If you’re a parent in Maricopa or Pinal County, there’s some fantastic news for you and your little ones. Snip-its Haircuts for Kids, the beloved child-focused salon and entertainment concept with existing locations in Chandler and Gilbert, Arizona, has just opened its doors to a brand-new salon in Queen Creek, AZ this past week. What makes this opening even more special is that the Queen Creek Snip-its is locally owned and operated by Kim, Craig & Roger Ury, long-time Arizona residents. The Urys have already been successfully running the Chandler and Gilbert Snip-its locations for eight years. Their decision to expand and open a third salon in Queen Creek stems from their commitment to providing a top-notch kids’ salon experience to the local community. They also see the advantages of opening multiple children’s salon franchises.

Hair Salon Franchising:

Snip-its is not your average salon; it’s a beloved brand with 40+ locations throughout the United States. Now we have a brand-new salon in Queen Creek, AZ. Centered around creating a vibrant and engaging environment for kids, Snip-its makes the haircut experience more enjoyable. With colorful characters, entertainment, stories, and even a Magic Box that surprises kids at the end of their haircut with a prize, Snip-its turns a routine haircut into a delightful adventure.

Franchise Opportunities:

Snip-its is actively seeking individuals who are ready to go into business for themselves. Help us expand our salon network in new markets across the United States. Entrepreneurs considering children focused franchises opportunities might find that Snip-its is a perfect fit.

How to Get Started:

We’re looking for individuals who share our passion for creating fantastic experiences for children and their families. Join us in bringing the joy of Snip-its to communities nationwide. Learn more about becoming a Snip-its franchisee. Receive free information about this exciting opportunity, please submit a request here.

The path to exploring a children’s franchise opportunity is not always a straight one. Prior to becoming a successful Snip-its franchisee, Jill Raedels, like many soon-to-be entrepreneurs, was on a completely different career trajectory. She started her career in sales with Enterprise Holdings, Inc. after completing training widely known to be very challenging. Little did she know this experience would provide her the skills and foundation to become a multi-unit owner of 7 children’s hair salon franchises.

As life progressed, Jill became a mother and was looking for a place to bring her daughter for a haircut. To her surprise, there was nothing available in the suburbs of Lexington for kids’ haircuts. Realizing that there was a unserved need in the market, she set out to research children’s franchise opportunities. She recalled hearing about a great kids hair salon in her hometown of Greenville, SC, and began researching. This is where Jill found Snip-its Haircuts for Kids. Within six months, she was signed on and planned to open her first Snip-its location in Lexington, SC, in 2011.

Balancing Life

Initially, Jill continued to do both her corporate career while working on the salon business mainly on weekends. However, juggling motherhood and the salon started to take too much time and energy away from what was most important, her family. Knowing she wanted to be her own boss, Jill decided to go all in and focus on Snip-its as a full-time career. Jill quickly expanded her salon footprint by purchasing the Greenville, SC, and Charlotte, NC, locations in 2013 and by mid-2015 she opened her 4th salon in Columbia, SC.

Since then, Jill has expanded her business outside of the Carolinas. She now has locations in Millbury, Peabody, and Canton, MA, rounding out her ownership of Snip-its to seven locations. How does she do it? She believes those considering franchises in the salon industry should have tenacity and be self-starters. Franchisees need to ask a lot of questions, trust the model, and follow the processes that Snip-its has created. She thinks Snip-its’ competitive advantage is their ability to balance the needs of the children, parents, and hair stylists. This was the goal the founder of Snip-its had when she created the first location, and Jill said she believes its why Snip-its has done so well over many years. Keeping each part of this triangle happy in their experience is critical to promote long term growth and success among franchisees who follow the model.

Success Factors

Her business card says “Chief Happiness Officer.” She says one factor with franchising success within Snip-its is to create a good organizational structure. Hiring great people and giving them the autonomy to manage the day-to-day work gives them a sense of ownership. Recruiting a staff with this level of autonomy in your business is critical to becoming a multi-unit franchisee. This structure provides visibility across all salons and ensures employees are being supported and enjoy their jobs.

Jill had seen double-digit growth in most of her salons before the pandemic in 2017, 2018, and 2019. She says Snip-its corporate team was pivotal in helping her manage her expansion and take advantage of this niche children’s franchise opportunity. “The more engaged and involved you are with the corporate team and their initiatives, the more successful you will be,” Jill states.

