Sona looks to franchising for growth

Jim Amos built Mail Boxes Etc. into a $1.5 billion business by following a franchise model and he's now taking that same approach to the fast-growing medical spa marketplace.

The former chairman and CEO of Mailbox Etc. has laid out ambitious growth plans for Sona International. The chain of medispas and laser centers, which relocated from Virginia Beach , Va. , to Franklin earlier this year, has some 25 locations open across the country with another 25 under construction, says Chief Operating Officer Heather Rose.

In all, the company has sold 148 medispa franchises and sees the potential for 500 locations in the nation's 30 major markets. A 4,000-square-foot center is slated to open in Cool Springs in March.

"Nobody in franchising has ever done anything in health and wellness," says Amos, Sona's chairman and CEO and former chairman of the International Franchise Association.

Franchising is a way for Sona to expand quickly without investing the amount of capital necessary for company-owned locations, he says.

Don DeBolt, president of the IFA, says Amos is regarded as one of the most distinguished leaders in the franchise community and has a track record that stretches back to Arby's 25 years ago.

"He certainly has demonstrated his skills as a leader," DeBolt says. "Everything he touches turns to that color that you'd like to see."

Franchising in this sector also has caught on with Solana MedSpas, whose medical spas offer non-invasive cosmetic medical skincare treatments.

"Anything related to anti-aging and personal care is getting a heck of a lot of play, particularly in franchising when you have the ability to jump-start something and roll it out in a massive way," DeBolt says.

Amos took over Sona when his Eagle Alliance Partners and Charlotte, N.C.-based Carousel Capital purchased Sona Laser Centers in May with plans to expand beyond the 5-year-old company's laser hair-removal base. Amos had spent a year scouting for companies to buy after selling the 4,300-center Mail Boxes Etc. to UPS, where he stayed on as subsidiary president for one year. He says the medispa sector, which the International Spa Association estimates grew 133 percent in the past five years, is still fragmented, giving him the rare opportunity to define the entire segment.

They don't come along more than once or twice in a lifetime," he says.

Sona in October added skin rejuvenation to its laser hair-removal practice, which alone should grow globally from $2.4 billion in 2002 to $3.3 billion in 2005.

Rose, who also previously worked for MBE, says skin rejuvenation in the next year could become Sona's largest operation. Instead of a target audience of 21- to 55-year-olds, the demographic will likely enlarge to 16- to 65-year-olds.

Using nonsurgical laser treatments and advanced fluorescence technology, Sona seeks to treat acne, aging, wrinkles, scars, discolorations and broken blood vessels.

Officials with the company point to the sector's fragmentation, with 87 percent of spas owned by different entities. The IMSA says of the 6,000 spas in the Untied States, fewer than 400 are true medispas, while only 10 percent to 15 percent of the demand for medispa services is being met.

They see merging laser hair removal, skin rejuvenation and retail products as a viable business opportunity because of an aging Baby Boomer population with buying power, improved technology and the acceptability of laser hair removal and skin rejuvenation procedures for both men and women.