It was a little over three years ago, Ronnie and I were sitting in the OG PLUNJ location (Provo), talking about buying / starting another business.
We’d done some small stuff (education platform for small business owners, business events, accounting firm and accounting community) but never anything brick and mortar.
In our heads, spit balling in the sauna, it was, “Should we buy a legacy HVAC company? Maybe scoop up and run an pickleball paddle business?”
Somewhere between the the sauna and the plunge, it dawned on us. We LOVE community building. It’s what we’re good at, and it’s the essence of PLUNJ. That’s been the through-line in everything we’ve done. So why would we spend the next decade running pipes or prepping boxes for shipment when the thing we love is gathering people?
We walked out of that sauna with a different plan.
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Within weeks, four of us PLUNJ Salt Lake owners were “franchisees”.
Michael found it first. He’s our product / experience design guy, the one whose job it is to notice what’s worth paying attention to. He told Ronnie — friends since high school — about PLUNJ. Ronnie brought me. Michael brought Jason, his college roommate. By the time the four of us had all experienced it, we were already in the same conversation: this should exist everywhere! Especially in Salt Lake.
It wasn’t a direct path from idea to execution, but we celebrated the Grand Opening of PLUNJ Salt Lake in May of 2025, at 55 West Utopia Avenue. We’re the only retail / direct-to-consumer business on the block. We share a building with 200+ apartments.
But, we built something that gathers people, and the people gathering love it.
It’s a simple product, really. Hot, cold, rest, repeat. It’s built to be that way.
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In the last year, we’ve had thousands of visitors, hundreds of members, welcoming dozens of people completely new to the Nordic practice of sauna every single day.
After more than than 600 five-star Google Reviews, it’s clear people love it. We didn’t capture those reviews with marketing. They come because people genuinely enjoy their experiences and want to share it with others.
Each story of each guest is unique. There’s a couple who now schedules their date nights at PLUNJ instead of at restaurants. There’s a book club — an actual book club — that reads in the sauna. We’ve had guests meet here, exchange numbers, and go on a hike the next weekend. We’ve had members greet each other by name without ever having introduced themselves formally — because the room introduced them.
A year in, the thing we’ve learned is that community isn’t a marketing tactic. It’s the product. The hot and the cold are real, and they matter. But what people come back for is the bench in between.
Thank you to the members who showed up before we’d figured out the schedule. To the guests who came once, told ten friends, and keep hosting and introducing others. To our hosts who do the real work of providing an environment you can rest and relax in with ease and in cleanliness. To the city that, as it turns out, wanted a place like this more than any of us knew.
We’re celebrating one year with the community that built the place.
May 11 – May 17. Stay informed of it all via email and socials.
Members get extra pampering. Everyone gets something delightful. A few people walk out with more than they came in for.
Details to be revealed on Instagram and email throughout the next two weeks.
At PLUNJ, whether you come alone, you leave connected. Or whether you come together, you leave closer.
