How goGLOW Turned Clean Beauty Into a Scalable Franchise and Why It’s Accelerating Now

Founded in 2010 by former probation officer-turned-beauty executive Melanie Richards, goGLOW has emerged as a category leader in sunless tanning by pairing proprietary, clean-label products with patented, health-first service standards — and the model is scaling fast, with more than 100 franchises awarded since the 2023 program launch and a plan to top 150 this year. 

goGLOW’s point of difference starts with product and process. The brand’s formulations and equipment are proprietary; products are vegan and free of parabens and sulfates, cruelty-free and use eco-certified DHA — aligning the service with modern wellness expectations rather than legacy tanning norms. The professional results have drawn beauty-industry acclaim, including Allure’s Best of Beauty recognition as well as the fandom of celebrities like Lady Gaga.

On the numbers, goGLOW’s unit-level story is resonating with candidates: recent third-party coverage of the brand’s Franchise Disclosure Document shows average revenue in the mid-$600,000s and healthy contribution margins — roughly low-to-mid-30s — reinforcing the system’s simplicity and attractive labor model.

Now, the growth engine is engaged. After pandemic headwinds, corporate units rebounded with full force, prompting a 2023 decision to scale via franchising. Strategic advisory support from Front Street Equity Partners has helped codify the model, tighten real estate and prototype decisions, and recruit a bench of multi-unit operators.

Looking ahead, goGLOW isn’t just selling tans — it’s selling a wellness-grade, confidence-boosting skin treatment wrapped in a brand consumers instantly understand. With patented technology, clean formulations and strong early unit economics, the brand’s “why you/why now” is clear: own a defensible niche while the national category is still taking shape.

Richards recently joined 1851 Franchise Publisher Nick Powills  on “Meet the Franchise” to discuss how goGLOW rebounded post-pandemic, why the team chose franchising to scale and how patented air-filtration tech and clean formulations set a new bar for the category. A transcript of the interview has been provided below. It has been edited for brevity, clarity and style.

Nick Powills: All right, Melanie, this is not a lie. My first question is scripted — and the “not a lie” part is I’m looking forward to your answer because I read your story. How did you accidentally fall into franchising? What’s your franchise story?

Melanie Richards: Oh, my franchise story. So, right around 2020 — COVID and surviving all that — I think everyone was pretty much aware of how unsettling everything was for a business owner. And then in 2021 and 2022, all of my stores came back, and they came back with full force. At that point, I was like, “OK, I definitely have something here that’s pretty magical.”

When I was starting to build it up with my Chicago location, I started to look at what Alli Webb was doing with Drybar. And knowing that if I could keep recreating and going toward the direction of giving myself the option to franchise… that’s how I was starting around 2017. So, coming out of 2022 and 2023, it was really the inflection point of: How do you want to grow this? Are you going to do the capital raise and all of that? Or is it franchising?

For me, that was a very easy answer — franchising — because I’m a people person. I really love what goGLOW has to offer, and I love working with people. I wanted to have those relationships.

Powills: Love it. Let’s flash forward. How many units are open now?

Richards: We have — I want to say — 19 units open. Sixteen of those are franchises. We have 41 franchises awarded; 31 are multi-unit, so about 76% have bought into multi-unit. And about 111 total territories sold.

Powills: Great. So now if you look backwards and tell your COVID self, “This is where you’re going to be,” would you be like, “That’s impossible, it’s not going to happen”?

Richards: This is not ego talking whatsoever, but I’ve always seen a clear vision for goGLOW. I didn’t know how it was going to get there. I know it’s going to get there. But the fact that I was able to partner with some really great people at Front Street Equity Partners to do my franchise development — that I did not see coming. I didn’t see having the ability to bring on such a strong group of experts who are equally as passionate about goGLOW as I am. You know, a group of five men who will talk about spray tanning till the cows come home with me. So it’s great.

Powills: When you were coming out of COVID, how many units did you have in Chicago?

Richards: So I have one in Chicago — in River North. For corporate, I have a Maple Grove store because I’m based out of Minneapolis. I started in the Minneapolis area. I have Edina — sort of my flagship — and Maple Grove. I have a salon suite in Minneapolis and then Eagan. And then over in Chicago is when I jumped out of the pond in 2017 after my first storefront here — and that’s in River North.

Powills: And at that point you’re not thinking franchising per se, because you said you hit this inflection point of, “Do I go raise, or do I go franchising?” At that point are you thinking, “How do I keep opening up stores?” Where were you with that?

