Offering international spa experience

Boosting to match the international standards in Spa industry is The Leisure Spa. The company has recently ventured into Spa business with the aim to make it to the top. The company is taking assistance from Franchise India to expand pan India successfully via franchise route. Susant Kumar Rout, Managing Director, The Leisure Spa speaks about his company as well as his aspirations from the franchise route.

Abha Garyali (AG):  Share with us the inception, growth and success of ‘The Leisure Spa’ as a spa company?

Susant Kumar Rout (SKR): It was during one of my visits to a local spa, where I found lots of wrong practices and sub-standard customer-service. I found the same sub-quality services at many other local spas. Lack of proper training to the staff creates disappointment among customers, who really need a relaxed mind and body in a short time. This was the reason I wanted to start my own venture. We are very much concerned about our customer’s need and take care of even the smallest details be it our services, our products, our treatment and our staff, which is trained to international standards and carry a rich experience.

AG: When was the brand ‘The Leisure Spa’ created? What motivated the brand to adopt the franchise route for expansion?

SKR:The brand was created in 2009. The primary reason to adopt a franchise route is to share my vision and goals and be instrumental in having not just national but global presence. Franchise India today has a global reach and has presence across all major Indian cities. Moreover, it is also about the technical aspects, which I believe is the key reason to adopt a franchise route, where we can effectively use the company’s (Franchise India) rich experience and make the technical side of our project visible to our prospective investors. To make franchise route a huge success in India we need an efficient partner which would also care for our success. This motivated us to take Franchise India’s help for our expansion.

AG: How has been the journey of The Leisure Spa so far? What is its USP?

SKR: We are growing at a good pace and our sales graph is a testimony to the fact that we are making a mark in the industry. We have been getting lots of enquiry calls on the project-cost, set-up etc., not just from Delhi-NCR, but also from other cities across India. The USP of our product is a young, well trained and dedicated staff which carries rich international experience. Our ambience and our services which give our customers an assurance that they are in safe hands, our price tag is also very reasonable. We offer star category services at almost half the price compared to other service providers.

AG: As the concept of Spa’s is showing a lot of growth in the Indian market, what can you foretell about the success of the brand in India?

SKR: We are at an infant stage now and have a long way to go. For any project to be successful, it’s very important that you have entered the space at the right time and at the right place and then have a strong customer base. This being a service industry, its success mainly depends upon services offered, fare/ non-manipulative business practices and positive attitude to serve the customers with dignity.

AG: How many outlets does The Leisure Spa have and in which cities across India?

SKR: We have two operational Spa’s one each in New Delhi and Gurgaon, and two more are to come up in Mumbai. These are scheduled to be opened for public by this Christmas season.

AG: What all qualities are needed in your prospective franchisees? How much investment is needed by them?

SKR: Our prospective franchisees should have prior business experience, preferably in the service industry, good financial background, and over and above all, the ability to understand a customer. The investment range varies from Rs10 Lakh to 20 Lakh, which may depend upon the class of city and size of the project.

AG: What are your future plans in terms of expansion through franchising?

SKR: We have very aggressive expansion plans on pan India basis as well as in south East Asia, that’s one of the key reasons we are associating with FIHL to make it happen in a professional way.

AG: What training and support do you provide to your franchisees?

SKR: We have free lance trainers from across India, Thailand, Jakarta and other Asian countries, who train our staff here in India. We have training and up gradation programmes for our staff which in turn we do for our franchise partners also. We help them with our well experienced team, with all rounded efforts to make their association with us a success.

AG: Any challenges that the franchisees need to overcome in this business?

SKR: Competition in the local market will be the main challenge for any business to survive. But one can easily overcome the same by good customer service, good ambience, value for money and a well planned marketing strategy.