Franchise QB

Episode 91: Wade Brannon, CEO- Pigtails & Crewcuts

• Mike Halpern • Season 1 • Episode 91

Share episode

In this episode of the Franchise QB Podcast, host Mike Halpern speaks with Wade Brannon, President and CEO of Pigtails & Crewcuts. They discuss Wade's extensive background in franchising, his acquisition of Pigtails & Crewcuts, and the growth strategies that have led to the brand's expansion. 

Wade shares insights on the children's haircut market, the importance of creating a welcoming environment for children, and the support provided to franchise owners. The conversation also touches on community engagement and future growth plans for the franchise.

Takeaways

-Wade Brannon has over 40 years of experience in franchising.
-Pigtails & Crewcuts focuses on creating a positive experience for children during haircuts.
-The children's haircut market is a significant segment of the $60 billion hair industry.
-Franchise growth has been organic, focusing on the right fit for franchisees.
-Community engagement is a core value for Pigtails & Crewcuts franchisees.
-Franchise owners often start as owner-operators before transitioning to absentee models.
-Building a strong team is essential for franchise success.
-Franchise support includes training, ongoing communication, and operational assistance.
-The brand is adapting to a more appointment-based model post-pandemic.
-Wade emphasizes the importance of people skills in potential franchise owners.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction
00:45 Wade Brannon's Journey and Background
03:32 Acquisition of Pigtails and Crew Cuts
06:47 Growth Strategy and Franchise Model
09:34 Understanding the Children's Haircut Market
11:32 Franchisee Involvement and Staffing Models
12:47 Building a Strong Franchise Team
13:44 Creating a Welcoming Environment for Children
16:31 Lessons from Heavenly Ham Experience
19:24 Franchise Support and Training
22:46 Community Engagement and Impact
25:45 Future Initiatives and Growth Plans
29:03 Conclusion

https://www.pigtailsandcrewcutsfranchise.com/

Free Resource for Franchise QB Listeners:

The Franchise QB Playbook will guide you through the process of finding your perfect franchise fit.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XlbD8oyl3uyeiqaM73poH67BX1jRRyCGR7l7qB-3Nz0/edit?usp=sharing. Also, you can view the Franchise QB podcast at www.youtube.com/@franchiseqb.

Contact me and my team with any questions along the way. www.calendly.com/franchiseguy
Mike Halpern, CAFC
mike@franchiseqb.com

