Fitness, Coffee, and Automation
A case for routine, experience, and human connection.
Remember that weird blip in time? That pandemic thing that caused us all to lose our minds and bet against ourselves as human beings.
In the fitness industry, specifically brick and mortar fitness, we were told to “Evolve or Die.”
By evolve, these newfound experts meant at-home digital offerings. We were warned that a technological tsunami was coming, and if we weren’t on the right side of that wave, we’d be swept away.
Fast forward a few years. In person fitness has never been stronger.
Peloton and that Mirror thing. A long list of empty promises that, in my opinion, confused convenience with experience.
The keyboard pundits will argue that digital is more approachable, more convenient, and more affordable.
Fair play. But digital is still digital.
A more recent “Evolve or Die” narrative centers around technology, speed to lead, and automation.
Today, nearly every gym runs some version of the same CRM software. Lead response is automated. Retention is reduced to a math equation. Follow up becomes a rehearsed template. Every interaction is optimized for efficiency.
The problem is that every time you introduce automation, you remove an opportunity for human-to-human interaction.
Some businesses believe that is a worthwhile tradeoff. I don’t.
If you’ve followed my writing, you already know I’m biased when it comes to hospitality.
I’m just not convinced automation makes businesses more memorable.
It’s the same reason I still ask for a paper menu every time I sit down at a restaurant.
Sure, QR codes are convenient for the server. They’re also a pretty shitty restaurant experience. That seemingly harmless prompt forces the diner to reach for the very device that pulls them away from the people sitting across from them.
The coffee industry tells a similar story.
Years ago, Keurig and Nespresso arrived with the promise of convenience. Fast. Affordable. Consistent. If the experts were right, the neighborhood coffee shop should have disappeared.
Instead, craft coffee exploded, independent cafés are thriving, and Starbucks is still everywhere.
Turns out, convenience isn’t the only thing people value. Routine, experience, and human connection still matter.
That familiar smell of your neighborhood store. The perfectly curated playlist in the background. The well placed tattoos on your favorite barista and their smiling face as they greet you by your first name while they craft your order without instruction or hesitation.
Yes, the coffee matters, but so does the consistency, the attention to detail, and the human that makes its way into each cup.
Coffee from a plastic pod has its place: when you’re in a rush, on vacation, or stuck in a hotel room. But let’s be honest, if you love coffee, having it from a pod every day, as convenient as it may be, would truly grind your own bean.
Automation also has its place, just like Peloton, QR codes, and coffee pods do. But convenience isn’t the same thing as hospitality. And efficiency isn’t the same thing as belonging.
The best experiences still require people.
Brandon Cullen
In search of life’s [im]perfect soundtrack ...