Why Sport Clips Haircuts Beats Food Franchise Opportunities

Sport Clips vs Food Franchise Opportunities

Labor shortages, an oversaturated market, poor hours, food inventory – increasingly, food franchise opportunities face extreme challenges and uncertainties that are intrinsic to their business model. That’s why aspiring entrepreneurs looking for best bet investments have turned to Sport Clips Haircuts, the nation’s leading hair care franchise for men & boys. A Sport Clips franchise is an easy-to-use business model that’s recession resistant, has better hours, and more flexibility for owners. Sport Clips has emerged as the brand to beat.

sport clips beats food franchise opportunitiesSpot Clips Beats Food Franchise Opportunities

So why does Sport Clips outcompete food franchises as a best bet opportunity? We’ll narrow it down to four main reasons: a superior business model, a service that is recession-resistant, incredible flexibility for franchisees, and a smart and responsible growth plan that benefits not only Sport Clips, but also individual franchisees. Let’s break it down a little further.

Business Model

For starters, food franchises are incredibly complex to run. Food franchise owners must bank on high volume to bring in profits. Plus, you have to take into account the ever-shifting cost of food, rent, staff, training, and utilities, to name a few. Restaurant owners also have to worry about food spoilage, volatile food cost, and food safety concerns.

Sport Clips franchises, on the other hand, boast a business model that’s simple in nature, with minimal inventory to track. As compared to food franchises, Sport Clips owners don’t have to worry about throwing away profits (spoiled food) or E. Coli outbreaks or other food safety concerns. Our franchisees are freed up to focus on growth and profits. Time and again, hair care has proven to be a more efficient and simpler model that is need based.

Recession-resistant

Sport Clips also boasts the edge over food franchises when it comes to the unknowns life throws at you, such as recessions. For one, haircuts can’t be outsourced or automated, which means our services will always be in demand, no matter the economy. As a result, Sport Clips continues to open stores in strategic locations in growing markets and focus on quality locations over quantity. During the 2008 – 2011 economic downtown, Sport Clips continued to grow responsibly and continued to be positioned well at the high end of the value space. As full service and luxury priced salons declined during that period, Sport Clips was proud to continue to grow while providing a value added service at a reasonable price!

If that wasn’t enough, Sport Clips also isn’t subject to commodity pricing that wildly fluctuates in times of recession. Simply put: our franchisees are not at the mercy of inflation or price increases as restaurants are. As we saw over the past two years during the pandemic, food franchises are especially vulnerable to lockdowns. Sport Clips, on the other hand, not only survived the pandemic, but experienced an unprecedented comeback after restrictions were lifted, as customers were beyond eager to get back in the barber chair.

Flexibility

Think of a restaurant owner, and what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Stress! It’s no secret – food franchise operators work long, chaotic hours. Even when the restaurant is closed to the public, managers and staff are either prepping for the day or cleaning up at night. It’s almost a 24/7 operation, which means little flexibility for franchisees. You can kiss those dreams of semi-absentee ownership goodbye.

Sport Clips franchise owners, however, can set their own hours and, because of our simple business model, can focus their time and effort on the growth of the company. With managers handling the day-to-day, Sport Clips’ semi-absentee/manager-run business model gives franchise owners the opportunity to focus on the business growth and leave day-to-day management to your trusted team. No salon experience is necessary!

Responsible growth plan

On top of it all, whereas restaurants can be found on every corner, Sport Clips has a responsible growth plan in place, adding quality locations every year. In 2021, for instance, it was estimated there were more than 188,400 quick-service franchise restaurants and over 32,000 full-service restaurant franchises in the U.S. Indeed, some of the biggest names in the food franchise industry base their entire business on unmitigated growth, no matter the health of individual franchisees.

At Sport Clips, we maintain high standards for responsible growth, making sure all our franchisees have the opportunity to thrive. It’s one of the many reasons why Sport Clips was ranked as the top hair care franchise opportunity in Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 and is one of top 25 franchise brands in the country. We take care of our people, and help our franchises reach their full growth potential by becoming multi-unit owners.

Learn More About Sport Clips

There are so many reasons why entrepreneurs looking for a smart, lucrative investment chose Sport Clips. If you’d like to learn more about the exciting franchise opportunities at Sport Clips, please visit our research pages here. If you’re ready to start a conversation about investing in a Sport Clips franchise, fill out our form here. We’ll be in touch with a copy of our complimentary Franchise Information Report.

Sport Clips Haircuts National Huddle Celebrates Store Growth

A Commitment To Store Growth

Huddles aren’t just for the football field. For years, Sport Clips Haircuts has hosted an annual National Huddle to bring franchisees (Team Leaders) and their Team Members from across the country together to create a sense of teamwork, come up with innovative ideas, and work as a group toward problem solving. The 2022 Sport Clips Haircuts National Huddle theme was “Dare To Be” to challenge Team Leaders and Team Members to strive for greatness.

“The Sport Clips brand is strong, and the excitement for the future is even stronger. We were thrilled to have three thousand franchisees, stylists, support team members and supplier partners gathered in Nashville, with everyone focused on serving our clients as the pros in men’s hair,” says Edward Logan, Sport Clips CEO and president. “The Huddle theme of ‘Dare to Be’ is defined by our enhanced training for stylists, advancements in our technology to better serve our clients, and a renewed commitment to philanthropy to position Sport Clips.”

At the Huddle, Team Members discussed that 2022 was on track to have the highest number of store openings since 2018. Sport Clips is also the only national hair care provider, with more locations now than in 2019. It was also shown that new franchisees are coming from more diverse backgrounds than ever, with an increase in veteran franchisees since 2020 (who now represent 12% of the system). And, according to a client survey, Sport Clips ranked the highest out of any hair care brand as the one customers would recommend, with one of the best in-store experiences.

Sport Clips pamphlet on a Sport Clips Barber Chair  Sport Clips Franchise Growth Support

At Sport Clips, we want our Team Leaders to have every resource available to grow their business, as well as thrive and prosper over the long term. Because you take on a manager-style role, we make sure you have all the tools, resources, and coaching you need to be an effective behind-the-scenes owner. That starts with helping you hire and develop a great team, how to manage staff, setting clear expectations of everyone’s role, and how to market effectively and engage with your community. Once you’ve mastered your first location, we’ve seen countless Team Leaders go onto multi-unit ownership.

Growth is what Sport Clips is all about. Even with almost 1,900 locations across the U.S., we still have room to grow and prime markets available. Sport Clips takes great care to have a very strategic approach to growth. We make sure locations are a perfect fit for the brand, the franchise owner and the communities they serve. We make this process as easy as possible with a business model that’s scalable by design. Some of our most successful franchise owners have grown from one store to five in no time.

Learn More About The Sport Clips Franchise Opportunity!

Sport Clips is not only committed to store growth, it’s committed to smart store growth. We have a strategic growth plan in place that’s identified the markets with the most potential. Now, we’re looking for the right Team Leaders to hit the ground running.

To learn more, we invite you to fill out our form here. One of our dedicated franchise team members will be in touch with a copy of our Franchise Information Report. We can’t wait to start a conversation with you!