This is the Franchise QB Podcast, where we empower entrepreneurs to win big in franchising. We huddle up weekly to educate our audience about the most successful small business model ever created. Franchising! Welcome to the Franchise QB podcast. I'm your host, Mike Halpern, a 20-year industry veteran and entrepreneur. My mission is for listeners to achieve their American dreams of creating wealth and independence through franchise ownership. Every week we speak with franchisees, franchisors or vendors that support the industry. Thank you for joining us and let's get started. Joining us in the huddle today is Wade Brannon, President and CEO of Pigtails & Crewcuts. Welcome to the show, Wade. Thank you, Mike. Appreciate you having me. Yeah, it's great to have you. So I see that you attended Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. My family will be passing by Lexington next week en route to Lexington, Kentucky. Drop off my oldest son. He'll be a freshman at UK. um That's really cool. And I'm definitely interested in learning more about your background and your history in Virginia. ah You spent 40 years with two brands, Heavenly Ham, which is now known as the Honey Baked Ham company, which I'm familiar with. You guys have a presence up here in Northern Virginia and the company that you bought and now own and operate, which is Pigtails & Crewcuts. That's going to be the subject matter of the podcast today. Tell me a little bit about your background and what inspired you to acquire the Pigtails & Crewcuts brand back in 2004. Well, congratulations on getting one off to college. That's a great passage and a lot of fun. And I know those Saturdays in the SEC will be pretty special for him. that'll be fun. I have been in the business a long time. I love the franchise model and it's really all I've ever done. just... One of these days, maybe I'll figure out how to do something else, but this is kind of it to this point. uh When I did finish school, I ended up going to work for the first location of a company called Heavenly Ham, and we were down in South Carolina. And my partners and I ended up buying it from the original owners and moved it up to Atlanta with the intention of building a franchise company out of it. We didn't really know what we were doing. One of the guys was a Coca-Cola executive, so he knew a little more about business, but I was right out of school, sweeping floors and scrubbing toilets and trying to make ends meet. just kind of fell in love with the franchise model as we started to develop it. We had a good concept, we had a great product, uh we had an idea, but that doesn't really make a franchise. And uh so we kind of... figured it out from there and it seemed to work pretty well. And we ended up being acquired by Honeybaked after about 20 years. And then as you say, I acquired Pigtails & Crewcuts oh about 20 years ago and with the intention of doing it again. uh I took my children there and I liked it. I thought it made sense. I thought it was a business model that was replicable in a lot of places. Uh, and felt like we could take our experience and our knowledge and our idea of, of building one and apply it to the other. And, so that's kind of how it all got started. Um, yeah, there must've been something about that first visit to Pigtails & Crewcuts that stood out because I'm sure you've seen a lot of businesses and You don't just acquire all of them, right? This one made an impression. What was it about the experience that stood out for you and made you want to get more involved with that business model? It was real interesting. And you're right. I had looked at a lot of things after I left Honey Baked, but I, my son hated haircuts and he's now 27 years old, think. Yeah. 27. And he hated them. And he, he, he clearly had sensory issues that we didn't. That was undiagnosed. We didn't know what that was. And he basically screamed bloody murder all through haircuts. And it was really an unpleasant experience. And the lady who started Pigtails & Crewcuts opened the salon not far from my house. And I took my son and my twin girls who were 20 months younger than he. And we went in on a Saturday. It was packed. crowded, it took a long time, we had to wait. And so I'm kind of sitting there looking around going, man, this is there's a lot going on in here. And never once did he look at me and say, we got to get out of here. Never once did he do anything besides enjoy the experience. And it was interesting because the lady who started it approached me instead of me approaching her and said, You were the ham guy, right? You I want to franchise Pigtails & Crewcuts. And I said, I think you should. I think it's a cool business model. It was a great look. It was a great feel. For us, it was a fantastic experience. And I ended up buying it from her because she didn't want to take on that responsibility once she understood what all you had to do to build a franchise company. And I certainly, yeah. So she had this great business model. You had the experience with, you know, watching a brand scale, participating in the scaling of, you know, heavenly ham. But I mean, it's a big leap to go from, you know, 20 years ago with one location and now you guys have 80. That's a pretty massive footprint. And I know it didn't happen overnight. So, you know, I'd love to hear. you know, your approach to getting there and what is the composition of your current system? Is it all franchise? Do you still operate corporate stores or corporate salons? What does that look like? I'll go back to the first part of that. And, you know, sadly, everybody doesn't wake up and go, gosh, I really want to get in the kids haircut business every day. So, you know, it takes a little. It takes a little educating to get people uh interested in it. But what we've done is we've kind of grown it organically. We have not gone out and just tried to sell a franchise to everybody who's got a pulse and a check. We believe that there's got to be this fit, that it's got to be a fit for you, your family, for the franchise prospect and their family, mean, ah and for us. We've grown it organically and a lot of our growth is somebody, we go into a market, somebody sees it and says, oh, I get this business model, I want some of this. And they come to us either for a different market or a different part of the market or whatever. ah But it has also grown internally and uh probably 65 % of our locations are owned by people who own more than one location. They start with one, they develop additional. uh And then eventually, you won't do this for the rest of your life, just like everything in life. You'll eventually do something. But the theory is they're building a portfolio of business. uh that will have greater value when they go to get out of it ah by being a part of a franchise system. And so that's kind of how we've done it. It's word of mouth, it's seeing the concept and it's internal