The doors are open, the PPE’s in place, and Just Cuts are delighted to be styling the UK’s hair once again. What’s more, clients do not even have to queue thanks to a new app.
It’s been a tough 12 months for many businesses, and hairdressers have suffered more than most. But earlier this week, on Monday, April 12th to be exact, the hairdressing community opened their doors once again. Salon owners, freelance stylists and members of the public collectively breathed a huge sigh of relief, as overgrown and ragged manes up and down the country enjoyed some long overdue tender loving care.
One such company is growing franchise Just Cuts, which started life in Australia over 30 years ago and now has nine outlets across the UK and growing! All of Just Cuts‘ UK salons are in England, with outlets north and south in Blackburn, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Romford, Stevenage, Sunderland, Thurrock, Walton on Thames and Wandsworth.
And the company is keen to impress on the general public that health and safety remains a key element of their post-lockdown strategy. The company’s general manager in the UK, David Mathie, said: “I would like to remind clients that they will not be charged any additional fees for the heightened safety measures we have put in place.
“PPE procedures have been added to our normal services and we’ve taken the hassle out of haircuts with our free Just Cuts app. Once you download the app, you can view local salon wait times, then check-in online, so there’s no need to wait in a queue outside the front door. Just reserve your place in the salon queue. Clients will receive an SMS confirming they are in the queue.
“Our Covid-secure measures include social distancing, temperature checks, neck strips and the sanitisation of each styling station between clients. There are hand sanitisers and masks too. We will continue to review Government guidelines, and update as necessary, and our stylists are delighted to be back in business.”
Just Cuts has won numerous trophies Down Under – both in Australia and New Zealand – and just a few months ago scooped a prestigious national award in the UK when Essex-based Holly Feltham was crowned ‘Outstanding Young Franchisee of the Year’ by the Approved Franchise Association (AFA).
Holly owns the Just Cuts‘ hair salon at Lakeside shopping centre in Thurrock and success has arrived quickly. She joined the Lakeside salon as a stylist in January 2018 and, within a year, had purchased the franchise. Since then she has moved to larger premises, and her ambition must have impressed AFA judges who decided she was the best young franchisee in business.
Holly said: “I’m so proud to have won this award, just a couple of months since opening my new salon. At the beginning of September, I moved from a kiosk station to a new unit within the shopping centre. This doubled the size of our store and means we can entertain more clients and it’s great to be recognised for all the hard work. I plan to open two more salons in the near future and I’m very excited to see what the future holds.”
The Just Cuts story started in 1982, when Denis McFadden opened his first salon in Sydney. Denis was already an experienced stylist and business owner by this stage. At the age of 21, he travelled to England which at the time was gripped by ‘flower-power’ fever during the mid-1960s.
In 1967, while living in London, he won his first award – the Richard Henry inter-salon colour trophy. Two years later he opened his first salon in Seymour Place, London, running it for 10 years before returning to Australia in 1979.
Since opening Just Cuts, the company has grown to become the largest hairdressing business in the Southern Hemisphere. They now perform over 100,000 appointments each week and have their global headquarters in Cronulla, a coastal suburb of Sydney in New South Wales.
