Folx, gather 'round: it's STORY TIME. Now before we dive in, please know that every statement made here has receipts to back them up, and I will *joyfully* upload them here should I need to #TryJesusNotMe
Well first off, I can say all of these things with utter confidence because I was an active and founding member of their Bed Stuy location for over 2 years. Let me break down what I saw and experienced:
a.) Horrendous ethics!
At the start of the pandemic when gyms were mandated to close, the owners of BK Fit thought that it was appropriate to keep charging members FULL MEMBERSHIP despite no one being able to use the gym. Why, you ask? "...Point of view is that it will keep money flowing into the business, and avoid [them] shutting down or going out of business." The members (self-included) literally had to rally together and send "WTF?!" emails to the owners to get them to finally recognize themselves for the dicks they are. But here's the real question: why did it even take all of that?
b.) Treat their employees like shit!
I was told first-hand how their coaches were severely underpaid compared to industry standards, the owners had absolutely NO boundaries and contacted their staff at all hours of the night (and often for the dumbest, most non-urgent, most "are you fucking serious right now?!" reasons), and when the pandemic caused gyms to close, they *unceremoniously* laid off some of their most dedicated coaches. Emphasis on "unceremoniously", because I guess it's too much to ask to treat your team with dignity and like the human beings they are.
c.) Utter lack of respect and concern for their customers!
A leisure peruse through Google, Yelp, etc. reviews will tell you all the ways they've conned people out of money, so I won't spend time there. But don't let the paid positive reviews fool ya (cause yes, they begged us to write reviews in exchange for free t-shirts) - all of those negative reviews can't be lies...even a broken clock is right twice a day. What I can say is that the Bed Stuy members often felt ignored and forgotten. We literally had to BEG for the owners to order a set of 30 lb. dumbbells. Dumbbells ya'll. One set. At a gym. Where we're paying $200+ month in fees. Make it make sense!!!
So here's where it gets racial: the Bed Stuy location was the largest membership-wise, most profitable, and - it's important to note here - MOST of the Bed Stuy members were BIPOC. I identify as BIPOC. However, take another leisure stroll through their social media and website and what do you see? Why blatantly ignore a significant aspect of your community just so you can try to portray and appeal to a traditional CrossFit aesthetic? And you have the nerve to operate in one of the BLACKEST neighborhoods in Brooklyn?! #makeitsense So what that tells me is I don't matter to you, but you'll happily take my money because IT does. However in the grand scheme of things, their social media wasn't a hill for me to die on, but I DID decide to throw my entire body in flames down a mountain over their blatant silence when global BLM protests over George Floyd, etc. murders erupted last summer. The same black coaches who they unceremoniously laid off, the same black coaches who were still showing up despite what they were personally dealing with, and the same black members who supported them from Day 1 and were largely contributing to revenue were hurting...and these clowns kept right on posting tone-deaf content (and oh yeah, of mainly white members). No emails of support to the membership. So again, the mighty members had to hop back on their "WTF?!" horses and call the owners out. Instead of accepting responsibility, they asked a BIPOC member (yes, MEMBER) to ghostwrite the messages for them (b/c they of course couldn't be bothered). Then once the weeks-late social media post finally appeared, some people were rightfully disappointed. I was one of them and said as much publicly. This resulted in one of the owners DMing me upset that I *gasp* had the nerve to express myself publicly...because it was ok that I gave them a glowing public review, but I guess it was wrong to give them an honest, accountability-calling public comment as well right? GTFOHWTBS. Then in true performative fashion, he said they were "listening and learning" and wanted to know how to do better going forward, but when I gave honest feedback, it was met with defensiveness, gaslighting, and a whole lot of other fuckery. I don't play with children, so I promptly ended my membership.
Fast forward to today, these heauxs have the audacity to use my unauthorized image on sponsored ads. I *respectfully* asked them to not do this in the future, and they blocked me (guess so I could no longer see them violating my rights). But what's important to note here is that they only use images of their BIPOC community to promote "diversity" when they're trying to generate money #panderforprofit. These people are TRASH, CLOWNS, AND DON'T DESERVE YOUR $$! read more