Pay as you Row

- World’s first café that takes exercise as payment opens to encourage workers to step away from their desks and be more active-

•    The average office worker spends 90% of their working day sat down and not moving – with office inactivity compounded by the rapid rise of food delivery apps bringing lunch to workers’ desks.
•    To encourage sedentary office workers to be more active at work David Lloyd Clubs has opened Run For Your Bun: a café where customers can get a free lunch in exchange for a quick micro workout.
•    Customers first complete the six-minute micro workout and then choose a complimentary lunch from the menu to eat in or takeaway.
•    The pop-up café is part of a campaign by David Lloyd Clubs to encourage people to be more active during the working day and to highlight the important role that a balanced diet and regular exercise play in a healthy lifestyle.

Following new research* revealing that the average office worker spends 90% of their working day sat down and not moving, David Lloyd Clubs is launching a new café giving customers the chance to ‘pay’ for their lunch with a six-minute micro workout. The café, called ‘Run For Your Bun’, aims to encourage workers to be more active during the working day and highlight the important role that a balanced diet and regular exercise play in a healthy lifestyle.

According to research by David Lloyd Clubs the average British office worker spends seven hours in every eight-hour working day sat down and sedentary. That means in a typical year office workers could be spending approximately 1,578 hours (65.8 days) not moving. What’s more, almost a third of those with desk jobs (28%) will eat lunch at their desks every working day.

Despite 95% of workers agreeing that it is important to be more active during the working day, the rise of food delivery apps have made it easier than ever for workers to be inactive and remain glued to their desks. Indeed, almost one in four (23%) office workers admitted they now use food delivery apps to have lunch arrive at their desks every week. Of these, 30% will use delivery apps 3 to 5 times each and every working week.

At the world-first café, located in London, customers first place an order for a lunch item from the menu. They then complete the six-minute micro workout under the guidance of the café’s personal trainers before receiving their complimentary lunch to eat in or takeaway. The quick ‘HIIT’ (high-intensity interval training) workout includes one-minute on a rowing machine, one minute on a spin bike and one minute on a treadmill, as well as 60-seconds of sit-ups, bodyweight squats and lunges, with 30-second rest periods between each exercise.

Health & Fitness expert Elaine Denton from David Lloyd Clubs said: “According to our research British office workers spend almost 90% of the working day sat down being inactive and invariably eating lunch at their desks – an issue compounded by the huge popularity and convenience of food and shopping delivery apps. We want to remind workers of the importance of being active at work and moving around more. This week workers can be more active by visiting Run For Your Bun and get a free lunch on us in return, but on an everyday basis people can be more active at work just by doing little things, often – whether that’s taking the stairs each day instead of the lift or leaving the office and walking to get their lunch.”

“Importantly, the cafe isn’t in any way about encouraging people to ‘cancel out’ calories through exercise. Indeed, the micro workout at Run For Your Bun only represents a fraction of the calories contained in any of the lunch items. Although some organisations have called for food and drink items to be labelled with exercise prompts, explaining how much exercise would be required to burn off the calories, we think it’s more responsible to highlight the benefits of being a little bit more active on a regular basis. Ultimately our lifestyles are becoming increasingly sedentary and we want people to recognise that a nutritious, balanced diet and a healthy amount of exercise go hand-in-hand when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle.”

The lunch options*** at Run For Your Bun
•    Smashed avocado with cherry tomatoes, goats cheese, chilli and lime on toasted wholemeal bread
•    Giant cous cous with apricots, raisins, pine nuts, lemon, coriander and fresh basil with a balsamic dressing
•    Grilled chicken breast burger with tomato, red onion and garlic mayo
•    Pitta pockets with mixed salad and a choice of smoked salmon or grilled halloumi filling

The Run For Your Bun café is located at 3 Slingsby Place, Covent Garden, London. It will be open to public from 12:00pm to 3:00pm from Wednesday 11th to Friday 13th of January. People wishing to book a lunch reservation should visit www.billetto.co.uk/run-for-your-bun-cafe. Customers are advised to bring a gym kit.

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For more information please contact [email protected] or 020 7234 9160

Notes to editors:
*Research conducted by OnePoll on behalf of David Lloyd Clubs in December 2016. 1,000 British office workers in 12 cities were surveyed.

**In January 2016 the Royal Society For Public Health argued that food and drink items should be labelled with exercise prompts, explaining how much exercise would be required to burn off the calories. Reference: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-35322168  

*** Inspired by on David Lloyd Clubs Dlicious café new menu available from March 2017.

About David Lloyd Leisure Group
The David Lloyd Leisure Group operates 83 clubs in the UK and a further 11 clubs across Europe, comprising David Lloyd Clubs, Harbour Clubs, plus the high street concept, David Lloyd Studios. It has approximately 486,000 members and employs over 6,300 people. This includes an expert health and fitness team of over 1,800, while it contracts the services of more than 400 tennis professionals. Across all clubs, David Lloyd Leisure has over 150 swimming pools (of which half are indoor) and offers over 12,000 exercise classes per week. Every week 20,000 children learn to swim at David Lloyd Leisure and 12,500 learn to play tennis. Its racquets facilities are unparalleled with 850 tennis courts as well as 200 badminton courts and 150 squash courts. Additional facilities include health and beauty spas, club lounges with free internet access, crèches, nurseries and specialist sports shops.