Heyday Closes Series B, Inks Franchise Agreement
Heyday will soon expand its brick-and-mortar locations via franchising.
The facial shop has closed a $20 million series B round of funding, led by Level 5 Capital Partners, with participation from existing investors Lerer Hippeau and Fifth Wall Ventures. Already, Heyday has 10 physical locations. L5, with which Heyday has inked a franchise agreement, plans to open 40 more over the next five years.
Heyday has hired Sean Bock, former vice president of franchising and licensing at Drybar, as its chief development officer, tasking him with leading the company’s franchising plans.
Maureen Sullivan, Rent the Runway’s former president and chief operating officer, has also joined Heyday as its president. She will lead the company’s technology and digital expansion, Adam Ross, chief executive officer and cofounder, told WWD.
“[Heyday] is investing in technology and products so we can take the expertise, learning and personalization that we’ve created in the shops online for those clients that can’t come in and see us,” Ross said. “The next best thing is having a skin-care experience that drives the right routine and personalization in a way we don’t think others can.”
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Heyday has been largely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, downsizing its workforce from 350 employees to 25 last year. In March, the company furloughed its in-shop aestheticians and staff members after keeping them on payroll for two weeks.
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Its New York locations reopened at the end of September, with availability four days a week.
“In New York, we’re open around 40 percent of pre-COVID-19 hours,” Ross said. “Our revenues are 60 percent of pre-COVID-19 level. The demand is there.”
Heyday’s Philadelphia and Los Angeles doors reopened in late October, then closed again a few weeks later per state mandates. Philadelphia reopened this month. Los Angeles remains closed.
“For aestheticians, it’s been one of the hardest-hit industries,” said Michael Pollak, chief experience officer and cofounder. “As we’ve reopened, we have offered employment to anyone who was with the team before to come back, but when they’re ready. We’ve got a lot of folks who are back with us and thriving. Our customer satisfaction scores are even higher than they were before COVID-19, which is great. Then we’ve got a lot of folks waiting in the wings for personal reasons, whether it’s child care or risk tolerance. We hope to get everybody back when things return a bit more to normal, hopefully later in the year.”
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