June 22, 2023

Crunch Fitness gets peace of mind - not just electricity

New York chain of gyms can now operate with peace of mind, knowing it’s operating as efficiently as possible while getting access to competitive electricity pricing.

Crunch Fitness at a glance

  • Crunch Fitness was stuck paying the utility every month with no insight into its energy usage
  • An investment in smart thermostats didn’t pay off until they connected to David Energy’s smart software to really understand and manage electricity usage 
  • The combination of software insights and a competitive supply plan means Crunch knows it’s operating as efficiently as possible.

About Crunch Fitness

Beginning modestly as one small gym in a basement studio in New York City’s Greenwich Village in 1989, Crunch Fitness now operates a global franchise model with over 440 locations around the US and over 2.4 million members. One of the franchisees that makes up its network is a Brooklyn and Queens-based franchisee operating 5 locations in New York City.

Electricity seemed like an uncontrollable cost

For this New York-based Crunch franchisee and David Energy customer, their monthly electricity spend used to be an uncontrollable expense the businesses simply had to absorb. As Crunch Fitness regional manager Raymond Gonzalez explains: “There was no process for analyzing energy spend – we just received the bill every month from ConEd and then paid it. Energy was just one of the uncontrollable expenses that we had in the business.”

To try and get a handle on their energy usage, Crunch Fitness invested in smart thermostats (like Nest, Ecobee and Honeywell) across their network of gyms. But without the expertise required to correctly configure the thermostats for efficient heating and cooling, the investment hadn’t paid off. On top of that, their facilities’ HVAC systems were inadvertently driving their ConEdison bills up every month, based on a core inefficiency in how the units switched on every morning. Without true understanding of, or visibility into, how their gyms were using energy, Crunch Fitness was stuck paying whatever ConEdison charged them.

More than just competitive prices - real time insights

When David Energy started working with Crunch Fitness as their energy supplier, we offered them more than just an electricity contract – we delivered them peace-of-mind. By bundling a competitive electricity rate with free software that automatically manages Crunch’s smart thermostats, we were able to provide a view into real-time operations at their locations. As a result their team had additional time to focus on more pressing operational challenges. David Energy’s in-house automation team also delivered actionable insights that immediately helped Crunch correctly configure their thermostats and run their HVAC systems more efficiently.

David Energy delivers operational efficiency

Working with David Energy, Crunch Fitness gained visibility into and control over how their gyms use electricity while eliminating the need to visit each location in-person or spend time on the phone with on-the-ground teams. As a result, Ray no longer fields daily complaints about the gyms being too hot or too cold, enabling him to focus on more critical ops needs: “In the last two months, I’ve probably adjusted a thermostat twice, whereas before I was adjusting it every other day,” says Ray. 

At their Norwood location in the Bronx, we enabled consistent reductions in consumption year-over-year their off-peak hours. This means the business was using less energy during unoccupied hours or when business was closed.

On top of energy efficiency improvements, David Energy helped Crunch Fitness take advantage of lucrative energy market programs typically reserved for large, sophisticated commercial buildings. Through the David Energy software platform, we managed their thermostats with no operational effort needed from Crunch – generating over $6,000 dollars in annual savings across their gyms.

“Working with David Energy is peace of mind – knowing we’re operating as efficiently as we should be. If I don’t have to worry about something, and I know David Energy is taking care of it, that my systems are being monitored and that we’re getting access to savings opportunities – that’s valuable,” says Ray.

Want to learn how your business can get control of electricity costs?

David Energy works with some of the biggest franchise networks in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Texas. If you own or operate a multi-location franchise and want to gain greater visibility into your operations, while reducing and controlling your energy costs, we should talk. Book a no commitment meeting to learn more.

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