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Many successful businesses become staples of their local communities, but reaching that status takes more than quality offerings and sharp marketing. It requires genuine care and a deep understanding of what a region lacks and what it craves. Those principles drive serial entrepreneur Jon Krieger’s latest venture: Padel United Sports Club.
Padel is a doubles racket sport played on an enclosed court, blending elements of tennis and squash. Its defining feature lies in the glass-and-mesh walls that keep the ball in play, adding a fast-paced, social dimension to the game.
Krieger, best known as the co-founder of café brand Bluestone Lane, is now leading the charge to introduce the world’s fastest-growing racket sport to the U.S. And in doing so, he may have cracked the code to monetizing the abstruse “lifestyle ecosystem.”
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Rallying the neighborhood
The Padel United Sports Club reflects Krieger’s broader vision to curate the suburban community of Tenafly, New Jersey. The town of 15,500 boasts an average household income of about $280,000 and a median age of 48.
“Everybody’s basically a young family with kids, but the downtown offerings were horrible,” Krieger says. “The people are there, but they don’t have anywhere to go.”
His original idea was to build a facility for the many young professionals who had moved from Manhattan after COVID.
“Our basic thesis as a business is to curate towns with a trusted, recognizable ecosystem,” Krieger explains. “One where you can plan your entire week around it.”
Image credit: Padel United Sports Club
He didn’t know exactly what that would look like at first, but one thing was certain: premium wellness offerings would be at its core.
“Everybody wants to live forever,” Krieger says. “And everybody talks about community. The reality is, as we become more digitally focused, a huge part of the population is starving for real-life connections.”
He sees Padel United Sports Club as a way to bring those two needs together. The facility has all the bells and whistles — saunas, steam rooms, cold plunges, IV therapy, and one of the two publicly available Ammortal Chambers in the Tristate area. But every detail ties back to the community. The sauna isn’t a small two-person setup — it’s a 45-person space with three machines. The steam room fits 20 people, and the cold plunge accommodates 6 to 7 people.
Then there’s the main attraction: six indoor padel courts, which Krieger oversees from a large window in his upstairs office.
Net gains for the community
While most Americans haven’t heard of padel, the sport already boasts a larger global following than its more familiar cousin, pickleball. Krieger first discovered it at a racquet sports conference in Miami, where he was searching for a unique experience to anchor his new facility.
Contrary to what some might assume, Krieger has no beef with pickleball — and believes the two sports can easily coexist. As he sees it, pickleball will continue to grow among older players, while the more athletic, 55-and-under demographic will increasingly migrate to padel.
“The reason pickleball is so successful is because of how easy it is to learn and play,” Krieger says. “Anybody can walk in and start. But the incredible thing about this place is that it makes you feel good — both individually and collectively. You’re meeting new people, learning a new sport together.”
As Krieger points out, virtually nobody in the Tenafly area had played padel before. How could they without any courts in the area? That shared learning curve has created an instant sense of connection.
“People are doing this as a collective,” Krieger says. “There are about 190 members here—virtually none of them knew each other 10 months ago. They all live five minutes apart, but they’d never met until now.”
Today, members have become as much a part of the facility as the equipment itself. Local business owners even sell their products on-site, turning the club into an informal hub for entrepreneurs.
One of Krieger’s main goals was to deliver a luxury experience without the luxury price tag. While court rentals in Brooklyn or Manhattan can reach $150 an hour, Padel United charges just $45 for non-members.
“We’re building a community,” Krieger says. “We want people to feel great about themselves. We want them to have premium experiences — but we don’t want to gouge them on prices.”
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The town IS the business
The Tenafly facility is just the first step in a much larger vision — one that aims to revolutionize how people connect and spend their time. Krieger’s long-term goal is to build a collective membership model in which a holding company provides access to a portfolio of local brands, enabling residents to plan their entire week in one place.
“Instead of having separate memberships — one for padel, another for a gym or wellness club, and another for a restaurant — you’ll have one centralized platform,” Krieger explains. “From the food delivered to your home, to dinner reservations, to exclusive wine tastings with concierge-level service—it’s all connected. You can even track your spending in one place.”
In essence, he wants to bring the perks of city life to the suburbs — without the chaos that often comes with it. “That’s one of the most gratifying parts of doing this,” Krieger says. “I get to eat, play, and spend time in the places we’re building, alongside people who genuinely appreciate it. We hear it all the time: it’s changing lives.”
Just a few minutes from the Padel United Sports Club are Spring House and The Wandering Que, two restaurants that are part of Krieger’s larger master plan.
Within the next six months, he plans to open Blackwood Club, a large-scale indoor shooting and social facility, and Rosto Fast, a new chicken shop. There are also plans to build a boutique hotel. All of these businesses sit within an eight-minute drive of one another and fall under Krieger’s holding company, Cure Companies.
As padel continues to gain traction, Krieger is already eyeing other suburbs for expansion.
“In major cities, you can walk 50 feet and have every option you could ever want,” he says. “We want people to have it all at home.”
Many successful businesses become staples of their local communities, but reaching that status takes more than quality offerings and sharp marketing. It requires genuine care and a deep understanding of what a region lacks and what it craves. Those principles drive serial entrepreneur Jon Krieger’s latest venture: Padel United Sports Club.
Padel is a doubles racket sport played on an enclosed court, blending elements of tennis and squash. Its defining feature lies in the glass-and-mesh walls that keep the ball in play, adding a fast-paced, social dimension to the game.
Krieger, best known as the co-founder of café brand Bluestone Lane, is now leading the charge to introduce the world’s fastest-growing racket sport to the U.S. And in doing so, he may have cracked the code to monetizing the abstruse “lifestyle ecosystem.”
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