Tonal shocked their community today with a big announcement – that they would be closing their west coast production studio, and almost every existing Tonal coach would be leaving the company.
Members had been speculating that some of the coaches might be leaving based on the schedule in recent weeks & the opening of the New York Studio.
The announcement was made in the Tonal Facebook community by CEO Aly Orady.
First, he shared that Tonal would be officially closing their Los Angeles, California production studio. Instead, all classes will instead be produced moving forward from their new New York City studio, which was opened earlier this summer.
Given the events that transpired a few weeks ago (35% reduction of the Tonal workforce), we will be taking our LA studio offline, and shifting focus to ramp our new studio in New York.
As we shared last month, and as Orady references, Tonal was forced to layoff around 35% of their employees in an attempt to achieve profitability.
Secondly, Orady did confirm that outside of Kendall Wood, Tonal would no longer be working full time with any of the coaches who had previously taped classes & programs from LA. However, he did leave the door open to do some future programs with the coaches.
The unfortunate reality is we won’t be able to continue in a full time capacity with our LA-based coaches.
We know you love our coaches. And we love them too. This isn’t the outcome we wanted, and now, we want to do our best to take care of everyone involved. With that said, each of our coaches will receive generous severance and continuation of their healthcare benefits. They will also be encouraged to pursue other professional endeavors with no interference from Tonal. We will continue to support and root for them, and we hope at some point, we can work with them again in the future.
Although the coaches are leaving, Tonal will not be removing their classes “for the foreseeable future”
Please know that their existing content will remain on Tonal for the foreseeable future, and we have a number of upcoming unreleased workouts and programs from many of them and others that will be hitting your Tonals soon.
Tonal members have spent years working out with many of the coaches who were let go today. It remains to be seen if these changes will result in any noticeable impact or drop in Tonal’s subscriber base.
You can read Tonal CEO’s Aly Orady entire memo below:
Dear Tonal Community,
I’ve seen many of your recent posts, and I want you to know that I see you and I hear you. I wanted to use this opportunity to personally provide some clarity around many of the questions that have been bubbling up.
Firstly, let me acknowledge that I know many of you have been wondering what’s going to happen with our LA-based coaches. Our coaches, no matter where they are based, are an important part of Tonal and especially for those based in LA, they have been a core part of building Tonal into what it is today.
Secondly, I want to provide clarity. Given the events that transpired a few weeks ago (35% reduction of the Tonal workforce), we will be taking our LA studio offline, and shifting focus to ramp our new studio in New York.
So here’s the truth: our coach relationships are complex – some are contractors, some of them are full time – but each are individuals we care about, and we needed the past few weeks to determine what our go forward plans could be with each of them while maintaining the best possible member experience. The unfortunate reality is we won’t be able to continue in a full time capacity with our LA-based coaches.
We know you love our coaches. And we love them too. This isn’t the outcome we wanted, and now, we want to do our best to take care of everyone involved. With that said, each of our coaches will receive generous severance and continuation of their healthcare benefits. They will also be encouraged to pursue other professional endeavors with no interference from Tonal. We will continue to support and root for them, and we hope at some point, we can work with them again in the future.
This is a challenging time for Tonal, and we had to make this decision so that we can build a future centered around our goal of helping you get stronger every day.
Each of the coaches will always be an important part of the Tonal journey and this community. Please know that their existing content will remain on Tonal for the foreseeable future, and we have a number of upcoming unreleased workouts and programs from many of them and others that will be hitting your Tonals soon. I’ve listed a preview of some of that upcoming content below.
I also want to emphasize that on-demand workouts and multi-week programs continue to remain a top priority when it comes to our content strategy, and we have a lot of exciting new content coming to help you unlock your goals. Moving forward, you can expect Live classes to continue, as well as new workouts and four-week programs with many of our newer coaches, who we are excited for you to get to know and love.
It is this community that gives us the conviction to keep going, to innovate, to create amazing content, and to rebuild. In a perfect world, we would have been able to keep going the way we were. But as you well know, the world today is far from perfect. I’m asking for you to stick with us while we figure out the next steps.
Please know that I will always prioritize making sure Tonal is here to serve our members for years to come. Thank you for your care and compassion, for this community and for our coaches.
Aly Orady,
Tonal Founder and CEO
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Upcoming Content Releases
*Go Big or Go Home III With Jackson
*Program+ Power Up Glutes with Paul
*Program+ Optimal Form with Liz
*Program+ Lift to Get Lean with Gabby
*Program+ Breakthrough & Build with Allison
*Two to-be-filmed programs with Tony Horton
*Lots more Yoga from Allison and Jake
*And Lots more workouts from Nicolette, Pablo, Jared, Natalie, and Nikki
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