In 2004, Wade Brannon was coaching his son's T-ball team when the mother of another player asked, “You're the ham's son, aren't you?”
Well, him it Was ham guy: He founded Heavenly Ham, built it to $150 million in revenue with more than 200 franchises in 33 states, and then sold it to Honey Baked Ham. But in 2004, his role was Mr. Mom, caring for his 5-year-old son and younger twin daughters while his wife worked as a real estate attorney near their Atlanta home.
Parenting was rewarding but difficult; his son had what he believes were sensory issues (common in young children) that made some tasks difficult. “I took him to my barber and he was screaming the whole time,” Brannon recalled. “We'd both leave sweaty with hair sticking to us.”
T-ball's mother, whose name was Nanette Adair, had a solution for this: She had opened a children's salon called Pigtails & Crewcuts, and Brannon had just taken his son there. “He just loved it,” Brannon says. “He watched movies, played with the train tables, interacted with the other kids.” So when Adair said he had some questions about the franchise for Brannon, he was very intrigued.
After several meetings, in late 2004, Brannon purchased Pigtails & Crewcuts from Adair. The company now has more than 80 franchise locations and aims to reach the 100-unit mark by the end of this year. Here, he talks about how to build a local business into a thriving franchise.
How much of the Pigtails & Crewcuts pattern was in place when you bought it?
It was a stand-alone salon here in Atlanta, had a federally registered trademark, and had a look and a feel. I got some of my old ham folks together and we went through the next year and changing systems deployment.
Hair and bacon are different industries. What made you think it would work?
I saw two main things. I asked him if he needed it – which I believed he did, given my son's reaction when he just experienced it. And then I asked: Can it be repeated? Can it be copied and executed properly by the average person with business sense?
How did you repeat the service?
We needed to get a design package that could be recreated anywhere. We had to write operations manuals. We had to write franchise agreements and franchise disclosure documents. I have talked to many people in the hair industry. I didn't realize how big the hair industry was until I started looking into this. Goodness, it's a $65 billion industry. But no one had taken the children's segment and turned it into a national brand.
What types of franchisees do best with your brand?
We have had many women with 2-year-olds. They have a child and feel like they are ready to return to the workplace and approach us. We also have a lot of husband-wife teams. We are not targeting hair stylists. We target business people with human skills. You must want to work with a team, be part of your community, enjoy people – children and parents.
What advice do you have for potential franchisors?
You have to be flexible. Markets change. Conditions vary. Everything changes. We passed one recession and found that our business was recession-proof. We went through a pandemic that completely shut us down for periods of time. You just have to have a product or a service that can survive the hard times that are unforeseen. You must be ready to change.
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