growth. Yeah, that's good. um And obviously like hair cutting is a massive industry. How big is it? And then your segment in the children's cuts, what does that look like relative to the... When I started looking at this, I had no idea that hair... you know, look at me. You know, I'm not our client, but I didn't realize that the industry was as big as it is. And you start thinking about hair industry and you start driving around and there's a hair salon on every corner. And it is estimated to be about a $60 billion industry. And they think the children's segment of that ah with no definitive market leader besides, you know, kind of us and, know, Nobody's really captured the whole market. ah They estimate that to be about seven to $10 billion. So there's plenty of room to grow. Our 80 leaves a lot of places. Yeah, think about the space and the names that come to mind are just general adult cuts. You don't really think of a market leader nationwide. So your footprint with 80 is probably one of the largest in the segment, which is really interesting. So how many employees would an owner need to operate a location? And I know there's a difference if they're in the salon themselves versus having a manager, but what's the staffing model look like? It depends on obviously what you just said, if the owner is involved day in and day out, but it also depends on kind of the age of the business and the size of the business, the scope, you know, kind of the revenues. But generally speaking, on average, our salons operate with eight to ten hairstylists. both full and part time. Now don't start with that many and you don't, you know, when you get, when you start getting really big, you have more, but on average, that's a decent number to think about. Okay. And then in terms of your owners, is there like a 50 50 mix of owner operators and those that hire kind of a manager model? uh Does it skew one way or the other? What does that generally look like within your system? It's both. And it starts out a lot of times where people are to a certain extent, uh buying themselves a job. And there's nothing wrong with that. I don't say that in a derogatory fashion. uh We like our owners to be involved in the business, certainly for a period of time while they learn to understand it, they get the model, know, they're familiar with the day in and day out concept. So most of our owners start in the business when they acquire it. they work there for some period of time, and then over time it becomes semi-absentee and even absentee. That said, we've got a lot of folks coming to us these days that wanna do it more absentee, and they've got somebody that they have in mind as a general manager, and they wanna develop multiple locations, and we're good with that model too, but they still have to understand the business. Well, I mean, you got to observe the growth of the Heavenly Ham and then the acquisition by Honey Baked. You've been scaling your own brand for 20 years. What are some of the big lessons that you've learned while you've been taking this business from one location to 80 locations? I think the first lesson for a franchisor to develop uh is a team. You've got to build a team that understands the core values of what you're trying to create. What are your triggers? What are your motivations? What are your goals and objectives? ah So I think it starts with a team of at the franchise office. And then I would argue that it starts with the next step is sorry, uh is selecting the right franchisees. um You know, like I said earlier, you've got to be, you've got to get the right people in the business and they've got to have a passion for it. And again, not everybody wakes up thinking this is what I want to do every day. But if you do have a passion for giving back to the community, being a part of the community, you know, being a part of the children's community that many of our franchisees have are in that stage. uh You know, I think you got you got you then you can get the right people. So it's it's it's your team and then it's the franchisees and then them building a culture within their organization. Very cool. Yeah, I mean, franchise owners. are going to follow the culture that's set by corporate, but they're going to have their own culture within their business. It's their business. So, you I can see how having the right franchise owners in place will translate to success if they bring a great leadership culture to their business and follow the Pigtails & Crewcuts way. um So you mentioned before about your son having sensory sensitivities. um Do you intentionally do something to create that welcoming environment for children and families? I mean, is that part of what sets Pigtails & Crewcuts apart from other children's salons? We do. that's personal. And it also we have a number of franchise owners who it's personal for them, too. And so they take it very seriously. ah Yeah, I think. But like I said, my son was undiagnosed at the time. I mean, this is 25 years ago, give or take. We know a lot more now. We also know that not every child is the same. And whether it's sensory sensitivities or just discomfort for being in that kind of environment or people don't like to be contained in a chair, you know, I mean, there are all kinds of ways that people find this to be an uncomfortable situation. It's like going, excuse me, to the pediatrician. It scares children. Sure. Not all children. And so we do make that a very big part of our training and um our franchise owners make it a big part of their culture with their employees and with their team. um There are some people who have children with issues that they want to say come in before hours, you know, and be the only people in the salon because it's more comfortable for their child. There's not a lot of stimulation going on and that's great. Our franchise owners will say, okay, hey, that's great. We'll come in early. ah But there are other people who want to be completely mainstream. They want to be a part of everything. even though their children might react poorly for a period of time to a haircut. And it's okay if they do. And it's okay if the children react poorly because that's what we're used to and we're trained to handle it. And our people are very empathetic and very mindful that children are going to react differently. I mean, I had three children. Each one of them was a completely different, still is to this day. They're different people. And so, yeah, it is a passion for us and it's, it's, it's our, our customers tell us that they appreciate that part of what we deliver. Yeah. And I think it's just really thoughtful and, um, interesting that your approach is one of the experience for the child and the family. Um, you would think in this space, people are just talking about how great the haircuts are and. You know, they have cartoons on the walls, but the reality is it has to be a good experience for the kid and for the family