Richards: Every single store kind of builds the next one — fully bootstrapped, still bootstrapped — and the growth would have been a very heavy lift that way. You just can’t get the national presence you want when you’re going at that pace.

Powills: All right, so as an outsider, I’m going to say a comment and I want your opinion on it. Even the Drybar connection — it’s not like either service model didn’t exist before Drybar or before goGLOW. I think about: What is an attractive brand? Obviously, if the consumer experience aligns to what they feel when they see the brand — the simplicity of a name that really defines what you do — the brand creates opportunity to get someone in the door, and then the experience keeps them there. Am I wrong to think that? Am I over-indexing brand, or what is the magic behind the business?

Richards: Absolutely not. I started as mobile when I had a full-blown career, and I would take a mobile unit out to people’s homes. I remember one of my first Facebook posts  — we didn’t have Instagram back then — was, “The goGLOW girls are out.” It was just me. It’s always about embracing a brand, and your brand should speak to what you deliver, right? It’s easy with the name, but at the same time, keeping things clean, minimalistic — I love black and white. When you walk into a goGLOW, it’s bright white. That’s a very strong statement to say we’re really into clean beauty, into clean ingredients.

What the traditional spray tan industry has delivered for the past 30 years is a dark, back-of-the-house sort of service. I truly believe — and know, because of the response to goGLOW — that clients deserve better. Clients deserve a better experience. They deserve to have clean air filtration, a patented boost — everything. Our commitment to the client experience speaks in our branding.

Powills: And then is that the magic for a franchisee — that you’ve done the work on how a brand communicates with the buyer, and how you meet their expectations?

Richards: Exactly. Speaking on what goGLOW is, we’ve got a couple things going on. Not only are we an emerging brand building a franchise system; we’re also disrupting an industry. We’re coming out and saying, “Hey, sorry about how spray tanning has been pretty awful for a lot of people for a long time.” We’re delivering on this promise that all the ingredients are going to be organic when possible. The skin care line — which is 30% of our revenue — supports healthy skin, and we want to talk about healthy skin.

When a franchisee comes in and sees the offering of, “Wait a minute — there’s nothing like this out there right now,” and what they see when they come into a goGLOW — or when they talk with me and go through the whole lead-up to Discovery Day — is that the commitment to the experience and to disrupting an industry is real. When we come out, we’re setting the bar extremely high, and we expect others to meet that.

Powills: Okay, so this is a turn moment. I like doing the commentary on what I’m going to do next. Clearly, you don’t have a franchise sales issue. Long-term, the thing you’re going to want to protect is culture — because sometimes when you can sell a franchise, it doesn’t mean you’re selling to the right person. You have to be protective of that.

But what you just said is a great business positioning. Right now, your position says “Franchise with goGLOW” — it doesn’t even say anything else. You just talked about disruption of a category, the cleanness of the product, the customer experience. I always go look at a franchise website and say, “Okay, I’m a buyer. I land on this. Do I feel the magic of what the founder is saying?” I don’t. If it were me, I’d go back, blow up that website, and say, “I’m going to take what I started saying at the six-minute mark and put it into play.”

Richards: It’s very true what you’re saying. We go back and talk to our franchisees, and every single time the constant in the study is, “I bought in because of Mel. I bought in because of Mel’s vision. I bought in because Mel’s been kicked in the teeth year after year, and she keeps going.” You’re 100% right.

Powills: And again, it’s not for today. Today you don’t have a sales challenge, but at some point you might. I’m saying something you probably already know.

Multi-unit agreements — the thing that I don’t love about multi-unit: I understand the purpose, but when a territory is swallowed up, a very excited customer is going to call you and say, “Let me do this,” and you’re like, “Sorry, we’re sold out.” Eventually you’ll have main markets sold out and you’ll need to break into new markets. What’s going to do that? Someone who says, “Here’s how much money I have; I need to believe in someone.” I would lift your story right to the top. It’s such a powerful story of battling through — you used the term “kicked in the teeth.”

So that’s what I’m looking at. Maybe not for today, but when you get this thing going, how do you keep momentum going? The tailwinds of the moment and the noise you’re creating today will impact what happens to the business later on.

Richards: Absolutely. It’s always been in the front of my mind — when I step out more, more front-facing publicly. By nature, I’m a very private person, but you get me talking about goGLOW and I’m just boom — on. This is my passion. I do struggle as a founder. I know this brand will have a time where I’m going to be massively front-facing publicly, to talk about what we’re doing and about the industry. My expertise in spray tanning — there’s just not a voice out there; it’s pretty much a void.

