Franchising

In just a few years, Francis Simisim has taken Blue Water Day Spa to a level of prominence in the increasingly crowded local spa industry. From a lone branch along Annapolis Street in Greenhills, San Juan City, he has expanded the business to seven outlets through the company's own investment and franchising efforts--and he says Blue Water is unlikely to stop growing, even with today's tougher economic times.

"As a joke, I would say people are too stressed thinking about their personal problems to even worry about an economic crisis, so they'd rather spend their time here in our spa," says Simisim who manages a business that was put up in 2005 by his massage-loving parents, metals trader Wendell Samisim and beauty maven Mary Simisim.

To the young Simisim, though, running "the metro's hub for soulful wellness"--as the company describes itself in its marketing slogan--and attracting more clients in a slow-moving economy is always serious business.

Over the last nine months, the young Simisim has been kept busy overseeing the construction and recent soft opening of Blue Water's newest outlet on Ortigas Avenue, also located in Greenhills, and sealing deals with franchisees to put up two more branches--one a soon-to-be-opened "spa retreat hotel" in Tagaytay City in Cavite; and the other a spa within the Capitol Hills Golf Club premises in Quezon City. Both spas, he says, are the first of their kind in the country.

Even the company-owned Ortigas branch is unique, Simisim says. This is because it literally has a "spa theater"--a 29-seat movie house where clients can enjoy the full range of Blue Water's treatments while watching their favorite movies.

The theater is the core of the branch's 621 sq m space, which can accommodate 52 clients at a time. He says that like all of its sister outlets, the Ortigas branch offers the full range of Blue Water's services: body massages, body scrubs, hand and foot treatments, facial treatments, and face and body machine treatments.

This range of services includes Blue Water's signature treatment--the Tibetan meridian fire therapy, a relaxing and painless procedure guaranteed to trim inches off a targeted area of the client's body. "We're the only spa in the country that offers this." Simisim says.

Since the soft opening of Blue Water's Ortigas branch last January 2009, its highly accessible location and expansive area have been a strong attraction to families and groups of friends from across the metropolis. Blue Water has been aggressively pushing its group packages and offering its theater as a small-events venue.

PASSION FOR WELLNESS
A common thread that binds the Simisims and their business partners is "the passion for wellness and beauty," says Francis, whose family had owned a branch of the Clara International chain of beauty centers before opening Blue Water. "I think that this passion is the key element in investing in a spa," he adds.

Simisim says he has decided to "stay local" when it comes to the day spa's manpower requirements. Although the company hires foreign consultants to improve its signature treatments that come from around the world, he believes that Filipinos have more "hospitality skills, service-type skills"--which he says is what helps distinguish Blue Water from other spas here and abroad.

He adds that while Blue Water is "more into technologies" with its treatments, it also offers the traditional Filipino ways of massaging and healing. This is so that "this generation" can learn about them and appreciate their value to people's health and well-being, he explains.

Under Simisim's watch, Blue Water has developed a special "athlete's massage" in collaboration with renowned basketball coach Alfrancis Chua. The massage focuses on the pressure points that are important to any sportsman, stretching the body to get the athlete ready for the next game or practice.

"We launched it this year in all our day spas, and we're looking at quite a number of people coming in to try it, what with our spa hotel and golf spa opening, too," Simisim says. "Our athlete's massage is something Filipinos who take their sports seriously would really need."

Simisim admits, though, that he is still trying to adjust to the Filipino ways of doing business, particularly in running spas. "I'm coming from a straightforward culture [British] into a more indirect, reserved culture here in the Philippines," he says.

He explains that Filipinos are not patronizing spas as much as they should because some still equate day spas with massage parlors. These parlors, some of which are the forerunners of the local spa and wellness industry, still carry a seedy, lascivious reputation and are thus avoided.

That "dirty spa" mentality, Simisim explains, can only be countered by promoting "clean" spas that truly offer clients relief from the pressures of daily living. He says that to that end, Blue Water aims to cater "not just to our client's wants but to their needs."

He adds: "People can really get so stressed out these days and are in real need of relaxation. In Blue Water, we have various massage treatments and beauty treatments to help our clients relax and feel good about themselves."

Simisim is confident that with Blue Water leading the way, the tide will turn toward a better image for local day spas and make them a more socially acceptable and profitable business.

 

FRANCHISING DETAILS
Since it first opened shop at Annapolis in September 2005, the wave of success has been growing bigger for Blue Water Day Spa. It has been winning over both clients and business partners because of its powerful combination of aggressive investment and promotion (with TV-movie celebrities Piolo Pascual and Marian Rivera as endorsers), a proven franchising model, and high-quality products and customer service.

"The services we offer are extensive but not too expensive," says Francis, who, in running Blue Water, has been putting to good use the Masters in Business and Enterprise degree that he had earned from the Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, England. "Our prices are very competitive compared to others within the industry."

He says the Blue Water Day Spa franchise system is practically stress-free. With a one-time franchise fee payment and a royalty fee from annual sales, franchisees can have their own Blue Water spa at a location of their choosing. The franchise package is inclusive of Blue Water's advertising, marketing, and technical support.

"If the prospective franchisee already has a good location, it's much easier to set up shop," Simisim explains. "But the cost of construction can vary, and that's where we have no control." For this reason, he says, he makes it a point to negotiate the construction price tag with the potential franchisee based on the chosen site.

He says that some of Blue Water's franchisees used to be customers of Blue Water and had decided to go into the business themselves. He also happily reveals that one of Blue Water's franchisees learned about the business through an article in Entrepreneur, although he declined to identify which particular franchisee.

Interested in getting a Blue Water Day Spa franchise? Check out their details in our franchise directory here.