These honored salon and spa owners understand the value of working on their businesses versus just in them. By predicting and planning for profit and keeping a vigiliant watch over expenses, they’re building sustainable businesses that ...
The team from Centre Salon & Day Spa, Tiffany Plaza in Denver, Colorado, owned by James Pacifico.
5 min to read
These honored salon and spa owners understand the value of working on their businesses versus just in them. By predicting and planning for profit and keeping a vigiliant watch over expenses, they’re building sustainable businesses that stand strong without their income as service providers.
CENTRE SALON & SPA, TIFFANY PLAZA Denver, Colorado centresalon.com James F. Pacifico SQUARE FEET: 2,100 TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 18 2014 PROFITABILITY: 13.6% AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $35 BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Aveda COLOR: Aveda TECH SUPPORT: SalonBiz, Demandforce “We work with a company called World Class Financial Services. They provide our financials on a monthly basis with feedback about the financials as well as specific areas for us to focus on that help maintain our expense benchmarks as well as our overall profits.”
HABITUDE SALONS AND SPA Seattle, Washington habitude.com Inez Gray SQUARE FEET: 8,000; 1,500; 1,500 TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 85 2014 PROFITABILITY: 2.2% AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $60 BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Aveda, Bumble and Bumble COLOR: Aveda TECH SUPPORT: SalonBiz, Loc Box, Demandforce, Smile Box ASSOCIATIONS: PBA “We forecast profitability mainly by utilizing our very intricate cash flow spreadsheet that has daily, weekly and monthly cash budget and actuals prediction as well as a filtering system to show when deposits and payments will clear the account.”
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MANE ATTRACTION SALON Phoenix, Arizona maneattractionsalon.com Kendall Ong and Beate Assmuth-Ong SQUARE FEET: 2,400 TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 29 2014 PROFITABILITY: 6% AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $80 BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Bumble and Bumble COLOR: Wella, Kenra TECH SUPPORT: Millennium, Constant Contact, Demandforce ASSOCIATIONS: Intercoiffure, NCA, PBA “We began working on our succession plan five years ago. A large part of it was to reduce the revenue we (the owners) produce behind the chair by transitioning our clients to other stylists. In 2009, our portion of the revenue was 22 percent. In 2014, it was 14 percent.”
METRO FOR MEN Irvine, California metroformen.com Krista Martin SQUARE FEET: 1,900 TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 12 2014 PROFITABILITY: 15% AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $42 BEST-SELLING RETAIL: M By Metro For Men Nioxin Aveda COLOR: Goldwell Aveda TECH SUPPORT: Millennium, Demandforce, Google ASSOCIATIONS: PBA “Every year, I put together a cash flow plan. I look at it weekly and revise the amount of cash spent on expenditures, if necessary, to ensure I hit my target monthly profit margin.”
N STYLE SALON Saugus, California nstylesalon.com Clay & Tiffany Friedman SQUARE FEET: 2,000 TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 18 2014 PROFITABILITY: 5% AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $45 BEST-SELLING RETAIL: L’Oreal COLOR: L’Oreal, Redken, Matrix TECH SUPPORT: STX ASSOCIATIONS: Intercoiffure, PBA, L’Oreal Black Elite Salon “We have found profitability is directly related to consistency in terms of the programs we use combined with excellent customer service. Through retail sales alone, we find we are able to far exceed what we need to make to cover our monthly expenses.”
NUOVO SALON GROUP Sarasota, Florida nuovosalongroup.com Terry McKee and James Amato SQUARE FEET: 3,300; 2,000; 3,000; 2,700 TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 78 2014 PROFITABILITY: 6.3% AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $60 BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Aveda COLOR: Aveda TECH SUPPORT: SalonBiz, Demandforce ASSOCIATIONS: Intercoiffure, PBA, 2 to 10 Network “We currently work with Nick Secord from Salon Performance Group using a system we have co-created to track and drive profitability. Systems play a big part in the year’s financial planning with weekly Wednesday morning ‘cash flow calls’ with our bookkeeping department.”
OMAGI SALON & SPA Louisville, Kentucky omagisalonspa.com Marian Maruca Sang SQUARE FEET: 2,500 TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 34 2014 PROFITABILITY: 16% AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $48 BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Aveda COLOR: Aveda TECH SUPPORT: SalonBiz, Demandforce ASSOCIATIONS: NCA, PBA “Each October, our management team analyzes and reviews all aspects of the business to project and budget for the following fiscal year. We analyze sales and expense data, retention rates, retail per service ticket and client counts. Based on these numbers combined with our desired future growth rate, we plan for profitability.”
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REDBLOOM SALON Calgary, Alberta, Canada redbloom.ca Troy Winget and Jodi Ohama SQUARE FEET: 1,500; 2,300; 1,800 TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 58 2014 PROFITABILITY: 14% AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $67 BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Aveda COLOR: Aveda TECH SUPPORT: Milano, Constant Contact “To forecast my sales and expenses, I begin by using a calendar and marking off anything I know that will be happening, like maternity leaves, renovations or closures, big educational events, equipment replacements, increases in rent, utilities, etc. I look at what’s trending in our business, what’s happening in the economy and any big changes we may be making.”
RITUALS SALON-SPA Midlothian, Virginia ritualssalon.net Pete and Sheri Polignone SQUARE FEET: 5,500 TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 40 2014 PROFITABILITY: 10% AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $55 BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Eufora, Kevin Murphy, Unite COLOR: Schwarzkoph Professional TECH SUPPORT: Millennium, Demandforce ASSOCIATIONS: The Day Spa Association, PBA “We analyze each department and each levels of service and retail sales patterns. We strive for a gross profit of 50 percent, fixed cost at 35 percent and profitability at 15 percent. In 2014, we projected a 10-percent profit and we were spot on.”
SOLARIS Evansville, Indiana solarisaveda.com Amy Carter SQUARE FEET: 2,400 TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 20 2014 PROFITABILITY: 10% AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $35 BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Aveda COLOR: Aveda TECH SUPPORT: SalonBiz, Demandforce, Constant Contact ASSOCIATIONS: PBA “I’ve created a projection sheet that shows what we did in each segment of service and product sales last year and calculates what those numbers would need to be to reflect 10 percent profit growth for the coming year.”
Additional Honorees Blo, Raleigh, NC Maude Salon & Boutique Salon Soca, Chicago, IL Lucky Hair Company Salon & Spa, Canton, MI Cutting Loose Salon, University Park, FL
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