If you have been feeling low lately, you aren’t alone. In fact, some franchise brands have noticed and are trying to help. Since the pandemic, some franchisors have started marketing themselves as “health and wellness brands” that offer benefits to help people battle COVID-19, while going the extra mile to make their services safe and secure.
Some brands can improve our mental and physical health. That’s an argument that MassageLuXe, a national massage franchise, made even before the pandemic, but they’re leaning into it even more now.
While the franchise was impacted by the pandemic and lockdowns at first, the company is seeing an uptick in customers, with more people visiting the spas to help ease their pandemic tension.
The company is referring to massage as an alternative medicine – a claim the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been making for years. Massage therapy can help manage a health condition or enhance wellness.
MassageLuXe has also been prioritizing drinking water before and after patients visit the spa, to help encourage people to release toxins in the body.
This isn’t new. The business model was always about relieving tension and stress, but pre-pandemic, the marketing might have focused on the idea that we all deserve a little “me time.” Now, it’s reminding customers that self-care is critical to self-preservation during these stressful times. The message — massage is not a luxury, it’s part of a healthy routine for a sound body, mind and soul.
Frenchies, the national nail salon franchise, has been successfully pushing its “clean and healthy” services as a way to separate itself from its competitors.
Even before the pandemic hit, all new Frenchies studios installed cutting-edge energy recovery ventilators – the kind you see in hospitals that remove stale air and pump in fresh air, critical for fighting infection.
They didn’t stop there. Each client has a personal ventilation system at every manicure and pedicure station in studios opens since 2008. Before every nail treatment, guests and specialists wash their hands, and all metal tools are sterilized. It’s a three-step process that includes a medical grade autoclave to kill 100 percent of bacteria and viruses.
Frenchies has never used pedicure bowls with jets that are impossible to thoroughly clean. Instead, they use free standing basins for foot soaks with no jets or pipes to trap harmful bacteria. The company also does not offer acrylics and dips (crushed acrylics) because of research that indicates they’re unhealthy and unsafe.
Nature brands were always about “social distancing” before it was a term. The SailTime national boat sharing franchise was almost built for a pandemic. After all, whether you’re alone or with your family, you’re on the water, away from everyone else. It’s also an activity that requires some physicality, and you can certainly argue that sailing on the water improves one’s mental outlook.
The company has heavily promoted boat sharing as safe “health and wellness fun,” and customers seem to agree. Systemwide, the company that owns SailTime, has been searching for more boat owners to join the franchise to stay caught up with growing client demand.
Not every exercise-based brand is a gym. While many fitness centers and gyms have struggled during the pandemic, some exercise-themed brands are doing quite well and able to lean into “health and wellness” messaging like never before.
British Swim School is a good example.
“My business is booming because people need to get out of the house for safe and healthy exercise, so more than ever, adults who can’t swim, are taking this time to learn to learn,” says Pamela Resser, owner of the San Francisco British Swim School.
Franchise owners such as Resser have a winning message during the pandemic. For starters, it’s an excellent form of exercise. As WebMd.com states, “Swimming is just about as good as it gets for a total workout.”
Secondly, the Centers for Disease Control reports there is no evidence COVID-19 can be spread to humans by recreational waters when proper chemical balance is maintained.
Geoff Williams is a freelance journalist in Loveland, Ohio. His articles have appeared in a number of publications, including U.S. News & World Report, Entrepreneur Magazine, The Washington Post and CNNMoney.com.
Sailing stock photo by Dudarev Mikhail/Shutterstock
