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Doing one thing and doing it the best may sound like an overused concept to business owners or aspiring entrepreneurs, yet it is exactly what is working for Ideal Image Development Inc.
The Tampa-based chain of 64 laser hair removal centers — no age spot burning, no tattoo erasing and definitely no spa treatments — more than doubled revenue last year.
Demand for the company's follicle-zapping services is certainly increasing as a new generation of potential clients comes along. But it also helps that Ideal Image is getting back to its roots, so to speak, buying back many of the centers it has franchised across the country over the past decade. To its co-founders, it's a matter of greater quality control as much as more direct profit.
Based in the One Urban Centre office building at Kennedy and Westshore boulevards, Ideal Image began with a single center in 2001 — just weeks after Sept. 11 — and branched out by way of franchising to other markets extending from Palm Harbor and Sarasota to Las Vegas and Milwaukee. It steadily bought back centers from franchisees in recent years and now owns three-quarters of its locations nationwide.
“Right now, we're a hybrid,” says Joseph Acebal, co-CEO of Ideal Image with Rick Mikles. “Our current franchisees are great partners, but some of them just wanted to sell and move on to other things. We like our mix now.”
Former chiropractors Acebal and Mikles came up with the idea of offering full-body laser hair removal and skin renewal services in a luxurious setting, rather than someplace resembling a doctor's office, with trained professional staffers. After considering adding other elective procedures, they decided to stick with a single category and become experts at that.
“We wrote the book on laser hair removal,” Mikles says, adding that no other service provider in North America works exclusively in that field. He estimates that Ideal Image has performed more than a million treatments, baring arms, legs, chests, backs ... even faces, for fellows who aren't fond of picking up a razor every morning.
Ideal Image more than doubled its revenue last year, to $47 million, largely from acquiring locations from franchisees. Despite a struggling economy, its principals expect to grow even more through expansion in the continental United States and into Canada early next year.
While most of its competitors tried to undercut prices, they made the mistake of cutting into their own profits and subsequently shut down without being able to honor their clients' long-term service contracts, according to Acebal. “We've actually absorbed a lot of our competitors' guests,” he says.
There's another promising factor — future clients who have a completely opposite outlook on human fur than their elders. “Baby boomers were okay with hair, but Generation X didn't like it and Generation Y absolutely loathes it,” Acebal says.
Ideal Image's marketing efforts have reached that generation mostly through radio, with some deejays undergoing treatments and videoing the process to put on YouTube. Television infomercials, Web search optimization and social media are other options now being explored, along with a return to billboard advertising. (The company's original boards included giant images of a girl in a bikini holding a razor and a guy's hair-free back.)
Expenditures for hair removal procedures, which aren't covered under health insurance, can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on how much work a client demands, Acebal says. Remarkably, the only losing period Ideal Image has had over the last eight years was the third quarter of 2009.
Acebal and Mikles are confident that Ideal Image can grow to 500 locations by the end of this decade, yet they plan to maintain their original vision, focusing on expertise at laser hair removal without pursuing other personal-care fads.
“As you become larger, it's very easy to lose your identity and who you are,” Acebal says. He notes that the company is putting capital into updating existing locations and equipment upgrades such as laser machines for both light and dark complexions.
Ideal Image secured $16 million in debt and equity financing from Miami-based H.I.G. Capital in 2006, though Acebal says that hasn't changed the way the company operates. “They are very good partners,” he says. “They have given us complete autonomy and leeway.”
The only apparent change H.I.G. has demanded at Ideal Image was in leadership, with longtime CEO Dean Akers being dismissed last September. Akers, who had plenty to say to local business media right after his ouster, declined comment for this article.
Ideal Image's founders say reclaiming CEO duties should instill confidence in any current and future clients. “We're here to stay,” Acebal says.
— Carl Cronan
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