Q&A with Denis McFadden, founder of Just Cuts
"That was like waving a red rag to a bull," says McFadden. "I went on to do a four year apprenticeship at the Del Grande salon with Robert Bunting and then boarded the P&O shops from London and traveled the world as their on-board stylist."
With the swinging sixties and global travel behind him, McFadden returned to Australia to set up his own salon, focusing solely on fixed price, no appointment cutting. The idea came from a promotion he ran in London which proved a great success. "It is in direct opposition to the foundation most hairdressing businesses base themselves on," he admits.
But it works. His first, and ongoing franchisee, in Engadine could see that – it was Leigh-Anne Brosens who prompted the franchising move. And it has become the largest hairdressing franchising group in the southern hemisphere.
"We never set out for Just Cuts to become a brand but that is what it has naturally grown into and now it is far bigger than me." He is working towards a targeted 200 salons in Australia and New Zealand (the master franchise has been held 10 years there) and is launching with a corporation as master franchise in India in December.
Moving into the world's largest democracy, home to a 300 million middle class with plenty of disposable income, has been unexpected and interesting for McFadden. He was invited to visit India with Austrade and by the third trip in a year had tied it all up in an agreement which predicts 250 salons in shopping centres in four years across the country.
"And they love brands," he adds. It all bodes well for a population of 1,096 million which, according to a recent Nielsen Group survey, has one in three metro men visiting the Just Cuts was also the official hairdresser of the Sydney Olympics. That's not bad for a dyslexia sufferer who spent most of his childhood moving between schools – he attended 13 before his 16th birthday.
So what does he get out of it all? "Well, it's not work you see, I love it. I'm only ever motivated by getting better. I've got good streetwise skills and if I was doing this for the money, it would show. I do encourage people to have a go and if they muck up, fine, but don't do it again."
But is he surprised so many franchisees are not hairdressers? "Hair is very much a boutique industry. There are some very good operators but many don't want to know about systems."
Meeting up with all the franchisees still gives him a buzz. "We have changed people's lives. They could have chosen any system but they chose us. It's not necessarily commerce, or the business or the brand; people like to do business with people."
This article appears courtesy of Franchising Magazine.
11.01.2008
FCA Member
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Contact Just Cuts Franchising
1st Flr
4-6 Kingsway
Cronulla
NSW 2230
Tel: 1300 430 181
Fax: 02 9527 5144
