Face Foundrié is the latest fast facial bar to expand its footprint, as services continue to boom.
Unlike many of the fast facial bars experiencing growth in the New York City area, Face Foundrié got its start in Minnesota in 2019 and has continued to see success in the Midwestern market, according to founder and chief executive officer Michele Henry. Now, the brand is expanding to the coasts.
“We wanted to make sure that we could capture that Midwest market first because I would say that’s sometimes a fickle consumer,” she said.
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Now, Face Foundrié is on track to grow its location count by 70 percent in 2024 closing the year with 60-plus studios. It is expanding into key markets like Philadelphia, Austin, Dallas, San Francisco and Orlando. Concurrently, it exceeded $25 million in revenue in 2023 and is on track to double that in 2024, according to the team. Henry attributes this growth to referrals, franchisees and the service menu, which was revamped in August 2023 to include new modalities.
Many of the newer and more coastal fast facial bars have not opted for the franchise model yet, but Henry views it as a key channel for growth. When it comes to new markets, the strategy is to establish a corporate-owned location and grow with franchisees from there.
“There’s a trusted benefit of having a location that’s already tried-and-true by corporate,” she said. “There’s an established brand identity already there.…Our best franchise partners are people who have come in and experienced Face Foundrié holistically and firsthand as clients.”
While building this level of community has been helpful in opening stores, it has also driven the business’ overall customer base. According to Henry, referrals have been essential to growing Face Foundrié, especially when it comes to reaching a newer demographic, most notably men.
“[Men] almost have to be introduced by a friend or a referral or a partner, girlfriend, anything like that. There’s a sense of trust there,” she said.
In an effort to keep referrals rolling, Face Foundrié has doubled down on its service offering, focusing on the latest and greatest tech — think hot and cold therapy, microcurrent, oxygen infusion and dermaplaning, which is the company’s most popular enhancement.
“Trying to pull in that innovation, that’s going to be what continues to separate us from the competition,” she said.
While Henry is aware that there’s growing competition in the space, she doesn’t view it as a negative.
“I always view competition as a good thing because it really does breed innovation for us,” she said.
With growth top of mind, Henry has a specific vision for Face Foundrié over the next few years.
“We have a very strategic plan for charting out 150 locations in the next two years….Ultimately, I think we can get 300-plus locations within the U.S.,” she said, adding the team is filing to expand into other countries in the future, as well.