EssenceLabs Hair Studio Business Plan — Operations
The operating day, booking and scheduling discipline, stock control, and the systems that convert available chair-hours into billed ones.
Operations
Jump to section
- Overview & contents
- i. Important Notice
- 1. Executive Summary
- 2. The Business
- 3. Market Analysis
- 4. Service Offering, Pricing and Yield
- 5. Operations
- 6. Marketing and Client Acquisition
- 7. People and Management
- 8. SWOT and Competitive Position
- 9. Financial Plan
- 10. Break-Even and Sensitivity
- 11. Risk Management
- 12. The Funding Proposition
- 13. Implementation Plan
- 14. Key Performance Indicators
- 15. Conclusion
- A. Appendix A: Consolidated Financial Summary
- B. Appendix B: Debt Schedules
- C. Appendix C: Risk Register
- D. Appendix D: Assumption Register
- E. Appendix E: Glossary
- 5.1 Layout and installed capacity
- 5.2 Trading hours and rostering
- 5.3 Booking, no-shows and yield management
- 5.4 Stock, suppliers and colour control
- 5.5 Hygiene, compliance and licensing
- 5.6 Electricity and water resilience
5.1 Layout and installed capacity
|
Element |
Specification |
|---|---|
|
Stations |
Seven cutting and styling stations |
|
Wash basins |
Three, with backwash units and a dedicated bond-treatment position |
|
Colour bar |
Separate, with scale, extraction and locked stock |
|
Trading hours |
56.5 hours a week across seven days |
|
Installed capacity |
20 566 chair-hours a year |
|
Year 1 capacity sold |
51%, being roughly 10 489 chair-hours |
|
Year 5 capacity sold |
66%, being roughly 13 574 chair-hours |
|
Reception and retail |
Front-of-house display integrated with the reception counter |
The gap between installed capacity and capacity sold is the whole commercial problem. Seven stations are installed from day one because the fit-out cannot economically be phased, but only four stylists are employed in Year 1. The salon therefore pays a seven-station rent against a four-station diary until hiring catches up, which is the arithmetic behind the Year 1 loss.
5.2 Trading hours and rostering
|
Day |
Hours |
Rostered stylists, Year 1 |
Rostered stylists, Year 5 |
Character |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Monday |
09:00 – 17:00 |
2 |
3 |
Discount day; the softest inventory in the week |
|
Tuesday |
09:00 – 17:00 |
2 |
3 |
Discount day; colour steered here |
|
Wednesday |
09:00 – 18:00 |
3 |
5 |
Colour and chemical work |
|
Thursday |
09:00 – 19:00 |
3 |
5 |
Colour and chemical work; late finish |
|
Friday |
08:00 – 18:00 |
4 |
7 |
Building toward the weekend peak |
|
Saturday |
08:00 – 17:00 |
4 |
7 |
1.46 times weekly average at midday; cuts and blow-dries |
|
Sunday |
09:00 – 15:00 |
2 |
4 |
Occasion and event work |
5.3 Booking, no-shows and yield management
- Online booking with card capture. A card held against the booking reduces no-shows materially and is now standard practice in the segment. A no-show on a Saturday afternoon is an unrecoverable loss of R305 of contribution.
- Rebook before the client leaves. The colour client rebooks on biology; the cut client must be asked. A rebooking rate above 55 per cent is the single most valuable operational habit in the salon and it costs nothing.
- Confirm 48 hours ahead by message. Two days is enough notice to resell the slot; two hours is not.
- Hold a standby list for peak slots. A cancelled Saturday appointment should be filled within the hour from a waiting list rather than discounted the following Monday.
- Steer colour into midweek at the point of booking. Not by refusing a Saturday colour, but by offering the midweek slot first and with the preferred colourist attached to it.
5.4 Stock, suppliers and colour control
|
Control |
Practice |
Value |
|---|---|---|
|
Weighing to formula |
Colour weighed on a scale to the recorded formula rather than mixed by eye |
Recovers 8 to 12% of colour cost, roughly R58 000 a year on the Year-3 book |
|
Formula records |
Every client’s formula recorded against the booking record |
Reduces rework, protects the client relationship and speeds the service |
|
Locked colour bar |
Stock issued against the booking, not open access |
Removes the largest single source of shrinkage in a salon |
|
Two suppliers |
A primary professional house and a secondary for retail and sundries |
Supply continuity and negotiating position |
|
Opening stock |
R180 000 of colour and retail at opening |
Cash terms until supplier credit is earned, typically after six months |
|
Stock count |
Monthly count reconciled to the point of sale |
Product cost is 14.0% of revenue at Year 1 and cannot be managed unmeasured |
5.5 Hygiene, compliance and licensing
|
Requirement |
Detail |
|---|---|
|
Business licence |
eThekwini Municipality trade licence for a personal-services establishment |
|
Health certificate |
Certificate of acceptability from the municipal health department; premises inspected before opening |
|
Building plans and occupancy |
Approved plans for the fit-out, plumbing and electrical work; certificate of occupancy |
|
Electrical compliance |
Certificate of compliance covering the installation and the inverter system |
|
Fire and safety |
Extinguisher certification, egress and signage to municipal standard |
|
Waste |
Chemical waste disposal contract for colour and developer residues |
|
Employment |
Contracts under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act; UIF, SDL and COIDA registration |
|
Skills |
Qualified hairdressers registered as required; apprenticeship contracts registered with the sector authority |
|
Insurance |
Public liability, professional indemnity, contents, business interruption and lender-required cover |
|
Tax |
Income tax, VAT and PAYE registration before opening |
5.6 Electricity and water resilience
R205,000 of the fit-out is electrical, lighting and inverter installation, and water storage is included in the plumbing allowance. In a Durban salon that is not an environmental gesture. A salon without power cannot run basins, dryers or a point of sale, and a salon without water cannot wash hair — either interruption stops trading entirely, and both are recurring rather than exceptional.