Aesthetics firm Cosmetic Avenue is expanding its non-surgical cosmetic clinics business through a co-ownership franchise model.
It costs $550,000 for a turnkey operation and gives franchisees a $100,000 base salary. The franchisor takes on site selection and lease negotiation, and the clinic fitout. Cosmetic Avenue also handles staff recruitment and provides bookkeeping, marketing and accounting services for franchisees.
Franchisees manage and drive the day to day operations of their business.
Cosmetic Avenue has earmarked six potential territories for development and has franchisees for Geelong and Gold Coast sites in the pipeline.
CEO Run Samarakoon told Franchise Executives “We are initially targeting Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. We’ve had a lot of interest from Queensland already.”
The business began as a new-model cosmetic surgery, offering a modern, patient-centric alternative to the very old-school traditional surgeon-based clinics.
Rather than it being “hidden away in a consulting room” the Cosmetic Avenue model is a ground floor retail operation.
“It’s a really friendly and engaging experience, a collaborative space. This is predominantly women making big decision for themselves, and it should be embraced. They should be able to share it and be made to feel welcome and engaged,” Samarakoon said.
“We’re not a laser clinic, we’re not looking for shopping centres. We rarely run sales, this is more of a boutique luxurious clinic. It’s all about the clinic experience. We charge more but clients return, they trust us.”
Cosmetic Avenue has invested heavily in back end technology to make the client experience unique. Customers are typically 25 to 40 year old working professionals.
A patient-centric model
Samarakoon founded Cosmetic Avenue in 2016 in Malvern and developed the non-surgical treatment clinics during Covid. While the flagship clinics provide a range of full-service cosmetic surgical procedures these are not part of the franchise offer.
“We want to grow the business and take it Australia wide and the surgical side is not scaleable,” said Samarakoon.
Franchisees purchasing a Cosmetic Avenue business would be able to offer injectables, skin tightening, fat freezing, body sculpting, skin care and cellulite reduction.
A second business model for dentists is based around cosmetic dentistry treatments.
The franchise model is a 50/50 profit share and Samarakoon envisions 30 to 50 non-surgical cosmetic clinics over the next five years.
