Today we’d like to introduce you to Stacey Laricchia.
Stacey, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My name is Stacey Lariccia, and I am the chief creative director and founder of The Birthday Suit waxing spa franchise. My story is pretty unique in that I’ve always known that I have a deep passion for all things beauty and esthetics. Throughout college, my classmates would love to come to my apartment to get ready so that I could do their make-up before going out for the night. By the time, I was getting ready to graduate college, I knew with no uncertainty that I was meant to go into beauty and aesthetics. So, I finished up my college classes during the day and attended aesthetics and nail school at night.
After graduating, I immediately began working in the beauty industry – I kept myself very busy doing nails, professional waxing, and sake-up at night. Although I was now a college graduate, I knew this was what I wanted to do. Several years later, I was offered a position as a makeup artist for Christian Dior. However, I transitioned to the educational side of the beauty industry once my daughter was born, becoming their West Coast Education Director.
Although I loved working in the education realm of beauty, I missed the face-to-face interactions I would have with my clients when I was doing their makeup and getting to see the client’s smiles when I would reveal their makeup looks to them. So, I decided to transition to waxing so that I could get that face-to-face interaction with clients. I worked for a big waxing franchise, where I held a waxing position for about a year before deciding to start my waxing spa — The Birthday Suit. My husband Jason and I officially opened The Birthday Suit in June of 2011. This was one of my proudest accomplishments and the first of many opportunities!
Fast forward to 2022, with multiple Las Vegas locations open & thriving we decided to continue our growth by offering a Franchise Opportunities. So much so that we decided to open more in other locations and open up franchising opportunities to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to be their boss but don’t want to come up with an entire business model on their own.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Like all things worthwhile, my path has not been easy! There have been many challenges along the way.
As the creative director and founder of The Birthday Suit, one of the biggest motivators throughout my journey has been being told, “No, that business idea is dumb. It’s sure to fail quickly.” Whenever I heard those words, I took them to mean, “I double dog dare you to start this business and be successful!” Proving those naysayers wrong and striving for my success became my top priority.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Birthday Suit?
The Birthday Suit Waxing Spa specializes in one thing – providing premium head-to-toe hard waxing services as an affordable luxury to all of our clients. It’s important to us to maintain a small business, mom-and-pop feel. We also have a line of premium hand-crafted lab-tested skincare products to assist with all the skin’s pre- and post-waxing needs.
One of the ways that The Birthday Suit sets the standard of franchise excellence and demonstrates the brand’s family-oriented values is by incorporating a “Kids Lounge” in each spa location. Our Kids Lounges are fully equipped with the latest in children’s entertainment, making self-care a little easier to prioritize for parents. We also have workspaces in some of our locations, so if a client is a little early, they have the freedom to step back to our “second lobby” and take that call, send the email, or just decompress from their day.
As the franchisor of The Birthday Suit, I ensure that all of my franchisees receive well above industry standards for business support and staff training. I make sure that all of my franchisees’ staff understand that we treat our clients like family.
We also provide support with organizational and management structure, operational strategy, and marketing. I want my brand to look and feel attainable, no matter how big it gets. We have made decisions about franchise costs, personal liquid capital minimums, and purchase requirements that go against industry standards to benefit our franchisees because we want to share in our success. We also include tangible products in the franchise fees. Roughly 75% of what our franchisees pay goes right back to making their business thrive. This is a major disruption in the typical franchise model.
It may come as no surprise that the body waxing space isn’t typically regarded as a lucrative business investment. However, the success of The Birthday Suit is forcing the franchise industry to shift its perspective on what is not only a great opportunity but a smart, profitable business! The waxing industry is a $17 Billion Industry, which is primarily occupied by one major franchise, with all locations identical in appearance, methods, etc. This franchise seems a little sterile, which is the opposite of what I wanted for The Birthday Suit. I want our clients to relax, laugh, look at our social media posts or advertisements, and be able to relate to us as a band. It’s my mission to shift the way people think about not only body waxing in general but also intimate waxing. For instance, I conceptualized our name and logo to be cute, cheeky, and fun – It screams, “This is where I want to go!”
It takes strength and wisdom to realize that bigger is not always better when it comes to business. It is our personable, small-business vibe that keeps our clients returning to our waxing spa. We are growing our franchise with intentionality, which means we may be moving at a slower pace, but we are doing that for a reason. We are very particular about who we award franchises to because we know that these franchisees will work closely with us to expand our brand and are a reflection of us. We also want to make sure that we are as accessible to our franchisees as they need us to be, especially in the initial stages of development.
We choose to expand slowly to maintain our small business ambiance, even though we are very much a big business. We make opening The Birthday Suit a realistic step toward our valued franchisees’ future in business.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I define success by the positive impact I can make in others’ lives. To me, my success is reflected in the livelihood and well-being of the people that surround me — my staff, my family, my franchisees, etc. My success is exemplified by the positive impact I’ve made in the lives of the people around me because I know that without them, I would not be where I am today.
I also define success as having the ability to remain down-to-earth and relatable despite financial status or career success. I am not a flashy or fancy business owner. As far as work attire goes, a great pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and tennis, or black leggings work perfectly for me because I am still an active part of my business. I don’t just sit in an office and delegate tasks to those under me as the franchisor and the owner. Instead, I lead by example.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thebirthdaysuit.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebdaysuit/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebdaysuitlv/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-birthday-suit-henderson-2
Image Credits
The Birthday Suit
