For more than 20 years, Sport Clips Haircuts has been raising the bar in the men’s hair salon and barbershop industries. Here are 10 reasons why you should consider Sport Clips over a food franchise.
1. Margins
Food margins are hard to manage and are historically low, relying on volume to make up the difference. Based on real data from the past five years, Sport Clips has experienced annual same store sales growth of seven to 10 percent.
“Working with fast food brands has been incredibly rewarding, but the problem is that within the restaurant industry, there are razor thin margins. You have to account for the raw cost of food, rent, staff, training, utilities and much more. When you balance all of that with your actual revenue, there are very small margins to be made.” - Sam Samaan, Multi-Brand Franchise Owner (restaurant and Sport Clips).
2. Simple Business Model
Given the complexity of operations, it’s hard to run a food franchise from afar. In contrast, at Sport Clips, it’s comparatively easy to allow a manager to handle the day-to-day operations. Sport Clips’ semi-absentee/manager-run business model allows you to work ON your business, not IN your business. No hair care experience is necessary and you can even keep your current job while building your future.
“By adding Sport Clips’ simple system to our network of brands, we’ve been able to tap into this level of flexibility that’s hard to find.” - Jesse Keyser, Multi-Brand Franchise Owner (restaurant, service and Sport Clips)
3. Recession Resistant
Sport Clips has a 99.3 percent franchise continuity rate, an honor based on five years of data. In plain English, this means of all the Sport Clips locations that have been open for any period of time in the last five years, 99.3 percent of them remain open today!
“When you buy a Sport Clips franchise, you are not buying a job, you are making an investment you can build into something big. And, because haircuts can’t be outsourced or automated, your risk is minimized.” - Johnny Weber, Multi-Unit Sport Clips Owner – owner of 55 units, Area Developer and Brand Ambassador
4. Hours
Typical Sport Clips locations are open eight to 12 hours per day. Comparatively, restaurants are open all the time, literally 24 hours in some cases. Even when they’re not open to customers, restaurants require staff to handle food prep and extensive clean up.
“Sport Clips really stood out to me because it gave me the opportunity to work on the business rather than in the business. As an owner, I have the ability to control the quality of service and establish a recurring base of clients who come back time and time again. That really opens up the door for unlimited growth.” - Al Rodriguez, Multi-Unit Sport Clips Owner
5. Spoilage
Simply put, Sport Clips franchisees don’t have to worry about this. No checking expiration dates, no E. Coli outbreaks and no throwing out your profits with yesterday’s trash.
“...[A]t Sport Clips, there’s a lot less involved. There are no hidden food costs. You just have to focus on assembling the perfect team and making clients happy.” - Wahid Karas, Multi-Brand Franchise Owner (restaurant and Sport Clips)
6. Health Inspectors
To keep up with food industry health inspections, employees must be consistently trained, and owners must often be inspectors themselves. And don’t forget the times owners must meet the health inspector for walk-alongs and follow-ups. At Sport Clips, with less of your business under obligation to an outside party, you can focus on the simplicity of operations and growing your business.
“In the food industry, you’re working with many different departments just to keep your business functioning every day. You’re working with quality assurance teams, engaging with your supply chain to ensure quality products or working with a technology company to install POS systems and other controls to track sales and inventory. At Sport Clips, training our stylists is important, but it’s more about the latest Justin Bieber haircut.”- Sam Samaan, Multi-Brand Franchise Owner (restaurant and Sport Clips)
7. Responsible Growth Plan
With thousands upon thousands of units, some fast food brands can literally be found on every corner. Real estate quality and cannibalization are secondary to growth and as long as they open more stores than they close, the total number of units continues to tick upwards. Sport Clips prioritizes a responsible growth plan by adding 140-150 new locations each year and keeping closures to a minimum. By maintaining high standards for both real estate and franchisees, Sport Clips is consistently recognized for their responsible growth.
“Going into this, we didn’t know much about franchising, let alone getting started in a market that’s new to the brand. We were lucky to have an experienced support team on our side. They made the entire process a seamless one—from securing real estate and developing an effective local marketing campaign, to navigating any obstacles that were thrown our way.” - Jim Noah, Sport Clips Franchise Owner
8. Commodity Pricing
The Sport Clips business model doesn’t include protein. Or corn. Or wheat. Or anything else that involves a pricing model with strong variances. Don’t think this is a big deal? Ask a pizza chain franchisee how the fluctuating price of cheese impacts their bottom line.
“I chose Sport Clips because of all the hair care concepts it has the most streamlined system, it is recession resistant and not at the mercy of commodity prices. Plus, it is truly a semi-absentee, manager-run business. I spend very little physical time in any of my locations. This is a data-rich concept, between phone calls and live data metrics, I can tell exactly what is going on in each location.” - Jesse Keyser, Multi-Brand Franchise Owner (restaurant, service and Sport Clips)
9. Sport Clips is #9 in Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500
Industry experts and consumers alike have noticed that Sport Clips is the brand to beat. Clients return to their local Sport Clips time and time again to get the best service in the industry. It is not surprising that they were ranked as the top haircare franchise opportunity in Entrepreneur’s prestigious Franchise 500.
“We haven’t seen anything else like Sport Clips before. This is a brand that takes good care of their people—from stylists to franchisees, everyone teams up and works together to make their business the best it can possibly be. It’s no wonder why Sport Clips is one of the fastest-growing brands in the country.” - Wahid Karas, Multi-Brand Franchise Owner (restaurant and Sport Clips)
10. Paper Costs
After rent, people and product, food franchisees will tell you their next highest cost is paper. It may not be obvious, but the cost of all those cups, wrappers and napkins really adds up. Haircare, in contrast, offers a much more efficient model. The men’s segment in particular; with no chemicals, easy-to-execute haircuts, and lower inventories; is the most efficient of them all.
“Sport Clips, which operates as a service-based franchise, has less moving parts than brands within the restaurant industry. It gives us the chance to have salons located farther away from our home base because we don’t need to worry about specific equipment” - Charles Keyser, Multi-Brand Franchise Owner (restaurant, service and Sport Clips)
These 10 reasons show that betting on Sport Clips beats out food every time! By offering customers a true, MVP Experience at more than 1,650 stores across the country, the brand has become a dominant force that’s continuing to push industry standards higher.
For more information on becoming a Sport Clips franchise owner click here.