Crunch is a fitness centre that started in 1989 and has over 300 locations around the US, Puerto Rico, Spain and Australia. We spoke to with William Schellhaas, the company’s Senior Director of Information Technology, about how their Bouncepad Counter Flex’s help to streamline visitor sign-in.
What makes Crunch stand out from other gyms?
We’re always looking for new things to motivate our members to keep coming back and encourage them to take more classes. We’ve offered group fitness classes since the very beginning which was quite new back then and is what always separated us from the typical health clubs.
Our moto has always been ‘No judgments’. That’s been a key message from the very beginning, whereas other gyms were more focused on a certain type of individual. We don’t care who you are or what you look like, we just want to encourage people to come in and be healthy.
How did you discover Bouncepad?
We were looking for the right business to partner with on iPad kiosks and luckily came across you. We worked with Vita Mojo throughout this project and they highly recommended Bouncepad products.
What are you using tablets for?
We had a couple of initiatives planned prior to the pandemic which have sadly been halted due to restrictions. We want to move more processes to iPads and have a number of applications that we are developing for an iPad.
We currently have iPads at our front desks for membership sign-in and sign-up. We used to do this on paper, and it was a very long process. Now, when someone walks in, they can fill out all the information on the iPad, so it’s done a lot faster.
Why did you choose Bouncepad?
We were using ArmorActive at the time, but the price point was an issue and there were some concerns with tablet compatibility.
We started looking at Bouncepad and I immediately noticed there was consistency between products. You have lots of different products to suit many situations, but still, they maintain consistency in the design. That’s exactly what we were looking for.
We are not a cookie-cutter gym, so no two Crunch gyms look the same. We tailor the design of our gyms to the neighbourhood they are based in, but we’ll make sure it looks like a Crunch. If I want an iPad on the counter, I can use the Flex, if I want it on the wall, I can use a Wallmount – and they’ll still look uniform. If someone is looking at the counter and the wall, they look identical and that element of consistency is really important to us.
In the future we see more of our development going to iPad, so the fact that we know Bouncepad can cater to all our needs is another bonus.
Why did you choose the Counter Flex?
We were looking around for something that was beneficial to both our staff and the members. We needed something that allowed the member to turn the screen over to the employee on the other side of the desk if they needed assistance. The flexible arm on the Flex is perfect for this. It really simplifies the process of checking-in.
The biggest concern was the style. We needed something that fit the design of Crunch. We wanted something that looked sleek and uniform and our Bouncepad Counter Flex’s do just that.
The security aspect of it was important because we don’t want anyone to be able to walk up to it and snatch it. I also like that you have the option of having the home button hidden or camera hidden – it’s great to have the control over those details.