|
June 2006 |
Volume 7, Issue 6, Part 2 |
The health and beauty industry has always been rather straightforward. If you want to get a massage, you go to a day spa. For a haircut, you go to a salon. But if you're a bit frazzled from shopping at the mall or stuck at the airport, shouldn't you be able to get your body soothed right then and there? And don't your kids just hate having to go to an adult salon for a trim? In this issue we talk to Marvin Maltz of Relax Oasis and Joanna Meiseles of Snip-it's to get their views on new angles in the health and beauty industry.
When you think of getting a massage, you naturally imagine going to a day spa, disrobing, and getting the kinks worked out by well-trained human hands for about an hour. But what if you don't have an hour? Or you're in a public place like, say, an airport, and you really need to loosen up some cramped muscles? Marvin Maltz, founder and CEO of Relax Oasis has come up with a unique alternative. "Relax Oasis is a kiosk concept that we plan to position into malls, airports, large hotels, and casinos where there is a large traffic flow of people. In each kiosk, which is about 12' by 12', there are two dry waterbed massage systems called Spa Capsules. People lie in the capsules with their clothes on and get a back massage," says Maltz. The franchise also offers massage and therapeutic related products such as herbal packs and Dead Sea cosmetics, some patented, according to Maltz.
At the heart of the concept is the professionally designed and manufactured kiosk with a proprietary layout that gets attentions no matter where it is located. In addition to the two patented Spa Capsules, the system includes a sales presentation system, an automated inventory control system, and a security monitoring system that allows you to watch your business when you're not there.
Maltz says Relax Oasis is in a category all its own, not in competition with massage therapists or day spas. "If you could picture this in an airport, there are people with flights to catch and they're stuck there for 2 hours. They're not going to go in a taxi to find somebody to give them a massage. This would be somebody who wanted it at the moment. They are not going to say, 'I don't want to do this in a Spa Capsule - I'd rather go for a hand massage and I don't care if I spend $200 for an hour.' Rather, it would typically be the person who says, 'Oh, I love massages. Let me do 10 minutes and maybe again every week when I come to the mall.'" The pricing of this massage service is also very different than a traditional massage. "The price is set at about $1 a minute," says Maltz. "You can't get a hand massage for $10 for 10 minutes."
Up and running in 24 hours
One of the attractions for franchisees is that the entire unit can be up and running within 24 hours. "What's interesting and nice about this is there are no build-outs," says Maltz. "It's not like you have a Subway and you have to find a location and take maybe 6 months for the build-out. Once all the paperwork is done and somebody is ready to go, we have all the equipment delivered to the location. It only takes a day or two to set up. And once it's set up you can easily start business."
 Starting out, it only takes a staff of two to operate a Relax Oasis unit, except during the Christmas season. Maltz explains, "During the Christmas season, depending upon how busy you are, you might need 4-6 people to handle both the service and sales of the products. For starters, you need somebody to help operate the capsules. If there are two in the kiosk, you need to oversee customers going and out and monitor how long they're in for and so on."
This is a brand new franchise with its first unit about to open in Pennsylvania. But Maltz has big plans for the future. "We're hoping by the end of this year to have opened somewhere between 5 and 20 units and then going forth from there in 2007 at the rate of 2 to 3 a month around the country and internationally," proclaims Maltz.
Contact Information: Relax Oasis, Marvin Maltz, CEO and founder, http://www.relaxoasis.com, (800)755-0509.
When your kids' hair needs a trim, where do you go? If you're like most people, you probably still head for the nearest family salon. But a growing number of hair salons catering strictly to kids are out to change that. In the huge hair care industry, the children's sector alone is estimated at $5 billion+. The fastest growing franchise in this arena is Snip-its, a concept based on a strong brand with its own cartoon characters, computer play stations, Magic Box, and distinctive hair care products just for kids.
Joanna Meiseles came up with the idea for Snip-its when her oldest son had his first haircut as a toddler. It was 1993 and there was no choice but to take the little guy to an adult salon. "I came home and told my husband there should be a better way. It was a light bulb moment for me," says Meiseles. Her preliminary research turned up some startling statistics. For example, in the U.S. there are over 35 million children aged 9 and under who need haircuts every 6-8 weeks. Meiseles was sure she could come up with an alternative that could be something great. To that end, she created a salon concept designed exclusively for the 9-and-under market, featuring proprietary cartoon characters incorporated into an educational adventure with activities and games. The first salon debuted in Framingham, Massachusetts in 1995 where over 1,000 children are served each week.
Meiseles fine-tuned the concept in that one salon, but right from the start Snip-its was designed to be a chain. "I wanted to do something unique and have a really strong brand that people would recognize whether they were in a Snip-its in California or Massachusetts. Even though I was only opening one at first, the goal was to build a brand that would have staying power and strong recognition. I also wanted something the kids would have an affinity for so I came up with the idea of the characters. I had a lot of inspirations, but one of the biggest was Beauty and the Beast. In that movie the household objects come to life. I figured if they could do it with a teapot and a candelabra, why not a pair of scissors? Maybe the kids wouldn't be afraid of the scissors if there's was a nice welcoming pair to greet them at the door," says Meiseles.
 Better than homemade
Even though Snip-its stands out among franchised children's salons, there is plenty of competition from family salon chains as well as the usual mom and pops. But the biggest competition comes from home haircuts. "A lot of moms cut the kids' hair at home. We are trying to get them to change that habit," says Meiseles. "In fact, we fix a lot of the haircuts that the moms have done. Of course, some moms are good at it and can do it. It's a talent and a skill that you can learn if you put your mind to it. But we just try to get across that the experience should be a positive one for kids and that kids should feel good about taking care of their hair and their bodies and their hygiene and grooming habits starting from a young age. We think it's really important to have that salon experience where they learn to feel good about themselves without it being a tortuous traumatic thing."
The key to competing in this huge industry, according to Meiseles, is branding. "What people notice right away is the design of the salons and the brand that we have. We're still new at it, but we're growing quickly and we've been able to develop systems to really support our franchisees." Meiseles says the one big thing that isn't so obvious on the outside can be found on the inside - the training programs, operations, and marketing. She continues, "We really are committed to building a world class franchise system. We joke here saying, 'we don't cut corners, we only cut hair.' But we really meant that. We want to make sure that we are choosing good franchisees who are really going to build on our brand and not destroy it. In return, we make sure we give them all the tools necessary in terms of training and technology. We have an awesome (proprietary) technology platform."
Training for franchisees is conducted at corporate headquarters for a week before stores open. "When they get ready to open," says Meiseles, "we have a support person as well as a stylist trainer go to their store and do 3 days of training in advance, followed by 2 days of working alongside their staff after opening. We call this getting snipified. The franchisees' stylists might have 20 or 30 years working on hair but if they haven't worked on kids - or even if they have - we teach them our way of doing things. They need to learn our commitment to customer service to ensure that they're going to get lifetime customers. We also have a train-the-trainer course where each individual franchise store has certified systems trainers. When a franchisee hires a new employee, we don't have to go back and train that person. There is someone right there on staff that can do it."
Contact Information: Snip-its, Joanna Meiseles, CEO and founder, http://www.snipits.com, (508)655-8202.
|
Publisher: 
