In 2004, Wade Brannon was teaching his son’s T-ball group when one other participant’s mom requested, “You are the ham man, proper?”
Nicely, he was the ham man: He based Heavenly Ham, constructed it as much as $150 million in income with greater than 200 franchises in 33 states, after which offered it to Honey Baked Ham. However by 2004, his position was Mr. Mother, caring for his 5-year-old boy and youthful twin women whereas his spouse labored as an actual property lawyer close to their Atlanta residence.
Parenting was rewarding however laborious; his son had what he believes have been sensory points (widespread amongst younger youngsters), which made some duties difficult. “I took him to my barber store, and he screamed the entire time,” Brannon remembers. “Each of us would depart sweaty with hair caught throughout us.”
The T-ball mother, whose title was Nanette Adair, occurred to have an answer for that: She’d opened a children salon referred to as Pigtails & Crewcuts, and Brannon had simply taken his son there. “He simply beloved it,” Brannon says. “He was watching films, enjoying with the prepare tables, interacting with different youngsters.” So when Adair mentioned she had some questions on franchising for Brannon, he was very intrigued.
After just a few conferences, in late 2004, Brannon purchased Pigtails & Crewcuts from Adair. The corporate now has greater than 80 franchise places and goals to succeed in the 100-unit mark by the tip of this 12 months. Right here, he talks about how you can construct a neighborhood enterprise right into a thriving franchise.
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How a lot of the Pigtails & Crewcuts mannequin was in place whenever you purchased it?
It was a single salon right here in Atlanta, had a federally registered trademark, and had a glance and a really feel. I obtained a few of my outdated ham people again collectively, and we spent the subsequent year-and-change placing the programs in place.
Hair and ham are totally different industries. What made you suppose it could work?
There have been two main issues I checked out. I requested if there was a necessity — which I believed there was, given my son’s response as soon as he skilled it. After which I requested: Can it’s replicated? Can it’s copied and executed correctly by the common individual with enterprise sense?
How did you go about replicating the service?
We needed to get a design bundle that may very well be recreated in every single place. We needed to write operations manuals. We needed to write franchise agreements and franchise disclosure paperwork. I talked to lots of people within the hair trade. I did not notice how huge the hair trade was till I began taking a look at this. Goodness gracious, it is a $65 billion trade. However no person had taken the kids’s section of it and turned it right into a nationwide model.
What sorts of franchisees do greatest together with your model?
We’ve had a whole lot of girls with 2-year-olds. They’ve a toddler and so they really feel like they’re able to get again into the office, and so they method us. We even have a whole lot of husband-and-wife groups. We’re not focusing on hairstylists. We’re focusing on businesspeople with individuals expertise. You have to need to work with a group, be part of your group, get pleasure from individuals — youngsters and fogeys.
What recommendation do you may have for would-be franchisors?
You have to be versatile. Markets change. Circumstances change. Every thing modifications. We went by way of a recession and discovered our enterprise was recession-proof. We went by way of a pandemic that fully shut us down for total durations of time. You have simply obtained to have a product or a service that may survive the tough instances which might be unanticipated. It’s a must to be prepared to alter.
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