in order for this to be sustainable and somewhere that they want to go. Right. And you guys have kind of said, all right, we're going to build a brand around that, which is really, really cool. Um, so let's kind of step back to all of that experience for 20 years at Heavenly Ham. Um, how did your experience there shape kind of taking Pigtails & Crewcuts to the next level? I'm sure you saw. a lot of things they did that worked. saw some things that didn't work. um Is there anything specific that stands out how you can take that experience and kind of translate that to the growth that you've achieved with your current brand? You know, Mike, I think, excuse me, the main thing that I would say is I have no exclusive knowledge on what the right way to do things is and the wrong way to do things. You kind of have to, as a franchisor, be willing to adapt as your market changes and shifts. I think about how we advertised for franchisees and for customers 40 years ago, as opposed to what we do right now. It's a completely different deal. so you've got to constantly be learning and changing and adapting. And over the years we've been talking about, I mean, there are just so many examples. I mean, we didn't have computers. We had 13 column pieces of paper and pencils to do financial statements. We had a push button cash register to collect money and swiping machines to get an imprint of a credit card, as opposed to these incredible point of sale systems and phones. that you can make appointments on and apps and all this other stuff. It's just constant adaptation to the technology, the marketing, the education, all the ways we train now is so completely different. Then go back to power, to slides, little clear plastic slides you put on an overhead projector to, I mean, it's it's incredible. And so, yeah, I mean, we could spend days and weeks and months talking about this. Yeah, but what's kind of interesting is like the fundamental service you provide hasn't changed a bit, right? mean, not probably not even the tools that are used to perform the service, but all the stuff around it has. And then you obviously have to adapt to that to thrive in today's environment. It seems like you guys are doing just that. So let's talk about the support. Like someone decides, hey, this is a really good brand for me. I like the culture. I like what they're doing. I like to make money. can do all this thing under one roof with your brand. How do you support your franchise owners to ensure consistency and success across all locations, kind of irregardless of geography? Well, it starts with when you become a franchisee, first thing we got to do is find a location. And so we're going to take your local market knowledge and our knowledge of what we need in terms of bricks and mortar to get in the right location. We've got demographic tools, we've got lease negotiation skills, we've got ah construction, ah you know, blueprints, all that kind of stuff that people don't know how to do. ah So all the pre-opening things that get the salon built ah is the first part. Then training, they come to us for training. for a week in Atlanta. ah Then we are at their salon for a period of time when they actually opened a little bit before and after they opened to make sure that there's a grand opening. ah And then there's just so much ongoing communication. We've got video, we've got the university where you've got, we've. record videos where you can take them to your employees, new employees so they understand what Pigtails & Crewcuts is. We've got new techniques, we've got all the regular visits and the uh site visits in your location where we are uh making sure that brand standards are being adhered to uh so that you're not devaluing the value of the guys. uh investment down the road uh by not doing a good job. ah You know and it's just ongoing communication. We assigned one person to you to become your uh support person at pre-opening and opening and after and that person's kind of a generalist and that person supports you with HR questions and marketing questions and operations questions and you know. life questions and all the things that go. of all trades. Cause there's probably a lot coming at them. Yeah. Well, yeah, that's interesting. Cause you know, in your business, you know, a new franchisee, there's two projects, right? There's like finding the site, there's the construction project, and then there's operating the business once it's going. So, you know, the, the expectations have to be set that, you have to be a little patient cause we got to find that right site. We got to negotiate that lease. You got to build it out. And then we got to do our pre-opening activities and kind of get you know, you know, people in the chairs once you launch the business. So one thing you mentioned, Wade, earlier was the community, like, and I can see that you're really community driven. Any kind of stories you can share with us about some of your franchise owners that have made a significant impact in their local communities? Yeah, one of our core values, and there's five of them and I'm not going to go through them, but one of them is to give back to the community. And I think people Our franchisees, our prospective franchisees, their ears perk up when they hear that because I think if you're looking at a children's based business, you know you're going to be a part of the community. It's just the way it is. uh And I think they all have a passion for that. We almost several years ago did a oh national relationship with a large cancer. Children's Cancer Hospital and we backed off on it not because we didn't love it and think it's a great organization but because in the local community when you dial it down to the employees at a franchisees salon that may not mean anything to them you know they may not have any experience with that but what they do have experience with is people and organizations in their own community that have needs. And so we dialed it back from the national to the local and we just encourage our franchisees to get involved at the local level. And they do it in so many different ways. We're in back to school right now and a lot of our salons do book bag drives and they'll ask their customers if they want to contribute to buying book bags for underprivileged schools in their areas. ah We have, ah I know at one of our salons, and it's a lot, but I know it's specifically one, where uh hairstylists asked to go and cut hair at a family shelter because they felt these people needed it. And so our owner actually pays them to go and do that. pays them their regular hours while they're not generating revenue for the salon, but they're doing, you know, good work in the community for folks who can't afford a haircut for them and their children. And they may be displaced and things like that. And they're, countless of those types of things. But I think that's part of what drives a children's based