Are finance bros the new wellness girlies?

London’s answer to Erewhon has landed… in the city

I found myself in the finance district on Thursday lunchtime. It’s an area I visit infrequently, but which is always excellent for people (read: banker) watching. I was there to meet Julia Baldet, the founder of Elevate, a new protein shake bar that officially opens in Bank tomorrow (Monday 23rd). It’s a small bar offering Erewhon-style smoothies aimed at time-poor traders who usually don’t have time to eat well.

Considering the virality and female celebrity associations of a colourful, swirly smoothie, I was curious as to whether guys would be able to get over the fact they’re effectively catnip for the girlypops of Instagram.

Apparently so. Elevate, which launched with £400k investment from Erewhon, Joe and the Juice and Atis alumni, was in its soft launch phase. When I arrived, there were four finance bros, naturally dressed in their identical navy trousers and white shirts, standing outside; several more popped in while I was there. Marek Skibinski, a 29-year old fixed income trader, told me he’d even signed up for the “early access.” Forget the Rolex. Finance guys have a new trophy to flash.

“Our strawberry ones have surprisingly been the most popular so far,” laughed Baldet, from behind the Elevate counter; it’s not pink or TikTokky, but made from polished steel that lends the space a testosterone-y vibe. It’s actually a pretty smart design trick to get guys through the doors. Baldet knows her target crowd well: she was a former private equity executive who began her career as an analyst at CitiBank. She quit after getting burnout. “I thought the guys would be opting for the carb-heavy ones with banana and peanut butter, because, well… they’re brown and look a bit more masculine. It’s quite sweet to see them in their suits with their pink shakes.”

Wait. Are the banker gym bros the new wellness girlie?

A stock of new openings would suggest so. There’s an LA vibe happening in the city that are distinctly Erewhon-esque.

A few doors down from Elevate is The Salad Kitchen, the “hot new lunch spot”, according to Skibibski, that’s rarely without a queue. A 10 minute stroll away is Protein Mate, a just-opened cafe selling Erewhon-style on-the-go frittata slices with spicy sauces, protein smoothies and protein desserts that are free from GMOs and artificial sweeteners. Further down the road, 180 Corner Shop just opened — it’s effectively a British Erewhon. Selling salads, fruit and veg and boujie snacks, it clearly caters to the office worker. I tried to go on Saturday, but it was shut.

The finance/fitness intersection is happening elsewhere.
In Canary Wharf, London’s second finance district where JP Morgan and HSBC have headquarters, you’ll find Arc Community, an upmarket social sauna with a cold plunge. Opened a few months ago, I initially thought it was a random part of town for it to be in. Who goes to Canary Wharf for fun?

I’ve made the pilgrimage to Arc on the DLR three times; now it all makes sense. Arc is for the traders. There’s a lot more men than women in there, and even the language used in Arc’s marketing often leans towards the burned-out banker. Big up the 7am “morning warriors” taking a cold plunge before the conference call. Arc is also conveniently above a Barry’s (which these guys love, as one of the most efficient and gamified workouts). Arc is for those who are all about the 1% daily gains. Canary Wharf guys eat at Atis, the salad bar whose co-founder Connor Arnette also invested in Elevate. Atis’ most popular site is Canary Wharf, and its most popular salad is the Caesar. Chicken is in.

Why now?

More finance guys than ever are gamifying their fitness. A while ago, I interviewed Brendan Fox, the director of Marathon Tours and Travel, a travel agent that organises trips to far-flung races. He told me that, in Asia, having a Six Star Medal (where you complete all six major marathons) was something a lot of financiers were using to stand out on their CV.

“There has to be a goal,” said Skibinski, noting there were a lot of Hyrox, marathons and ironmans happening among his colleagues. He’s just about to get married (congratulations!). In his first year as a newlywed, he’ll be doing four marathons, starting with Seville.

Work, or just working out?
It’s funny sometimes how work and life can align. On Saturday, I did a gym session with Roy Chan, a personal trainer from LA, and my friend Chris Black, who was in town from NY/LA. Chris had invited me along to sweat with them in the Londoner, where Roy put us through our paces.

I asked Roy about the finance bros. He works with a lot of executives and also celebrities, who he trains for films and gets them looking buff in a screen-friendly way. What does that mean? I asked. It’s less about legs and lots of focus on upper body, traps, chest and back, he said, because it’s what the camera picks up. He called the aspirational body type “the inverse Dorito.” I thought it’s not too dissimilar to the way guys train to look good on Instagram.

