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SEARCHAS THE OWNER of a thriving business, the leader of your team, and a player in a vibrant industry, you need to shake things up from time to time. It re-energizes your business, draws attention from your community and keeps your staff on their toes.
Raising the Bar on Salon and Spa Business
AS THE OWNER of a thriving business, the leader of your team, and a player in a vibrant industry, you need to shake things up from time to time. It re-energizes your business, draws attention from your community and keeps your staff on their toes. At SALON TODAY, we found that after 15 years of honoring salon and spa growth and best business practices, our SALON TODAY 200 competition needed a little creative shake-up, too.
AFTER MANY YEARS of debating over whether we’d be successful in getting salon and spa owners to share information about the pinnacle of business success—profitability— we decided it was time to dare to make this a competition category. So, we took our most popular ST200 competition category—Marketing—and created a brand new competition around it. As a result, STAMP (SALON TODAY’s Annual Marketing Program), debuted in September 2012. Then we replaced this ST200 best practice category with Planned Profitability, a challenging category that not only required owners to prove to us they were pro table, but made them show us they had forecasted for profitability and managed an annual budget to reach their pro t goals.
We also determined it was time to make some creative changes to the ST200 application itself. In order to offer readers even more benchmarks to measure themselves against, we added a host of new data questions. And, we developed a fresh, creative format for the best practice essays (see page 35) to give us all a better behind-the-scenes view into the successful programs, procedures, and systems that keep these ST200 salons humming.
The Competition At Large
ST200 Criteria
To be eligible for consideration in the ST200 for 2013, salons had to meet the following criteria:
ESTABLISHMENT: The salon or spa opened on or before January 1, 2010. VOLUME: The salon/spa generated annual service and product sales revenues of at least $250,000 per year since 2010.
WILLINGNESS TO SHARE: The owner completed the applicant information portion of the form, providing statistical information about the business, and completed at least one of the Best Practice sections, including essays.
VERIFICATION: If the applicant competed in the Growth category, the owner submitted tax documentation to verify financials for 2010 and 2011. If the applicant competed in the Planned Profitability section, the owner submitted signed verification from a third-party professional (business coach or accountant) that they projected a certain profit percentage and what they reached.
Applications were up once again this year, with a resurgence of new businesses entering who’d never entered before. Overall salons grew at an average 17% growth rate, which measured the difference of reported gross sales between the calendar years of 2010 and 2011. This growth continued the slow and steady rebound from 2008 to 2009, when at 10%, ST200 salons posted the lowest growth in the competition’s history.
As in previous years, the South and Midwest regions of the United States accounted for the highest percentage of applications, while applications in the West grew to 23% from 19% last year. This year the states with the most applicants are Florida (8%), California (7%), Texas (6%), Ohio (6%) and Colorado (5%). And, Canadian applicants put in a good show with 2%, so it may be time to brush up on your provinces.
The Picture in Focus
The best way to understand what a SALON TODAY 200 operation would look like is for us to build you a composite picture by showcasing the averages of the entire group of honorees. By doing this, here’s a look at what the average ST200 salon would look like:
• It opened its doors in 2002, has only one location, and leases its real estate.
• At 4,700 square feet, it’s impressive in size, and it considers itself to be a salon and spa.
• It holds a membership to one or more professional associations.
• It rung up $1,862,587 in gross revenues in 2011.
• It enjoyed 17% growth in gross revenues between 2010 and 2011. A majority of these gross revenues came from hair cutting and coloring services, with each representing about a third of the overall business.
• It charges an average of $48 for a shampoo, cut and style.
• When it calls roll at staff meetings, 39 employees are on staff.
• And, it spent almost half its operating budget (47%) on labor costs.
