Go Back   tanTALK - Tanning Salon Business Owners Community > TanTalk Central > Tanning Salon Management

Tanning Salon Management Salon management help here.

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 05-25-2010, 04:15 PM   #1 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jan 9 2010
Location: Tennessee, TN
Age: 49
Posts: 22
Rep Power: 0 Tlingit is on a distinguished road
Population to bed count ratio?

Has anyone ever came up with a population to number of beds ratio? My wife and I just opened a salon in a small town with a population of about 4,000. We started with 2 beds and have become overwhelmed doing about 30-35% capacity. Is there a defined point to which you consider expanding and how much do you expand?

The closest major salon is 35 miles away so competition isn't too bad. We have a couple hair salons local that have beds but they are small 25 bulb beds about 10-15 years old.
Tlingit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2010, 04:27 PM   #2 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jan 27 2000
Location: Topeka Kansas
Age: 68
Posts: 564
Rep Power: 25 Rich is on a distinguished road
Re: Population to bed count ratio?

I am curious how you define overwhelmed as 30-35%. I would think overwhelmed would be more like 70%. I used to have a salon in a very small market and our problem was that we were overwelmed from 3:00 to close but dead during the day because everyone was out of town.
Rich is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2010, 04:38 PM   #3 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jan 9 2010
Location: Tennessee, TN
Age: 49
Posts: 22
Rep Power: 0 Tlingit is on a distinguished road
Re: Population to bed count ratio?

Our hours are 9AM to 7PM and as I expected it is dead till about 11 and runs nonstop till about 5. My wife is the only employee we have and if she says shes overwhelmed then shes overwhelmed. I dare another married man to argue with me on this :)

Put it this way, it was more than I expected from this small town.

The business is actually 2 in one. I'm and IT Administrator and we do computer sales and service as well. Yeah I know thats a weird combination but it works lol
Tlingit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2010, 05:39 PM   #4 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jan 9 2010
Location: Tennessee, TN
Age: 49
Posts: 22
Rep Power: 0 Tlingit is on a distinguished road
Re: Population to bed count ratio?

How many beds did you have Rich? What levels? We are running a level 2 and level 3 bed.
Tlingit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2010, 06:40 PM   #5 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jan 27 2000
Location: Topeka Kansas
Age: 68
Posts: 564
Rep Power: 25 Rich is on a distinguished road
Re: Population to bed count ratio?

We had 3 level 1 lay downs, 1 level 1 stand up and 1 level 2 lay down. This was back about 6 years ago or so, mix of equip would be a lot different now.
Rich is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2010, 06:46 PM   #6 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Sep 3 2006
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 490
Rep Power: 18 excusemesir will become famous soon enough excusemesir will become famous soon enough
Re: Population to bed count ratio?

Don't get overly excited and spend the bucks for another bed just yet. It's "busy season" and here in the very near future things will be slowing down drastically. Your wife won't have any problem keeping up with the two beds...trust me.
excusemesir is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2010, 07:05 PM   #7 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Jan 9 2010
Location: Tennessee, TN
Age: 49
Posts: 22
Rep Power: 0 Tlingit is on a distinguished road
Re: Population to bed count ratio?

Let me take a quick moment to say thank you for the responses. We are kind of new to the industry and appreciate any and all comments and advice.

Thank you Rich. I'll keep that knowledge as reference.

excusemesir thats kind of what I was thinking. I just dont want to loose customers cause they say they cant get into tan cause we're to busy.

How do you handle the customers that get mad when they cant tan whenever they want? She actually had one customer get down right rud and yelling at her cause her daughter couldn't tan when she wanted to. I understand you cant please everyone and we try to accommodate as best we can. We take appointments and walk ins but appointments have priority. So if you walk in you have to either wait or make and appointment. Does this sound unfair or bad for business in any way?
Tlingit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2010, 10:32 PM   #8 (permalink)
 
glowtanning530's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 20 2006
Location: folding towels, cleaning beds, ordering lotions, fixing beds, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
Age: 43
Posts: 1,219
Rep Power: 130 glowtanning530 has a reputation beyond repute glowtanning530 has a reputation beyond repute glowtanning530 has a reputation beyond repute glowtanning530 has a reputation beyond repute glowtanning530 has a reputation beyond repute glowtanning530 has a reputation beyond repute glowtanning530 has a reputation beyond repute glowtanning530 has a reputation beyond repute glowtanning530 has a reputation beyond repute glowtanning530 has a reputation beyond repute glowtanning530 has a reputation beyond repute
Re: Population to bed count ratio?

I am reading on my phone are these 20 min beds? I can't say it enough appointments are death. First come first serve. A bed could be empty 10 min while you are waiting for your next appointment. It still " busy " season see how things are through the slower time and go from there.
glowtanning530 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-26-2010, 06:41 AM   #9 (permalink)
 
Join Date: Sep 3 2006
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 490
Rep Power: 18 excusemesir will become famous soon enough excusemesir will become famous soon enough
Re: Population to bed count ratio?

I concur regarding appointments. You do not have the capacity to use that business model. Make it first come/first serve and you'll make more money and be able to accommodate more tanners. As for the customer that thinks the sun rises and falls on her daughter's butt, I'd show her a solar eclipse.
excusemesir is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-26-2010, 09:04 AM   #10 (permalink)
Team TanTalk
 
parrot head's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 13 2004
Location: Menomonie, Wi.
Age: 82
Posts: 3,145
Rep Power: 22 parrot head has disabled reputation
Re: Population to bed count ratio?

How bout' just extending the hours during busy season. In a very short period of time, both beds will be sitting empty. If they are 20 min. beds, maybe put in a different lamp and run them at 15 min. Brian can recommend some "Supra" lamps that would suit your needs.
parrot head is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
member/bed ratio NCSun General Tanning Industry Discussions 2 03-01-2009 05:32 PM
Tanning Salon to population ratio. SweetLou General Tanning Industry Discussions 2 08-12-2004 04:33 PM
population 20,000 how many should tan? sweettimm General Tanning Industry Discussions 2 09-04-2003 06:15 PM
Population density Larry Tanning Salon Management 13 07-02-2002 04:07 PM
Population Shift Tamar Tanning Salon Management 3 06-18-2002 01:25 PM


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:27 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
LinkBacks Enabled by vBSEO 3.1.0
Copyright 2009 - tanTALK.com

click here for advertising info!