Seated at their customary table in the original Canyon Ranch dining room, Mel Zuckerman and Jerry Cohen tell visitors the past 25 years have been amazing. "When we started in 1979," says Mel, "there was no way to have foreseen what the ranch was going to be." Today they are at the forefront of a global industry, leading a wave of new development.
If the pursuit of their healthy-living philosophy has taken Mel and Jerry into uncharted waters, there's no sign of stopping. Current projects include a new resort/residential complex on Miami Beach, Fla., expected to open spring ‘06, completion of residential development at the Tucson resort, and the first urban Canyon Ranch Living in a suburb of Washington, D.C. Having launched their first sea-going spa on the Queen Mary 2 earlier this year, Canyon Ranch now has international operations unprecedented in the spa industry.

For Zuckerman, the success of Canyon Ranch is measured not so much financially but by whether people "get it." That, of course, is the path to longer, healthy living through the triangle of eating, fitness, and spiritual well-being. Positioned for growing demand from aging baby boomers, Canyon Ranch aims to capitalize on new markets for wellness on a global scale. Among their concepts are senior living communities adjacent to ranch resorts in Massachusetts and Arizona, providing a full range of wellness and medical services along with access to the spa. And a new hybrid of resort spa and condos will bring Canyon Ranch Living trademarked developments to major urban areas.

Medical services have been a component of Canyon Ranch from the start. The company's first health resort in the Northeast opened in 1989, built around an historic mansion in Lenox, Mass. Now a four-season resort with 120 guest rooms in New England-style lodges, Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires draws a cosmopolitan crowd from Canada and the U.S . In addition to cross-country skiing and wellness consultations, there is a bistro offering menu options that please gourmets.

But don't call Canyon Ranch a spa. "If there is one thing that works the most against who and what we are," says Mel,
" it is that we are classified as a spa." Back in 1979, when Canyon Ranch opened, no one was using the term destination spa or fitness vacation resort, he explains.

"Such places were called "fat farms," and Mel and Enid Zuckerman's idea was not to have people simply loose weight, but help them change their lifestyle.

Mel's mantra became the "A-ha" effect.

© SPA MANAGEMENT JOURNAL - JANUARY 2005

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