A new franchise business in a growing health trend offers Madisonians an affordable hydration option.
Hydrate IV Bar, a national hydration therapy franchise, has opened its first location in Wisconsin on Madison’s West Side, just off University Ave. The business promotes a relatively recent health-based trend through intravenous hydration therapy to rapidly rehydrate. Owners of the Madison location, Shahayra Majumder and Jonathan Chizever, have lengthy experience with hydration therapy throughout their travels and wanted to bring the business to the city in complement with its beer-heavy culture to balance out.
“I was getting really burnt out physically, and my immune system was taking a toll from all of the travel,” Majumder said. “But when I would go to bigger cities like Vegas or Tampa or Atlanta, IV therapy was always an option.”
The addition of hydration therapy in Madison is a no-brainer, Majumder and Chizever said.
Some businesses have opened in the city over the past few years, but Wisconsin’s heavy drinking culture and Madison’s tourism have left the industry’s lack of presence here surprising.
The two wanted to make the treatment more accessible. While neither has experience in administering any treatments, both do have some familiarity with health care. Majumder has a career in healthcare tech and sales. Chizever was also in sales, but his father was a surgeon.
“I’d see from a close distance how messed up health care is, and I never had any inclination to go into health care because I saw how messed up it was,” Chizever said.
Cost and the environment to receive intravenous IV treatment were at the top of the duo’s list to bring the business to Madison.
At a hospital, a simple IV for something like food poisoning can cost upwards of $2,000, Majumder noted from her own experience. At Hydrate IV Bar, the most costly hydration procedure is roughly a tenth of the cost at $259.
The interior of the business is more laid back with reclining chairs, a fountain, a mix of natural and warm lighting and a more open space to give a communal vibe.
“It doesn’t have the heartlessness of just being another patient in a chair,” Majumder said.
Despite not wanting to be like a hospital in certain regards, they wanted to make sure everything was consistent in how the two approached the business.
When Majumder and Chizever shopped around with the idea of opening a hydration therapy business in Madison, they explored as many options as they could.
They ultimately settled with a franchise as the best option because of the support and Hydrate IV Bar. One of the company’s owners also happens to be from Sun Prairie, so they understood the market Majumder and Chizever wanted to operate in.
“We wanted to bring IVs to Madison, and the best way to do that is to work with a franchise that has the support of being in operation longer and having learned some harder lessons,” Majumder said. “[We didn’t] want to reinvent the wheel, but also wanted to leverage their medical resources to make sure we’re doing this ethically, safely, compliantly.”
What is hydration therapy?
The health trend involves being hooked up to an IV drip to rapidly rehydrate. Hydration therapy businesses also offer mixes with vitamins. It is often used as an elective recovery procedure and noted as a hangover cure.
It is generally safe, and research has shown that it is beneficial to the body, but there is no peer-reviewed scientific research that states intravenous hydration therapy is any better for the average person than simply drinking water.
The procedure has typically been used in hospital settings for medically severe cases of dehydration, food poisoning, pancreatitis and more when rapid rehydration is needed.
There are some rare risks involved. Directly injecting vitamins into your body and bypassing your body’s natural filters can lead to toxicity. There have been reported cases of mild irritation and bruising of the skin — which comes with the territory of having something injected into you.
Regardless, what intravenous hydration therapy offers is what you’re already putting into your body every day, Chiziver said. It is just more direct and immediate.
“This is not meant to replace drinking water. You should drink water,” Majumder said. This is meant to be a rapid rehydration option. Folks that we see coming in at least monthly, if not more, are folks that are pushing the boundaries of physical performance.”
Still, making sure you stay hydrated traditionally and supplementing it with hydration therapy is a proactive way to take some control of your health, the two say.
At Hydrate IV Bar, when you walk in, you’re greeted by an employee at the front desk. You fill out an intake form — if not already done prior via a telehealth meeting — and then speak with the spa coordinator.
You discuss your health goals and what you want from its menu of services. Vitals are taken to ensure you are safe to receive fluids. If someone is unsure of where to start, the spa coordinator, in conjunction with a nurse, will discuss options based on the purpose of their visit.
“For example, if you are deficient in vitamin D and you just want that, we would never put that in an IV because it’s fat-soluble, so you wouldn’t want it going straight into your blood,” Majumder said.
The nurse will mix the IV based on what you’ve selected while you sit in a chair and wait. The nurse comes over with your IV drip and pokes you with a needle. Hydrate IV Bar uses a smaller needle than a hospital typically uses to lower any pain or discomfort from the initial injection … and then you will wait for around 35-45 minutes for the process to finish.
In the meantime, blankets and drinks are offered. The feeling does notably make some feel cold, which is a fairly normal response caused by the temperature difference between fluids and your body.
Additional services that set Hydrate IV Bar apart from others are its services for minors, pregnant women under 28 weeks, home visits and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide injections. The last of the group is used to fuel cellular metabolism.
Hydrate IV Bar, 4707 Madison Yards Way, is open daily from Monday-Friday, 10-6 p.m. and Friday-Sunday, 10-4 p.m. A list of its offerings can be found on its website. It accepts appointments and walk-ins.
