Pigtails & Crewcuts’ Franchise Model Offers Attractive Multi-Unit Opportunity

For entrepreneurs seeking a franchise opportunity that blends a family-friendly environment with robust business potential, Pigtails & Crewcuts, the 80-unit kids salon franchise, offers a compelling opportunity. The brand has steadily carved out a niche in the booming child services industry, offers great work-life balance and has a strong operational model that makes it a good fit for owners looking to scale to multiple units.

With growing market demand, strong brand recognition, diverse revenue streams and attractive operational efficiency, Pigtails & Crewcuts has provided a pathway for franchisees to expand with a vision for long-term success. Heather Arnold and Deean Ferrone, Pigtails & Crewcuts franchisees in Florida and Colorado, respectively, have both followed this path.

“Prior to about a year ago, I probably wouldn’t have seriously considered growth. I liked how everything was going. It was smooth and comfortable, and I didn’t want to put more on my plate,” Arnold said. “But recently, we decided we were ready for a little bit more. The first location was self-sufficient, so it was a good time to open a second.”

Arnold explains that, with one successful location, growth to a second unit can be less daunting as there are steady funds available to support the growth. And as an owner, expanding to a second salon doesn’t necessarily mean doubling your workload.

“Everything that I’ll have to do for the salon I’ll be opening soon, I’m already doing for the first,” she said. “I can do payroll or supply orders for two locations at the same time, but it won’t take me twice as long. Knowing this, and having established a steady, tenured staff of responsible people, it felt like the right time to grow.”

Ferrone, who owns three salons in Colorado, grew in a quicker, more unexpected way, but she shares many of the same sentiments. After acquiring an established salon as her vehicle into franchising, Ferrone continued to think about developing a second — this time as a new build. Just a few months into her ownership journey, another two units became available for sale, and she jumped on the opportunity. While the three salons are not all concentrated in a single market, Ferrone has worked to build teams and systems that can work between the units as needed, allowing her to enjoy economies of scale.

“There’s definitely a benefit in staffing. I have a couple ladies who go back and forth depending on the need,” Ferrone said. “The two Denver-area salons are 35 minutes apart, so they serve different school districts and have different rushes. Flexible scheduling between the salons is really beneficial.”

Ferrone also explains that, for her salons’ retail revenue, she can enjoy additional perks associated with multi-unit ownership. In some cases, she may choose to begin offering a new product at a single location to gauge interest before purchasing inventory for all three salons. In other cases, if a product is known and loved, she can save on shipping costs by having it delivered to a central location and further distributing it herself.

“There are also just different ideas that teams at different locations bring to me,” Ferrone said. “We’ll try something new and communicate that out to the rest of the team. There’s a lot of scale efficiency and an opportunity to have a more innovative mindset when working with multiple locations.”

While the growth opportunities and efficiencies associated with multi-unit ownership can be attractive attributes of the Pigtails & Crewcuts business model, owning multiple salons presents its own unique set of demands.

Arnold, who continues to work part-time in addition to franchise ownership, says she works a lot to balance competing demands.

“I still work part-time and have two little kids. I’m very active in their schools and day-to-day needs, including drop-offs, pickups, after-school events, gymnastics, swimming, drum lessons — all kinds of stuff,” Arnold said. “I still work a lot, but that’s just the way I choose to do it. I’ve chosen to be 100% involved in the day-to-day things with my kids, and sometimes that means working on my business late at night. But it’s nice that Pigtails & Crewcuts gives me that flexibility to ‘do my life’ and have this other thing that I’m very proud of.”

“Franchisees who choose to open multiple salons with Pigtails & Crewcuts need to have an openness and willingness to accept that they’re not going to know everything at the start,” Ferrone said. “You have to have some serious perseverance and the ability to focus on the details as well as the macro-picture. As long as you are holding your team and yourself to an extremely high standard — that you are the premier business in your field — that word-of-mouth, brand awareness and momentum are huge. This is a business that becomes a close-knit family, and you’re part of a network where you feel supported in your growth by the community, your team and the corporate leaders.”

To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit 1851franchise.com/pigtailsandcrewcuts.