Powills: I have another comment. I think about tanning. When I accidentally fell into franchising in 2005, tanning was a huge category. Then the bad press — tanning causes cancer — caused that whole industry to shift. What I don’t think shifted was the feeling a human being has when they get a tan: you feel better, your confidence goes up, you feel like you look good. You’ve solved for that. Is that part of the early thing you’re seeing — there was so much pent-up demand for tanning that dissipated because of what happened, but the interest of the consumer never went away; it just went on pause until there was another solution?

Richards: That’s exactly it. The rise of goGLOW and tan — beauty, tanning, health, wellness, anti-aging — you see a lot more dermatologists on Instagram talking about sun damage, about all the lasers to reverse the sun damage we all did back in college. I remember laying out like Snow White — I burn, that’s what I do — but I’d keep trying, you know?

It’s the perfect time. We know the demand is there. It’s a $1.7 billion industry in self-tanning that is truly untapped when it comes to bringing out a national brand. It just is. We know the demand is there because we have a lot of independent spray-tan artists kind of winging it, buying machines — I call it “spray and pray.” They’re going to get clients, and those clients have such low expectations. That’s what’s happening in the industry right now.

So we definitely stepped into the void left by tanning beds. I hope they don’t come back — they are very dangerous. I’m not saying don’t get any sun — we all need to be out in the sun for a specific amount of time — but the damage that gets done is something we all need to reconsider.

Powills: Is the progression going to happen where other benefits — vitamin D — start going into the spray tan? Or — I’ve not done research on this — CBD oils? When it progresses to say, “This solves more than confidence and looking good,” is that the next level of spray tanning?

Richards: That’s exactly what goGLOW is. We say it’s a skin treatment. We have a lot of antioxidants; we have hyaluronic. With the solution I built that is proprietary to goGLOW — the ingredients and vitamins and minerals — it’s a skin treatment. Traditionally, back in the day, spray tanning would just try to get the DHA on your body. They’d have tons of alcohols and bronzers and it was funky. I said, “If I’m going to have this on my skin, I want to know what’s in it. I want to know it’s good for my skin. I want my skin to be better off — not worse off.” Building my own solution line, I was able to do that. So yes, that is exactly where spray tanning is going — it’s a skin treatment. If you’re going to put something on my skin, you better believe I want to know what it is and that it’s going to help my skin in the long run.

Powills: I think that’s where your voice will be the loudest — the fact that you’re now building up a platform to talk about impact beyond confidence. I absolutely love that. Where does your dream go today? You said we’re still bootstrapping — 19 open. It’s not like cash is pouring in. What’s the dream now, and how do you manage day to day waiting for that dream, because it’s coming. How do you manage your own stress to stay patient?

Richards: Like I said earlier, I have a clear vision of where this is going. No part of me has ever wavered. It’s not pie in the sky — I know hard work gets me there. I know my place in the market right now. I know how far ahead I am on my technology and my IP. I’ve always been one of those people who builds quietly until I’m ready — and then it goes. I think when you watch goGLOW going forward, you’re going to see certain inflection points — when we’re ready to jump to the next one.

Right now we have 16 franchise locations open. By the end of the year we’re looking at 25. By Q2, around 35. We’re heading into an inflection here. With every single door that opens, it helps the other doors; it helps national recognition. Right now we don’t have national recognition. We have the first ones out, sprinkled about. This is a very, very difficult time — for any emerging brand — and I’ve got a few other things up against me. It’s a category nobody ever thinks about. It’s a re-education of the market because the market’s been burned by spray tanning and the national joke that it is. And we’re a new franchise. A lot of heavy lifting. But I see the path forward.

Powills: I love that. What is the cost to get in right now?

Richards: For one unit, the franchise fee is $60,000. It’s $110,000 for two.

Powills: What’s the build-out?

Richards: Build-out is running about $1.35 a square foot.

Powills: We’re not unlike anyone else right now — fighting for those real estate spaces, those small boxes. It’s really gnarly out there, and we’re perfecting the smallest footprint we possibly can so franchisees can get in quickly and get moving quickly. What’s your reported AUV right now?

Richards: Right now the FDDs have been released — for now we’re just reporting corporate. The next FDD will have the performance of the franchise units.

Powills: What are the corporate units performing at?

