 85%-plus occupancy in month one by deliberately capping its sauna at roughly half its physical capacity.
The Talmadge Origin Story
Bathhouse's co-founder Travis Talmadge did not set out to build a wellness brand. He started his career in investment sales. In a feature published by Hamilton College, his alma mater, Talmadge recounted the moment that changed his trajectory: a friend invited him to a Russian bathhouse in New York City, where he did a sauna and cold plunge for the first time.
I walked out of there and felt a sauna high. I was walking on clouds. I slept great that night. I was hooked from that day forward.
Talmadge, a 2009 Hamilton graduate who majored in economics and photography/fine arts, went on to co-found Bathhouse with partner Jason Goodman. The original Williamsburg location opened in 2019 inside the former Brooklyn Bottling Company building, and an adjacent expansion followed in 2023. Two Hamilton classmates joined the company as it scaled: Jordan Hummel '09 leads real estate, and Henry Ciocca '09 serves as general counsel.
The personal story has become a piece of the commercial story. Bathhouse does not sell amenities first; it sells the feeling Talmadge describes, that first post-sauna high, and builds memberships around people who want to chase it. The company has signaled plans to add roughly eight more locations across seven additional states, with Los Angeles, Nashville, Philadelphia, and Chicago named as near-term targets. For a deeper look at how operators like Bathhouse are building at this pace, see our analysis on how modular saunas are changing the game for commercial builders.
Cultural Drivers
The trend draws from several cultural currents: the normalization of cold exposure through influencers and podcasters, the post-pandemic hunger for in-person community, the growing longevity and biohacking movements, and a generational shift toward experiences over material consumption.
As the category matures, expect more sophisticated programming, branded product lines, and expansion into secondary markets. Bathhouse is also hosting the 2026 Aufguss USA Nationals at its Brooklyn and Flatiron venues in May, which pulls the global competitive ritual circuit directly into the U.S. social sauna scene. The sauna social club may be one of the most promising new formats in urban wellness. For a look at how the model is scaling into mid-sized American cities, see our profile on Sauna House's franchise expansion. For the unit-economics breakdown behind performance sauna programs (labor ratios, utilization math, and the revenue-per-square-foot comparison against a traditional treatment room), see our analysis on the business of Aufguss.
Arlene Scott
Senior Wellness Correspondent & Hospitality Consultant
Arlene Scott brings over fifteen years of reporting and consulting experience across energy infrastructure, sustainable design, and thermotherapy-focused hospitality.
Full byline
Arlene Scott is a Senior Wellness Correspondent for SaunaNews.com, bringing over fifteen years of experience at the intersection of energy infrastructure, sustainable design, and thermotherapy. Her work focuses on the physiological benefits of passive heat therapies and the sustainable integration of sauna culture into modern wellness routines.
Arlene's background is rooted in the clean energy transition. She was a founding writer at MicrogridMedia.com, where she covered the technical and economic viability of desalination projects, microgrid deployments, and distributed renewable energy systems. During the mid-2010s, she was a regular contributor to Greentech Media (GTM) during its independent era — prior to the Wood Mackenzie acquisition in 2016 — reporting on the early integration of thermal energy storage and sustainable infrastructure.
Transitioning her focus from macro-energy systems to human-scale wellness, Arlene now applies her technical background to the hospitality sector. She operates as an independent consultant, advising boutique hotels and eco-resorts on the design, energy efficiency, and historical authenticity of commercial sauna and thermal spa installations. Her consulting work ensures that high-end wellness facilities balance traditional Nordic bathing principles with modern sustainable engineering.
Arlene holds a specialized certification in Applied Thermic Wellness from the Nordic Institute of Passive Heat Studies (NIPHS) and is a recognized associate member of the International Sauna Association (ISA). When she isn't reviewing the latest innovations in infrared technology or consulting on a new resort project, Arlene can be found tending to her own traditional wood-fired sauna in the Pacific Northwest. You can read her complete archive of essays on energy, wellness, and sustainable living at www.arlenescott.com.