Aside from this composite picture, this year’s detailed application allowed us to gather quite a bit of new and revealing data. Read on, and consider how your business compares to our honorees…
After moving to Colorado and teaching at a cosmetology school, Allison Stock joined Zandi K as a stylist, eventually becoming part of the Leadership Team, Education Team and Master Bridal Team. Today, as Director of Operation, Stock is Owner Nicki Wenz's right hand, managing human resources and operations, education and career development, and coaching and culture.
The company's Concealed Bead Method is raising the bar for what professional extension education can deliver.
Scott maximized her micro-salon by transitioning from stylist to strategic owner, focusing on recruiting and station-sharing. By prioritizing her ownership role over behind-the-chair work, she grew her team to six stylists within the two-chair, 150-square-foot space before eventually moving to a larger facility.
The former CFO of Perdue Farms and owner of Hardy Seafood, Terry Owens delivers a wealth of wisdom and strategies for entrepreneurs in his new book, "Business is Simple."
After scaling her single-location salon business, SALON TODAY 200 Honoree Amy Pal recently sold her six-location Whip Salon for seven figures. Using the six Ps for maximizing a business's value, she's ready to help her peers do the same.
Buried inside the One Big Beautiful Bill Act are federal solar tax credit changes that deserve your attention now. Two of the credits that matter most to commercial property owners, the Investment Tax Credit and the Production Tax Credit, are still available, but only if you move fast. A third, the Commercial Building Energy Efficiency Deduction, has a hard termination date that is closer than most people realize.
Up to 40% of hair stylists ghost the salon interview stage, leaving owners trapped playing endless phone tag with uncommitted applicants. This data-driven report breaks down why traditional job boards create recruitment friction and reveals the modern messaging strategies high-growth salons use to get pre-qualified talent to actually show up. Learn how to transition from cold calling to high-conversion conversations that protect your time and fill your chairs.
Sponsored by Beautista
Spit fests, hostile threats, and even an overachieving matchmaker--SALON TODAY readers share their craziest client tales and how their team handled these tough situations with professionalism and grace.
Keeping your appointment book full when clients are in vacation mode takes more than a good Instagram post. It takes a plan. The 2026 Summer Marketing Calendar from Meevo gives salon, spa & med spa owners a month-by-month roadmap with sharp themes, key opportunity dates, and campaign ideas specifically designed for the beauty & wellness industry. Here’s to your summer season working as hard as you do!
Sponsored by Millennium Systems International
AI is transforming the beauty and wellness industry, and the future is about empowering people, not replacing them. Discover how Phorest AI helps salons, spas, and med spas across North America respond faster, personalize every visit, and keep human connection at the heart of the client experience.
Sponsored by Phorest
Owner Michaella Blissett-Williams credits her General Manager Gloria Hortua with [salon] 718's year-over-year, double-digit growth and says she's been able to scale the company to eight locations because she can rely on Hortua to manage daily operations.
Shine Time: Aluram’s High Shine Line Delivers Moisture and Shine with Clean Ingredients
Sponsored by Aluram
Elyse Rogers is an uplifting presence at The Headroom who makes the team feel heard even in stressful situations. Owner Danielle Cherewyk sings her praises in this installment of Meet the Manager.
Despite a slight and predictable decline in client traffic for Q1, resilient pricing power is driving year-over-year revenue growth in salons. The KIM Report's Alain Audet reviews the data and what it's telling us about the state of professional beauty.
Same-store revenue grew just 2% for the second straight year—and new guest visits declined across every segment of the industry. The 2026 Benchmark Report reveals where growth is actually happening, which verticals are pulling ahead, and what the data says about where your business stands right now.
Sponsored by Zenoti
Hair restoration is entering a new era driven by regenerative science. This paper explores how Exosome technology is transforming treatment outcomes by targeting hair loss at a cellular level. Discover why EXOGROW is leading this shift.
Sponsored by Dermapenworld
A salon brand is much more than a logo. In this thought-provoking blog, Leon Alexander, Ph.D., walks you through the difference. SALON TODAY suggests sharing this article with your team and leading a discussion at your next huddle, asking the team to define your business's brand.
