Australia’s wellness industry is booming; in fact the $215bn wellness economy is the fourth largest in Asia Pacific, and in tenth place globally.

It’s no surprise to the team at City Cave, a franchise group of more than 70 centres that has for the last decade showcased the benefits of health and wellness along with recovery treatments, through its floatation, infra red sauna and massage services.

Built on a passion for the transformative power of its treatments, the brand was launched in 2016 to share those wellness benefits with the world. 

The response from consumers was immediate, with some loving the experience so much they went from loyal customers to franchise owners. 

A decade on and the market has caught up with City Cave; today Australians are investing more and more on their wellbeing.

Aussies are spending on wellness

According to the Global Wellness Institute, Australians rank seventh globally with their $5184 per capita spend on wellness. And Euromonitor’s annual consumer lifestyle survey^* across all demographics, shows people of all ages and income brackets plan to increase their spend on health and wellness in the year ahead.

At a time when consumers are tightening their belts, they are focused on ensuring mental health and wellness is part of their daily routine. 

City Cave’s head of finance Eloise Penfold says the company’s data reflects this.

“City Cave is now seen as an essential part of people’s routine,” Eloise says. “The treatments trending are a core part of our services; consumers see these as a necessity, not a luxury.”

The Aussie mindset shift from treating wellbeing as a discretionary spend to regarding it as an essential is helping to drive revenue. 

City Cave supports a membership-based model which ensures a consistent income for franchise owners.

“The model allows a franchisee to be more confident in their expectations for the future,” Eloise says.

While customers are making wellbeing maintenance an integral part of their lives, the addition of luxe treatments to standard services is elevating the City Cave offer. The high margin add-ons are proving attractive additions for franchisees as consumers increase their average spend.

“We’ve introduced treatment add-ons like red light therapy, cold plunge shower, or magnesium massage oil that create a sense of luxury and self-care. Consumers are responding to our enhanced experiences,” Eloise says.

Brand growth underpinned by a streamlined business model

Customer satisfaction has led to increased demand, met by franchisee brand passion. These brand devotees have taken City Cave beyond its Queensland base to New South Wales, Victoria, and now Tasmania. There’s strong growth predicted for Victoria, and South Australia and Western Australia are as yet untapped markets.

Scaling the brand depends not just on passion but on a robust business model and that’s what underpins this established chain. City Cave recently completed an overhaul of its business systems, unifying the front and back office processes with POS platform MyTime. Streamlining processes into one full suite has improved cost efficiencies and allows the business to capitalise on one source of truth for data.

“The challenge of disparate sections of data points – marketing, accounting, franchisor, franchisee – is they can show conflicting conclusions. Our systems allow us to be more capable of resolving that data discrepancy. It can really help people to make truly profitable decisions, not poor assumptions,” Eloise says.

“Now we are even more deeply prioritising profits for owners, which we are able to do as a network because of the data we hold,” she says. “We’re excited about what we can achieve through economies of scale and more accountability,” she says.

City Cave’s life-enhancing services

City Cave franchisees pride themselves on their high standards and the impact their services can have. 

“Our services can bring a profound change. And that makes us all so delighted, to be able to bring these services to as many people as possible,” Eloise says.

Brand reviews reflect the positive guest experience at City Cave, Eloise says. And with 32 per cent of franchisees operating multi-site businesses, there’s a tick of approval from franchise partners too.

They continue to build on the brand’s reputation and to advance the wellbeing sector.

“It is often hard to say what you do really brings benefits to people but at City Cave you absolutely can say you bring genuine change and meaning, and wellness to the world. This changes people’s lives, and that’s something I’m really proud of,” Eloise says.

_{*24th Dec 2025 under Euromonitor’s Voice of the Consumer: Lifestyle Survey}