A London experience

On any given day, the Ayala-based salon of Essensuals Toni & Guy looks and feels like a gentlemen’s club of expatriates.

"I pay P900 for a trim and it’s a steal. If I had the same service in London, I would have paid the equivalent in euros of P4,000," said the country head of a multinational company.

The salon is owned and operated by Essensuals Toni & Guy Manila, Inc., the Philippine franchise holder of the diffusion line of London-based Toni & Guy.

"We didn’t expect to get the franchise. We weren’t the only one applying for it and we certainly weren’t the richest. What we had going for us was Cherry," said president Vincent Reyes.

Cherry is wife, Rosario Reyes, who ran three branches of a noted local hair salon for many years and who had taken a short course with the training arm of Toni & Guy, one of the top two ranking training centers for cosmetology in the world.

"A major requirement for a franchise holder is that one of the owners must be a stylist. As part of the interview process, I had to take a trade test for two days that included actual cutting, coloring, and styling in the presence of Toni & Guy bigwigs," said creative and managing director Rosario Reyes.

Capitalized at P10 million, Essensuals Manila opened shop about a year ago. A major investment was bankrolling the training of Reyes and six stylists for eight weeks in London.

Expansion

To date, Toni & Guy has 150 branches worldwide. Essensuals, which was created in 1997 to cater to the younger crowd, has 48 salons in three continents.

"The Toni & Guy concept only allows one salon per area. This does not apply to Essensuals, so its growth can be more widespread," said Vincent Reyes. "Being closely related to the mother company, Essensuals also has the advantages of using all the resources and experience of its mother company while promoting its own image and identity."

Essensuals Manila has so far received three very serious offers for partnerships. The investment per salon is between P7 million and P10 million, with an estimated payback of three years.

"In the near term, we are looking at locations in Alabang and in Ortigas. Much, much later, we might consider Cebu," said Reyes.

Hand-in-hand with its expansion, the company has launched Essensuals’ Training Days, which offers hands-on courses for serious hairdressers.

"We are currently offering short courses which would help professionalize the local industry. Students who complete all their classes will be awarded Essensual certificates," said Rosario Reyes, who is also a volunteer teacher in the adult evening cosmetology class of her alma mater, Miriam College. "In the future, we plan to open a Toni & Guy academy in Manila so that local hairdressers don’t have to go to London or Singapore for training."