What was the catalyst for the idea behind endota spa?
We went to high school together and had both spent a few years post-school travelling the world, completing uni degrees and courses and generally enjoying being out of school. In 2000, about 8 years after we’d finished Year 12, we ran into each other at a BBQ.
Mel had worked her way up in the beauty industry and was managing one of Australia’s first day spas – at Georges on Collins – and even though very few people knew what a ‘day spa’ was at that time, the business was thriving. Her plan was to open the Mornington Peninsula’s first day spa.
Meanwhile, Belinda was working in Real Estate, but what she really wanted was to start a business that she could grow nationally. When we got chatting at the BBQ, we realised that the two ideas could work together, and so we gathered up all of our resources (basically, a $5,000 credit card), found a location (a B&B in Mt Martha) and went for it.
We’ve heard you’re pros at business planning and goal making – how important do you believe this was to your amazing success?
Absolutely critical. Right from the start we had a big, audacious goal: to open 100 day spas around Australia. So with that always in our peripheral vision, we have stepped our way towards the big goal by setting achievable targets in every aspect of our business each year.
We write a new business plan every year, and check in with each other and our General Manager (and shareholder) Claire Bastow in quarterly shareholder meetings. At these meetings, we review our progress on stated goals, and work out ways to ensure we’re always moving forward.
We also gather our entire Head Office staff once a quarter for a Strategy Day where everyone sets quarterly goals for their own departments, as well as reviewing and reporting back on their progress.
This combination of goal setting tools is what has allowed us to stay ahead of the curve in the spa industry. It keeps us from ‘resting on our laurels’, as everyone in the organisation is always thinking up new ways to improve our business. Plus, they are empowered by the process because they can see what they are achieving, they can see their own ideas come to life and have a real effect on the business. It’s a motivating process on many levels.
Neither of you came from beauty therapy backgrounds, do you think having an ‘outsider approach’ helped you develop innovative strategies?
This is not strictly accurate, for while Mel is not a beauty therapist exactly, she did work in the industry prior to endota, and she has trained as a Makeup Artist for Film and Television.
So for us, having different backgrounds within our partnership has helped us to create innovative strategies. Mel tends to see everything from a ‘customer first’ perspective, which is vital for success in this industry. We like to say that we have been successful because, no matter what innovations or ideas we have initiated, we have never lost sight of what made us successful in the first place. And that is exceptional customer service.
Was the goal from the start to create a successful franchise?
In the very beginning we envisioned a network of company-owned spas. But we soon realised that business owners have far greater motivation and commitment, and are more fiercely protective of the brand values than managers could ever be.
Our franchisees are all exceptional businesspeople in their own right, who all bring a slightly different set of skills, insights and ideas to endota. Now, we couldn’t imagine wanting to be in business any other way. We certainly would not have been this successful in this amount of time with a non-franchise business model.
Any advice for anyone planning to venture into a new beauty business?
Buy an endota! We know how to navigate all the shortcuts (and how to avoid the irresistible pitfalls) so that you can be standing inside your gorgeous business in the shortest timeframe possible. No other beauty business owners in Australia have access to the low wholesale stock and supply prices that endota owners enjoy. And our new spa team will guide you through everything to do with opening – including training for yourself and your staff.
Then, once you are up and running you can enjoy spa-tacular support from other franchisees, and from Head Office staff who are experts in spa business planning, budgeting and finance, marketing and training.
What was the biggest challenge in creating your success?
Education. When we started the first spa, nobody knew what a day spa was. The neighbours in that first neighbourhood protested to council because they thought we were opening a brothel. To get clients, we literally had to greet people in the main street of our local town, hand out menus and explain the concept to them.
Now we are facing the same challenge with awareness around organic products. Because labelling laws for cosmetics are not as strict as they are for food, people see the word ‘organic’ on a skincare label and presume that the product is organic. 9 times out of 10, it’s not. Only organic certification guarantees that a product is made from at least 70% organic ingredients, and is free from a list of prohibited chemicals.
How important was it that the endota branded retail products be organic and contain native ingredients?
It was absolutely essential to us that our skincare be made from locally sourced, organic ingredients, for several reasons:
1) In our personal lives, as in business, we believe very strongly in minimising our impact on the environment around us. This is something we take very seriously, and we work with our franchisees to try and leave as little a carbon footprint as possible.
2) Organic production keeps chemicals and pesticides off Australian land, and out of Australian waterways. Greater demand for organic production can only help to encourage more farmers to cultivate more land without the use of chemicals.
3) Genuine care for our clients. We read a UK study that said the average woman applies something like 400 chemicals a day through the use of non-organic cosmetics. We’re not scientists, but this does not seem healthy. We favour organic products in our personal lives, so it was a logical progression to want the same for our clients, who we care for in-spa every day.
4) We have always been really proud that we remain 100% Australian owned and founded. Our Australian-ness is the heart and soul of the endota brand, so using native Australian ingredients is an extension of our core brand values.
endota spa donates 1% of skincare sales to Bush Heritage Australia, why that charity?
First of all, Bush Heritage Australia is a great fit for the endota brand. They stand for the preservation of Australian bushland through careful management, and they take full responsibility for the lands under their stewardship. Bush Heritage purchase and rehabilitate eco-valuable tracts of land with a view to preserving them forever, to the greater benefit of the wider Australian bush.
Secondly, the Foundation is run efficiently, and like a business. Money donated to Bush Heritage Australia is put to fantastically efficient use.
And finally, the people behind Bush Heritage – both the spokespeople and Head Office organisers, and the bushland reserve Managers – are truly passionate about their cause and, frankly, inspiring. We dare you to talk to Bush Heritage and not want to get behind what they are doing.
What makes endota uniquely Australian?
We were founded here and we have grown our business here. Our people have that zest-for-life, Aussie larrikin spirit. The endota spa concept is unlike any spa you will find overseas.
A visit to an endota spa is not a ‘stand on ceremony’ experience. Sure, our spas are eco-stunning…but they are also understated. Our spas, products and people combine to conjure up a truly magical, classically Australian experience: laidback, friendly, real and fun.
To learn more about endota spa’s services, find your closest spa or see their beauty range, visit their website here.