Roy said that, for a long time, execs and money men focused entirely on wealth as a measure of their own success. (My read: money was the symbol of masculinity.) But, he said, they’ve realised now that health is wealth. These guys are naturally into numbers. The 1% uplifts matter. The popularity of wearables like Oura encouraged them to buy into wellness as a results-based way. It’s meant wellness rituals more broadly — ones which even a few years ago, would have been considered very Gwyneth/Goop —have become very normalised. How many guys were doing a social sauna and cold plunge in 2020? How many were walking around with black tape on their nose? Apparently it boosts oxygen intake by 30 percent, so, in 2025, there’s quite a few… Men are also increasingly into things like lymphatic massage, which has definitely always skewed femme.

The careful consumer
Men are naturally competitive. It lends itself to competitive wellness. Considering finance types spend their days assessing risk, that mindset naturally filters into how they hack their own hard drives. The body is the temple, etc.

The growing influence of biohacking has meant that, more than ever, fitness guys are thinking very holistically about health with a preventative mindset. It’s not just about the tangible daily Oura numbers now. It’s about purity, visibility and an overarching aim for betterment that is encouraging this more considered approach. Guys are becoming very discerning about what they’re ingesting/consuming/using. Skibibski dabbled with My Fitness Pal — an food tracking app mostly used by women, who make up 55% of the user base. There’s a lot of macro-counting, a lot of intermittent fasting and a new focus on all things organic and grass-fed.

It’s very interesting in the context of elite male athletes. Many I have met have very bad diets. An example: one sub-elite runner I know eats chocolate digestives for breakfast. Elites don’t generally have the time or funds to indulge in, or connect with, wellness in the same way as those like the fitness bros, for whom a fitness hobby has become an all-consuming lifestyle.

Few fitness types are vegan. In January, I wrote a story for the FT’s HTSI about the anti-vegan backlash, and how lots of people had gone plant-based and felt worse — eggs, beef and cow’s milk were all back on the menu, and biltong was now a trending snack. Max Vallot, co-founder of District Vision, who I also caught up with for a run and coffee in London this week, told me he had that exact trajectory. He also now diligently takes around five daily supplements, including bovine collagen. Skibibski takes lion’s mane to aid focus. He also likes matcha because it gives him less jitters and less likely to crash. Many guys like to take cordyceps, to boost performance.

Made-to-order vs off-the-shelf
Protein is in everything now, from Starbucks coffee to Kardashian popcorn and cereal. It’s not hard to superboost one’s at-work diet to hit 140+ grams of protein per day.

Huel has soared in recent years, both in actual stocks and in popularity. In 2004, Huel’s sales reached £200 million. I was curious about the fact that both Max (of DV) and Skibibski, the trader, were suspicious of Huel. Once beloved by the time-poor fitness bro, Huel is slumping in popularity as an easy protein fix. Baldet, of Elevate, said the extensive ingredients list was increasingly off putting for guys who cared about what they put in their bodies. Well-oiled machines need clean-eating, etc. Skibibski usually makes his protein shakes at home “to make sure it’s organic and has no rubbish in it.” Sometimes, he’ll buy one from Barry’s because the Hermosa protein is clean.

There is a gap for places like Elevate, offering on-the-go consumption with guaranteed goodness and a luxury, shopping experience. If someone is spending £8.90 on a shake, the environment should be aspirational.

Protein retail
BYO has a new meaning. In today’s sober-curious millennial and gen-z landscape, the acronym is better suited to build your own. The rise of salad bars and status shakes cater to this discerning, fitness type. In London, The Salad Kitchen and Atis allow customers to custom-hack their lunch to hit all macros. According to Atis’ Arnette, it’s about “the right level of quality, craveability (health forward, but not too much so), and experience… People are demanding more. It’s about a design-forward, tech-influenced, people-driven experience that just happens to be healthy.”

These hot new spots that offers a customisable protein fix. At Elevate, customers can supercharge their shakes to include glutamine (muscle recovery), organic bee pollen (antioxidant), magnesium (muscle function; sleep), lion’s mane (focus) and creatine (performance). Elevate’s grass-fed whey protein is organic and grass-fed. It also comes from cows in Austria, is sourced directly from a producer, and is therefore unbranded. Off the shelf protein powder with a traceable supply chain? You have to admit, it’s a bit of a flex. An £8.90 trophy purchase. A status shake.

I doubt guys will be posting wellness girlie selfies with their swirly shakes any time soon, these British Erewhon milkshakes are already bring all the fitness bros to the yard.

Thoughts? Email me: saltysubstack@gmail.com. You can also follow me on Instagram @graceelisabethc