Crowded hair care market makes room for one more

Fantastic Sams is the latest national chain to enter the northern Nevada hair care market.

"I want to have 100 locations in the next 10 years," says Sergio Nevel, regional director of Gold Country Salons LLC.

Nevel owns development rights to the California central valley, the Sierra Nevada and northwest Nevada, which includes Carson, Churchill, Douglas, Esmerelda, Humboldt, Lyon, Mineral, Pershing, Storey and Washoe counties.

In the shorter run Nevel plans to open three locations this year under the umbrella Sierra Salons I LLC.

Selected trade areas include Damonte Ranch,Mount Rose Highway, Sparks and Spanish Springs, depending on where the best real estate is available.

"Everyone wants to be where I want to be," says Nevel."In this booming marketplace, securing real estate in good locations is the greatest challenge."

He is working with brokers at Grubb and Ellis NCG.

Northern Nevada already is home to several national hair care franchise chains.

Fantastic Sams does not compete with them, says Nevel, because its business model targets "full service family hair care, people poised to move up from discount into the middle range between discount hair and spa salons." Nevel chose Fantastic Sams from among many franchise chains available while working as a broker at the Business Alliance, a franchise that sells franchises.

"It gave me the opportunity to evaluate many franchise opportunities," he says.

As a regional franchisor, Nevel plans to sell primarily to the investor who then hires a manager to run the salon.

Seventy percent of Fantastic Sams managers own more than one unit.

Initial license fee is $30,000 for the first salon and half that for each additional unit, plus a weekly royalty.

The franchise plan offers a consistent experience for the customer, says Nevel, which includes music, courtesy and consultation in a standardized format so that a visit to any Fantastic Sams location will be a consistent experience.

The plan provides an operations manual outlining the components of the salon business: marketing programs, administrative system, ongoing training, quality control and a patented technique for cutting hair that is "all about quadrants and segmentation," says Nevel, so that when a person brings in a clipping from a magazine, the stylist will be able to recreate the look.

The chain also owns a proprietary line of color and texture products.

The hair care industry is the third largest franchising industry, just behind the fast food and lodging industries, says Nevel.

Started 30 years ago, Fantastic Sams now operates 1,350 salons in five countries.

The chain was started by Sam Ross who cut a boy's hair into a shag, prompting the boy's mother to exclaim,"That's fantastic, Sam."