Honest Lash Brings the Best of Giant Brands to a Local, People-First Model

A labor of love from the very beginning, Honest Lash, the emerging lash extension franchise, was born out of a COVID-triggered pivot by Jonathan Ellis, president and CEO of the brand. As a third-generation McDonald’s franchisee who later owned both a Signarama business and 15 Sylvan Learning locations, Ellis had experienced many phases and models of franchised businesses and hand-selected the best aspects of each for his new brand. 

As a franchised lash extension business, Honest Lash has created a medium through which Ellis can pass along the expertise he has built over the years while building a close-knit family-style network of local owners.

“We’re very clearly a family business. My dad and grandfather taught me valuable business lessons; I’m benefitting from their experiences,” said Ellis. “It’s time to pay that forward. We accept challenges head-on, and we don’t fold when faced with adversity. I want to step into that leadership role and show both my kids and franchisees what it means to run a strong business.”

Ellis Was Raised in a Franchise Family, and He Has Carried Lessons Learned into the Development of Honest Lash

As a third-generation McDonald’s franchisee, Ellis grew up watching his grandfather and father navigate business ownership through multiple stages of franchise growth. In his younger years, Ellis worked at the store level, helping his father prepare for grand openings, taking orders at the register and cooking fries in the back. After college, he was able to take on a leadership role and run multiple restaurants for himself.

“I’m very lucky, pleased, honored and privileged to have been born into a family that is not only entrepreneurial, but a restaurant family, a franchise family and a family that believes in worth ethic,” said Ellis. “We believe in the value of paying it forward and the possibilities that hard work, a good work ethic and a positive mindset can bring to the table.”

Through his early experiences with his family's businesses, Ellis experienced the operational techniques, strategy and sheer grit necessary to build a successful business. Throughout his franchising journey, Ellis also invested in both one Signarama unit and 15 Sylvan Learning locations, but when the pandemic presented rough waters for the education world, Ellis was forced to pivot.

Backed into a Corner by COVID and Its Consequences, Ellis Pivoted

Just two years into his ownership with Sylvan, Ellis was working to manage over one dozen learning centers while supporting his employees and navigating the new, highly digital world. In a strategic business move, he chose to sell the majority of his units back to Sylvan’s corporate team and surrounding franchisees. With three buildings left, he began to think of ways that he could continue along the entrepreneurial journey and launch a profitable operation that would serve as a counterbalance to the financial stress he sustained during the pandemic.

“Honest Lash is essentially a COVID pivot. I mean, we were 1,000% born because of 2020. We were born out of tenacity, out of being painted into a corner and out of not knowing where we were going,” said Ellis. “I looked at this lash business as I can pull all of my desks and chairs and learning equipment out, install lash chairs and lash equipment, and it's very much a low investment cost to swap out furniture, fixtures and equipment. I knew a couple of people in Austin that were cosmetologists and estheticians, and I just realized, ‘Hey, let's go. Let's go open a lash business.’”

As Ellis works to grow Honest Lash, this won’t-stop attitude is something he has baked into the business model and aims to foster with new owners. In addition to the practical knowledge he gained through experience with the family business, Ellis said he saw his father and grandfather “keep coming back” in spite of the challenges they experienced.

Because Honest Lash is a beauty and wellness business that was built during one of the worst possible times for the industry, the business model is specifically designed weather any storm and was built to scale.

“It's the benefits and the luxuries of life that McDonald's showed me, and I don't mean just money and profit,” said Ellis. “I mean, what McDonald's has baked into our life and our livelihood and how we do things and accept challenges head-on... That's what I want to pay forward.”

What Honest Lash Brings to the Franchise Market

With the best pieces of the McDonald’s, Signarama and Sylvan business models, alongside generations of firsthand experience and well-developed expertise, Honest Lash presents a franchise opportunity that is more about the “why” than the “what.”

Within an over $90 billion beauty and personal care market, lash extensions alone accounted for $1.36 billion in 2020 and are projected to reach $2.31 billion by 2028. With an initial investment starting around $100,000, Honest Lash presents a lucrative business opportunity that has a relatively low barrier to entry and, more specifically, is more affordable than its lash-specific competitors.

Though the demand for lash extensions and the state of the beauty market in the U.S. is an important part of the equation, how Ellis has created the business and what he will offer new franchise owners is just as crucial.

In the Honest Lash network, franchisees are viewed as active participants in a family business style relationship.

“It's very much a relationship, very much a marriage. It's very much a binding contract, of course, but also, at the end of the day, it's a relationship,” said Ellis. “We lean on each other in good times and bad times.” 

As Ellis takes on his first journey as a franchisor, he is looking to create the strong relationships he felt in successful times as a franchisee, leveraging the close connection to pass along the knowledge he has gained over the years.

“We’re small, quick, nimble and able to move on our feet,” said Ellis. “This is not a one-size-fits-all situation. Rather, we take the approach of learning from each other. This is a family business; let’s solve challenges together.”

Honest Lash Is Positioned to Take Over the Lone Star State

With three existing corporate territories and three franchise agreements signed within the first 90 days of offering franchises, it’s clear that Honest Lash is bringing an in-demand business model to both franchisees and lash customers.

As it grows, Honest Lash will open in El Paso, Houston and San Antonio, and the team is looking to continue awarding franchises through the end of the year with intentions to sign agreements for 10 total units by 2024.

Franchise owners with Honest Lash can take advantage of a caring leadership team that is devoted to passing along the strategy, persistence and passion that served to build and grow a family empire over the span of decades.

“We’re building in-house systems that are very much McDonald’s-proven systems,” said Ellis. “With these, we will create Honest Lash University where strong teams and corporate infrastructure is built and franchisees are trained to create the strongest franchise system possible.”

Honest Lash is looking to expand with passionate owners who have hospitality, management, beauty or leadership experience. As it works to sell out its home state of Texas and subsequently explode nationwide, Honest Lash presents a prime opportunity for prospective owners who are interested in taking control of their futures. 

“There will always be someone who is motivated and ready to take on a challenge,” said Ellis. “I’m looking for a spirit, a mindset and a ‘prove you wrong’ mentality. That’s what Honest Lash was born out of. I love the idea of someone taking our brand and utilizing it to say, ‘This is who I am, and this is how I approach the world.’ If we see that spirit, the other details like liquidity and professional background are less important.”

To learn more about franchising with Honest Lash, visit https://franchise.honestlash.com/