he bathhouse business in Russia is on a roll.
This is not surprising. While the Russians undoubtedly enjoy a good steam bath, the most enterprising of them know how to turn a hot profit on this national pastime. Even at Swiss ski resorts and Turkish beachfront hotels our people desire the Russian banya — the hotter the better. And the faster the better.

At a club bathhouse, time is money. Hence the question is: How do you heat up a large steam room quickly and cost effectively? The more discriminating clients turn their noses up at electrically-heated bathhouses. Sufficient power supply may not be readily available. What’s the point of building a mystical “tsar-stove” with the weight and dimensions of an average tank, and spending days heating it up only to watch with tears in your eyes all your business plans going up in the smoke? How about downsizing the steam room at the expense of profit? Yet big bathhouse business, Russian to boot, requires scale.

With the Hekla stove at your bathhouse, you will have as many happy customers as there are tourists flocking to watch the eruption of the eponymous volcano in Iceland.

Even if you get a call about a soccer team or an elephant from the local zoo headed to your bathhouse for a scrub in an hour and a half, you needn’t hurry. Your bathhouse will be ready on time.

After all, perfect timing is key to business success.