Listen to this articleA national wellness chain plans to open its first locations on Long Island.
Serotonin Anti-Aging Centers has signed a local franchise group to a multi-center development deal to bring the concept to Nassau County.
The franchisee entity, called 4theBOYS-med LLC, has an agreement to open six of the anti-aging centers throughout the county, according to a company statement.
Serotonin Anti-Aging Centers is the brainchild of serial entrepreneur Eric Casaburi, who founded the Retro Fitness chain in 2005 before exiting in 2019. Casaburi opened the first Serotonin location in Windemere, Fla. in 2021. Today the company has a dozen centers operating in six states, including Florida, Virginia, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey and Tennessee, and nearly 100 more in development.
The centers offer a variety of health-and-wellness-centric services, featuring medical weight loss; hormone replacement therapy; body contouring; aesthetic treatments, such as Botox and fillers; IV drip therapy; red-light and hyperbaric oxygen therapies and more. The staff includes licensed medical practitioners and personal health coaches.
“From the start, Serotonin has been intent on helping men and women take control of their lives, optimize their health, and enjoy the aging process while simultaneously looking and feeling their best,” Casaburi said.
Casaburi discussed the current popularity of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy, but he cautioned that they should have accompanied support for the patients using them.
“A lot of medical practices are just throwing prescriptions out there. We give you a health coach. We give you someone who’s going to give you nutrition guidance and someone who’s like a personal trainer to design workouts for you,” he said. “We know that people are losing muscle mass on these weight-loss products. Our clients don’t, because we give them their supplements, their vitamins, we give them a body scan that tells them how much muscle they have, how much visceral fat they have. We also know that there are side effects to these weight-loss medications, so we give them a regimen for that, so it makes it a little easier on their stomach and makes their gut healthier.”
The all-in cost to open a Serotonin Anti-Aging Center franchise ranges from $526,999 to $1.26 million. The ideal size of each center is 2,500 to 3,000 square feet and they are mostly located in high-traffic shopping centers.
Casaburi said the franchise group for Nassau County is currently exploring potential sites and he anticipates the first Long Island center to open in the first quarter of next year.
“Communities across the country are placing greater significance than ever on access to preventative healthcare, fueling the adoption of Serotonin’s franchise opportunity and service offerings at record-rate,” Matt Mauriello, vice president of development for Serotonin Anti-Aging Centers, said in a company statement. “We are excited about developing on Long Island, one of America’s most densely populated consumer hubs, which will further amplify the reach and impact of the Serotonin brand.”