Living the Dream

Her goal is to continue building her portfolio of salons, but the reward for her is seeing the children. “Very few children’s franchise opportunities allow you to actually see and experience the impact we have on kids and families. “Working in a business that is actually helping to build self-confidence in children is a reward all of its own. And providing a workplace for stylists that share this same passion is such a joyful way to spend my life. I don’t need to think about my dream job because I’m already living it,” Jill concludes.

To learn more about opening your own children’s hair salon franchise with Snip-its, click here to request an informational packet.

Jason Bakker, CEO of the iconic children’s haircut franchise, opens up in Q&A interview

It may not be common knowledge, but children actually have a lot of fears about getting their haircut. That’s why at Snip-its, we’ve created a welcoming, safe and fun environment that kids want to come back to again and again.

“This concept was created to make the experience of getting a haircut more pleasant for kids, which in turn, of course, makes it more enjoyable for the parents,” CEO of Snip-its, Jason Bakker, said.

For more than 25 years, Snip-its has made getting a haircut a fun and memorable experience for kids. It’s one of the many reasons why parents choose us over the rest. And right now, Snip-its is actively looking for the next wave of excited and dedicated entrepreneurs who want to bring this unique and amazing concept to communities across the country.

In this wide ranging interview, Baker talks about what makes Snip-its unique, what makes for a successful franchise owner, and why now is the time to invest.

What makes Snip-its unique?

The uniqueness of our salon is really driven by our custom branding, especially with our main mascot, Snips. We also have a whole host of other cartoon characters that bring life in our salons and through our branded entertainment. Kids also really look forward to our “Magic Box,” which is an interactive prize box they receive at the end of their haircut adventure. Kids go bonkers over that! Really, it all comes down to the experience, because when you walk into a Snip-its, you’re not walking into a regular salon.

What has made the brand so strong all these years?

Snip-its is a 25-plus year old children’s hair salon franchise that’s been serving families and kids for that entire time. Our strongest brand attribute is our dedication to the communities we serve. We’ve been in some communities a very, very long time, so there’s a real sense of family in our salons among the staff and among the generations of families that come into our salons and return, which is pretty cool. At some of our oldest locations, we now have customers that used to come to us as kids, and now they’re coming in with their own kids.

What qualities make a great Snip-its franchise owner?

We have people from all walks of life in our system who are succeeding. We look for people who can work 15 to 20 hours a week on the business, being visible in the salon and making sure things are operating per our standards. You have to be diligent at following our formula, a good networker, and willing to learn the economics of a salon business model.

And also, you just have to be good with people, especially employees. Hair stylists have a culture unto themselves, and our franchise owners know how to speak stylist. If you’re a good people person and good at judging character and talent, you’re going to be successful.

Do you have to quit your day job to own a Snip-its?

No, you don’t. In fact, many of our franchisees have full time corporate careers. And a lot of our franchisees find success in multi-unit ownership. Right now, 36% of our franchisees own multiple units. A lot of that is because we are easy-to-scale. We have a great build design that streamlines the process, which lets us move as fast as the franchisee wants to move. Multi-unit ownership also really helps us build brand recognition, which helps all franchise owners.

How are new franchise owners supported?

We have a specific training curriculum that covers everything from the history of Snip-its to the opening of your salon and training staff. Then, we have a great ongoing training support system, covering all aspects of the business, from technical training, the latest trends in hair care, customer service, manager training, and learning about our products. We also do on-demand training on request and regularly conduct site visits.

Where do you see Snip-its headed toward the future?

One of our main goals is to continue to grow in strategic markets and expand into communities that are underserved in children’s hair care. I would like to see us get to 100 salons in the next few years. It’s also important for us to stay on top of the latest technology, so we’re always looking at ways to incorporate the right new technology to enhance the changing needs of our customers.

Why is now a great time to invest with Snip-its?

There’s a ton of territory out there where people still don’t know the Snip-its brand. There’s a lot of real estate out there to be had. Many people are looking for a unique children’s franchise opportunity. The Snip-its experience delivers on this with professionals who understand how to deliver kids hair care. More and more, new entrepreneurs are finding success with us because the demand for hair care is constant. After 25 years, we’ve proven that we have lasting power and the need for dedicated kids’ salons is not going away. We’re here to stay.

If you’re ready to start a conversation with the Snip-its franchise team about investing in a Snip-its children’s salon franchise, fill out our inquiry form here, and one of our dedicated team members will be in touch with a copy of our Franchise Information Report.