business is there's so many opportunities to give back to the community. And, you know, I can, we could cite lots of. m Well, it's funny you mentioned uh like back to school. I know we're in that back to school season. In fact, my wife and I are going to my kids' high school for our very last back to school night for my two kids, because I have one off in college and this guy's going to be a senior. So I know it's a big time, probably busy season for you guys as all the kids are getting prepared to go back to school. um So let's talk a little bit about like what's next for Pigtails & Crewcuts. Any new initiatives or expansions that you're especially excited about? We are continuing to grow the way we've been growing. We've got initiatives, we've got goals to achieve a certain number of units, but we want to do it the right way. We want to do it with the right franchise owners. We want to do it ah in a well thought out manner. ah We have technology ah adjustments that we're making right now that don't really want to go all into because we're in the beta testing of a new system that may or may not be the right thing for us. But oh if it is, it's going to be a game changer for us. We have adjusted our business model post pandemic to more of an appointments based model from more of a walk in type model. And that has been a uh an economic windfall for our franchisees because they now understand a little more about the labor needs based on the number of appointments. With that comes certain challenges. I know that I have never ever been on time with my children. And so that's a challenge when you're trying to keep a schedule going and things like that. But uh things like that, mean, they're constant. We've got our franchise conference coming up in October and we're rolling out a bunch of things that we're really excited about. So there's always constant change and, you know, better ways to improve it. Yeah. So, you kind of answered this question in terms of what the next five to 10 years looks like for Pigtails & Crewcuts. I'm assuming you're going to continue with your steady, methodical, intentional growth, maybe get it to. hundred, hundred and fifty units over the course of a period of time where the system can kind of adapt to that? Or do you have a different view on what the next couple of years look like? No, we that's that's kind of where we're headed. We we believe that in the next few years we'll be at about one hundred and fifty. My experience and talking to other franchise owners is when you get one hundred open, it kind of starts growing exponentially. And that's great. as long as it's good growth and as long as it's controlled growth and sustainable growth. Um, you know, you've, you've all, you've been in this industry a long time and you've seen folks who've grown for the sake of growth, who have not been able to sustain that. And that is not something that I'm, I'm too old to do that. don't want to do that. That sounds like you're having responsible growth, which I know is a, catchphrase that the industry likes to use, but it's important to keep your eye on the ball and make sure that, you know, you're taking care of the people that have invested in your system. And it sounds like you guys are doing just that. So if somebody wants to, you know, join Pigtails & Crewcuts, I know that the Item 7 is going to vary depending on the condition of the space and all that, but what's the ballpark range to open a location? Yeah. You talk about a variation. You know, what we disclose is $130,000 to $280,000. And literally that is the difference between markets, what we can get from the landlords, the size of the particular space, you know, what market they're in. And the 130 is certainly low. So I would certainly expect in the neighborhood of $200,000 on a normal situation. And how big is your footprint? How much space do you take? Around 1200 square feet. Okay. So there's, you know, 1200 feet in every shopping center out there. So it looks like the good news is you have a lot of inventory that you get to choose from when selecting that perfect site. Do you guys provide any Item 19 guidance for prospective franchise owners? We do. Okay, cool. We've got an Item 19 that focuses on sales. highs and lows and mediums and mediums of those and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. And then they can go into validation with owners to kind of dig a little deeper. um So what are you looking for, Wade? Like who makes a really good franchise owner for you? I'm assuming they're going to be like the mayor of the town. They're going to be connected in the community. They have to have capital. Like what else are you looking for? Yeah. I those are important. I think the one personality traits, shall we say. mean, you certainly gotta have a certain amount of money. You've certainly gotta have a bit of a management background of some sort. And there are different ways to skin that cat. But I look for people skills. Because you are dealing with the public, you are managing employees, you're dealing with parents and their children, and you gotta wanna be there. You gotta like being around people. And if you've got people skills, we can we can teach you the rest. Yeah, that's really good characteristic. mean, you're in front of people, you're dealing with two generations at least. It's the kid and the parent. You gotta be one of the around people or it's probably not the right fit for you. And that makes perfect sense. So Wade, this has been great. I appreciate you giving me all this information and sharing this with the audience. Anything else you want to add before we wrap up? No, I have good luck with drop off and. I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you. Thank you for your time. Yeah, I appreciate that. It's an emotional time for the Halpern family in a good way. We're excited for our guy. And thanks so much for your time today. If anyone listening would like to connect with Wade and his team to learn more about becoming a franchise owner with Pigtails & Crewcuts, contact me at FranchiseQB.com or on x @QBFranchiseQB and I'll get you connected. Thank you, Wade, for taking the time to get in the huddle with us today. Thanks, Mike, for having me. I appreciate it. You got it. Thank you for listening to the Franchise QB podcast where you're at the helm of your future as a franchise owner. If you enjoyed the content, please rate the show and recommend it to anyone that might be interested in franchising. Make sure to visit FranchiseQB.com to subscribe to my newsletter and for an actionable playbook to go from walk-on to legend in your new business. Follow us on Twitter @QBFranchiseQB and join us every week for a new episode. See you next time. FranchiseQB.com. take the next step of your journey towards wealth, independence, and franchise ownership. And remember, when working for the man gets old, you must do something bold. Thank you for listening.