Franchise Friday – Episode 209 with Michelle Holliman of Pigtails and Crewcuts

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In this episode, Melissa speaks with Michelle Holliman of Pigtails and Crewcuts

Michelle Holliman’s work within the franchising industry dates back to 1997.

Throughout that time, she built experience by working for the parent companies of well-known brands such as Heavenly Ham, HoneyBaked Ham, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Planet Smoothie and P.J.’s Coffee. Michelle served as the Director of Franchise Development for Pigtails & Crewcuts before being promoted to Vice President of Franchise Development in 2017. In this role, Michelle evaluates prospective franchisees to help them determine if owning a Pigtails & Crewcuts salon is the right investment choice.

Our Values

At Pigtails & Crewcuts, we strive to be honest, fair, and be a business known for its integrity, and we seek owners who value the same things. We have a wealth of knowledge within our franchise leadership team, as well as seasoned owners eager to share their experience with the newest members of our franchise family. We’re all in this together to help you achieve success.

When Wade Brannon’s children visited Pigtails & Crewcuts, they immediately fell in love. Brannon had retired from a successful career in the franchise industry a few years before so he could spend more time with his family but saw great potential for the concept to grow with the increasing demand for services that cater to families with young children. He also saw it as a great opportunity to create a business that would allow its franchisees the family time that seemed to be missing from many existing opportunities and knew there would be owners who desired the same thing. Brannon was ready to head back to work in the franchise industry, and as fate would have it, the original owner of Pigtails & Crewcuts was ready to sell the salon.

What We Believe In

In addition to offering the best work-life balance possible, we seek to be honest, fair, and to be a business known for its integrity, and we want owners who value the same things. Being a part of the local community is also important to us, and we encourage our owners to get involved where they are. We also encourage philanthropy, either locally or nationally, to contribute and make a positive impact in the lives of others.

We’re a family and we’re all in this together. If you’re ready to join a fun franchise that will give you the support you need to be successful, we’re ready to talk to you!

First Haircut Package

Your child’s first haircut is an important milestone! Our first haircut package includes a souvenir card with your child’s name, the date of the haircut, a lock of hair and a photo to take home, so your family can look back on this day and smile.

According to Michelle

I love franchising. Franchising is, it’s a great model; I’ve worked with franchise companies like HoneyBaked Ham, it’s a large franchise company, then, Heavily Ham was a little smaller, and then Pigtails and Crewcuts. They are an emerging brand that’s so exciting. But it’s also unique because it’s a kid’s hair salon franchise. The industry isn’t large, but it’s fragmented, and it’s recession resilient; we’ve gone through a recession in 2007 and then a pandemic, as well. And we’re still surviving, we’re still showing great numbers, and we’re really having a great time. But also, it’s about the kids, Pigtails and Crewcuts. It is a kid’s hair salon, and not something that wasn’t around when I was younger. And when a kid walks in, they see the brightly colored walls, those themed car chairs. We want to make a haircut fun and memorable. And it’s not just for the kids, but it’s for the parents too. We want to make sure that the experience is top-notch. And so that is something that has always excited me because I enjoy kids and I tell people you work in this great environment. People spend money on their kids, and everybody needs a haircut. It’s something that’s just always welcomed in every community in every market and so we’re seeing great results and we’re excited I love the people that I work with and the brand.  Our CEO, Brandon, tells everybody we’re not in the children’s haircut industry; we’re in the franchise support industry; we are a franchise support company. And our job is to support our franchisees by creating a great culture, managing people, being leaders by caring, is making sure that you create a great environment. And by creating that culture, you’ll have a ripple effect, and people will want to work for you.

According to Melissa:

That culture you are creating is a big statement. I’m thinking about people and the clients that we’re working with, oftentimes, it’s the first time they’re going into business ownership.  So, there’s bound to be a lot of fear. And there are also a lot of misconceptions where I think that a lot of these people, until they talk to you and until they talk to the franchisees, they don’t understand that this isn’t just a business model. It is specifically in the children’s haircut industry. Yes, that’s what it is on the surface. But underneath, it’s the community that peer-to-peer support. It’s the support from the franchise leadership. And there’s this whole culture and story behind the brand that I think people, when they look at franchising, never realize.