Welcome to this week’s episode of Franchise Canada Chats! Renée is speaking with Christopher Fisher, a Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa franchisee in Ottawa, Ontario.
Christopher Fisher had always seen himself as a business owner. However, his beginnings started on the corporate side of things when he graduated from university in the 1990s with a political science degree. He would end up spending ten years in the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in a sales role.
After some time and a move from Montréal to Ottawa, Christopher began managing a major healthcare organization affiliated with the University of Ottawa. This role gave him a taste of what goes into running a business. “Even though I didn’t own it, I ran it as if I did,” shares Christopher.
Eventually, in 2020, he was able to acquire the business and that is exactly what he did. Since then, he’s looked to expand and diversify their offerings. This led him to the world of franchising.
Despite having extensive experience with business ownership, Christopher saw benefits to franchising with a system that was more familiar with its own industry and that would offer additional support, particularly regarding sales and marketing.
Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa was not the system that first caught Christopher’s attention when looking into the massage business. Coming from the primary care industry, he was wary of the brand’s attention to aesthetics. However, touring a Hand & Stone location with the intention of converting it to another business actually led him to grow more interested in the Hand & Stone brand itself.
Since then, Christopher has opened two Hand & Stone locations in Ottawa, with plans for more.
Join Renée and Christopher to learn more about his story with Hand & Stone: the decision between franchising or independent ownership, converting existing franchise agreements, financing information, the importance of adequate research (especially market research), and navigating slow and controlled business growth.
On this episode we’ll discuss:
- Market research and, particularly, local market research
- Franchising VS independent business ownership
- Financing options
- An area developer VS a master franchisee
- And so much more!