Richards: Average AUV is $600,000, I believe.

Powills: Out of curiosity, you said the salon suite model. It’s different: their logo on the outside, your logo on the inside. Is that a way you can battle through real estate, or no?

Richards: I’m always completely honest here — salon suites are a good introduction. They’re good for training and getting your pre-sales up, but they are not a direct reflection of what’s coming. That’s where we struggle. The idea and plan for salon suites is 100, but in this phase, if you say, “Oh, I’m going to do a salon suite in Houston,” and Houston has no idea what a goGLOW is — they have no idea how fabulous the storefronts are — if you go into a salon suite, they’re like, “Oh, OK, this is nice.” But we see the numbers. As soon as they hit that storefront, it’s a different game.

So we talk with each owner: “OK, you signed your lease. How long will construction take to doors open? Does it benefit you to do a salon suite? Where is that salon suite? We want it very close to where you’re opening.” I think once we get more doors open across the country and people know what’s coming, they’ll get into the salon suite, get the founding membership, get services — because they know what’s coming. We’re kind of caught in between that.

Powills: I’m going to say a dumb idea — more commentary. Real estate challenge: we see plenty of clients battle through. It’s not an issue in selling franchises; it’s, “How do we make sure we don’t cut a corner saying yes to the wrong real estate, which could hurt gross sales down the line?” With you guys, progress will continue. I’ll use Nordstrom or Saks — more of their buyer experience is moving online, yet they capture such a great audience walking through stores. Have they ever said, “How can we put this inside our units?” Walmart did this with food brands, even glasses brands. As an extension, some higher-performing food brands have gone back into mall settings. Mall-adjacent, outdoor lifestyle malls, or even inside — built-in foot traffic. This becomes part of the routine of going to the mall. Have those popped up in real estate selection?

Richards: I’ve been approached, yes, by the larger names that do those little beauty sets inside. The brilliant part about goGLOW is that when someone’s coming in to get their service, we call it the Adam Sandler outfit — baseball cap, scrubs. They’re not trying to walk through a Galleria mall. We can get into more of the not-so-high-luxury. We don’t want to be by Louis Vuitton. People are trying to get in, get their service and go.

So we benefit from having a different look — not chasing the crown jewel everyone’s after in those malls. I think goGLOW looks different in different countries and different growth stages. I wouldn’t say no, because I think Nordstrom having their little beauty area — small suites for brows or facials — those are cool concepts. They get your brand out in front and collaborating with the right people for the same clientele.

Powills: I’m in franchising, so I know the answer, but a non-franchise person — if you said, “We have 500 locations and we’re in every Nordstrom in America,” I’d believe it because of the work you did on the front end of the business. So many brands skimp on branding and do a good job operationally, but your brand is so beautiful that it opens up potential. I know you’re not nationwide in marketing currently, but I’d argue that because of the strength of the brand, when you open in a market, the billboard of the logo does wonders that some brands don’t have.

Richards: An interesting thought pops into my head: if you want to say the Four Seasons, or a hotel, or high-end fitness like Life Time Fitness — that’s where goGLOW belongs too. Right now we’re focused on franchising and perfecting that. But at no time is the strength of the brand overlooked. We have a lot of opportunity.

Powills: I love it. Let’s close on this. If there’s a franchise buyer who’s watched us to this point, what else do you want them to know about the business?

Richards: I’m particularly looking for people who are obsessed with building business. This is a point in goGLOW where it’s not “unlock the door and people will come running in.” It’s a phase where it’s high risk, high reward. We’re an emerging brand, but we also have a first-to-market, incredibly scalable system. And beyond that, we have thousands of five-star reviews. Our client experience is number one. I grew my business without digital marketing — nothing — until I started franchising. It’s all been word of mouth, and you know something is good. Bottom line, what we provide is solid and our clients love us. Who doesn’t want to be part of that?

Powills: Love it. I’ve said this a million times — you bet on the jockey, not on the horse. I think here you could bet on the horse because the brand is beautiful. But your enthusiasm, your backstory, your motivation — when there’s a tough moment in the brand’s history (and there will be another tough moment), you want to bet on someone who says, “All right, let’s figure this out. Let’s get to the next level.” I can tell you have that personality.

Grateful that you shared some of your story, Melanie. Thanks for doing this — really appreciate it.

Richards: Thank you. I loved it.

Powills: For Melanie, I’m Nick. This was another “Meet the Franchise” take.

Watch the full interview here.