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?”
Effectively, 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 bought it to Honey Baked Ham. However by 2004, his position was Mr. Mother, caring for his 5-year-old boy and youthful twin ladies whereas his spouse labored as an actual property legal professional close to their Atlanta residence.
Parenting was rewarding however laborious; his son had what he believes have been sensory points (frequent 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 go away 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, taking part in with the prepare tables, interacting with different youngsters.” So when Adair stated she had some questions on franchising for Brannon, he was very intrigued.
After a number of conferences, in late 2004, Brannon purchased Pigtails & Crewcuts from Adair. The corporate now has greater than 80 franchise areas and goals to achieve the 100-unit mark by the top of this 12 months. Right here, he talks about find out how to construct an area enterprise right into a thriving franchise.
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How a lot of the Pigtails & Crewcuts mannequin was in place once 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 acquired a few of my previous ham people again collectively, and we spent the following year-and-change placing the techniques in place.
Hair and ham are completely different industries. What made you assume it could work?
There have been two major 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 package deal that might 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 business. I did not notice how huge the hair business was till I began this. Goodness gracious, it is a $65 billion business. However no person had taken the youngsters’s section of it and turned it right into a nationwide model.
What sorts of franchisees do greatest together with your model?
We’ve got had a number of ladies with 2-year-olds. They’ve a baby they usually really feel like they’re able to get again into the office, they usually method us. We even have a number of husband-and-wife groups. We’re not concentrating on hairstylists. We’re concentrating on businesspeople with individuals abilities. You have to need to work with a group, be part of your group, take pleasure in individuals — youngsters and fogeys.
What recommendation do you have got for would-be franchisors?
You have to be versatile. Markets change. Circumstances change. Every little thing modifications. We went by means of a recession and came upon our enterprise was recession-proof. We went by means of a pandemic that fully shut us down for complete intervals of time. You’ve got simply acquired to have a product or a service that may survive the troublesome instances which might be unanticipated. It’s a must to be prepared to alter.
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