

Franchise For prospective franchisees
01 Our Franchise
After we started franchise expansion back in 2017, more than 200 salons opened their
doors within 5.5 years, and some of those shops are operated
under a single franchisee ownership (ranging from 2 to 5
salons
per owner).
Thanks to attractive gross margin as high as 30%+, ARV franchisee owners
running more than one salon tend to
open their second salon within 12-18 months after their first operation began, in
average.
While peers also expanding, our franchisee owners are satisfied with fairly large customer base attracted by
our services and ARV salon atmosphere, also being great place to work for our staff, and, as a result,
more
than 250 salons
are currently operating throughout Japan under ARV franchise.
We continue expanding our franchise with new style and concept, providing our basic services such as
standard massage, traditional Thai massage and Balinese lymphatic treatment, as well as additional options
and package menus, at reasonable pricing in our high-quality private rooms.
02 Our Differentiator
-
Exotic relaxation method & flexible choice of menus
- Our founder was trained in Bangkok & Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Bali, Indonesia, both major hubs of Asian style relaxation massage. Our therapists provide customers with exotic relaxation services, not widely available in every country on the globe.
- At our salons, conventional body massage and supplemental options such as head spa and foot reflexology treatment are also available. With those services combined, our customers, both those who have more or less experiences in relaxation services, are free to choose from wide range of menus and length of services.
-
High quality & unique setup
- We would like our customers to relax in our unconventional private room setup with Asian flavor. We focus on every single piece of details in our salons at both public and private space, as well as pricing for the services, in a way that ARV customers enjoy their relaxation with us in an atmosphere much different from their hectic daily lives. This detail-oriented approach leads to higher satisfaction from our customers in every region, and it made our salons being go-to places for many of our regular customers.
-
【Our thoughts on Japanese delicacy】
One of the characteristics of the Japanese people is their ability to act humbly and respect others, rather than putting themselves forward. This is considered as a virtue of the Japanese people. At our salons, to be sincerely considerate of our customers and anticipate their needs and feelings, we make every effort to provide an experience that exceeds their expectations and make them feel comfortable. It is our strong belief that our therapists and staff can gain and keep the human ability to show respect to others, greet and thank others, by providing our services in that way.
-
Intensive Marketing strategy
- We spend a lot of time to improve our marketing efforts in SEO & MEO through various channels at ARV franchisor level to support our franchisee owners in order to approach potential customers in each neighborhood with the highest efficiency. Our existing salons with 4-6 beds/rooms are attracting 100-200 new customers every month.
-
Attractive work environment and terms of employment
- We believe it is also important to make first-class staffing in first-class way for customer satisfaction and success as a business. Our exotic setting and high-quality workspace attract motivated talents for employment at ARV salons. That said, not only unique setup, but also full-time employment, as opposed to industry-common commission-based service contracts only, make our “selectivity” higher in hiring process. With alternatives to choose from two different sets of work conditions, or combination thereof, our staff tend to be much motivated to work hard, and this leads to extraordinary per-head revenues in many cases.
03 ARV Strength
-
Point
Faster net cashflow generation
With stable full-time employment, all our existing salons turned into black on a cashflow basis within the first 1-2 months. Also, strong net cashflow generation typically recoups initial expenditures within 12-18 months in average.
-
Point
Expertise to successfully run roadside business
We deploy our past experiences in broaden customer base with both soft and hard approach, from conventional ad & marketing tactics to online measures in digital era, such as SEO/MEO, SNS and web marketing.
-
Point
Higher operational parameters
Strategic pricing, unique private rooms and intensive customer communications help high operating efficiencies. Our occupancy ratio is more than 80%, and also more than 80% of our first-time customer come back again.
-
Point
Low break-even revenue & high margin
Major fixed costs at our salons are rent and personnel expenses, much limited than those at other industries and easily predictable. This makes our break-even revenue lower, and it supports higher gross margin north of 30% (at our existing salons).
-
Point
Broader range of menus and wider geographical coverage
While many of our peers with limited services range set their coverage area per shop smaller (e.g., 2km radius), we assign just one franchise owner in one municipality (or one ward in large cities), in order to avoid cannibalization within ARV franchise.
-
Point
Choice as second business
It is relatively easy to manage if you hire full-time employees and deploy well designed IT systems in reservation management and web camera, so that you may maintain current primary business while adding ARV salon as secondary business.
-
Point
Attractive fee level
We are proud of our competitive fee level, compared with the industry standard. Upfront membership fee becomes zero from second salon run by a single franchisee owner (i.e., charged for the first salon only), and royalty steps down from the first 5% to 4% for the second, and 3% for the third salon, etc.
Low fixed costs and break-even revenue generate net cashflow faster!
Fixed monthly expenses | JPY 350,000 |
---|---|
Rent (62.7 sqm) | JPY 180,000 |
Utility | JPY 20,000 |
Telecom | JPY 8,000 |
Reservation systems | JPY 12,000 |
Non-durables | JPY 30,000 |
Advertisement | JPY 50,000 |
Minimum monthly royalty | JPY 50,000 |
Outsourcing commissions (% of revenue) |
50% |
Average revenue per customer | JPY 5,700 |
Breal-even monthly revenue | JPY 700,000 |
---|---|
50% commission payable | JPY 350,000 |
Fixed monthly expenses | JPY 350,000 |
# of customers per month | 122 |
# of customers per business | 4.0 |
# of customers per month (actual at existing salon) |
580 |
# of customers per business (actual at existing salon) |
18.7 |
# of staff per month (actual at existing salon) |
3.8 |
Average monthly revenue per head | JPY 580,000 |
*both in case of all commission-based contracts
04 Recruiting
Great place to work =
Employment terms
+ work environment
+ attractive salon setup
plus
Massage method not widely available Exotic relaxation
- Attracts those who:
-
- Are willing to obtain skills in Asian-style massage that are still rare opportunities in the country;
- Want to work in stylish work environments;
- Desire flexible work time (commission-based or self-employment);
- Want to limit their income within tax and/or social security benefit available for their spouse or partner; and
- Want to work under stable permanent employment enjoying work benefit plans.
ARV believes recruiting should be done in the same way we do for customer marketing.
We offer flexible choices of staff employment terms, i.e., full- and part-time employment, in addition to commission-based contracts, which are the market standard in Japanese relaxation industry. Unless motivated candidates desire commission-based, our default employment terms are permanent full-time or part-time, which are uncommon in our industrial sector.
“Good Talent Hiring Leads to Higher Revenues and Customer Retention”
Higher revenues per head and greater margin makes it possible to offer full-time employment. ARV headquarters helps franchisee owners in recruiting and also offer talent acquisition services on their behalf.
05
Seed funding requirement
and on-going support
- Pre-open costs
-
Upfront membership fee:JPY 1,500,000.(*1)(excl. tax / non-refundable)
(*1) for the first salon only: no upfront fee for the second salon and thereafter
Training fee:JPY 400,000.(*2) (excl. tax) for the first staff
(*2) JPY200,000 + tax for training additional staff (not mandatory)
Note 1: In order to maintain technical level at all ARV salons, it is required to retain at least one personnel who have completed our training courses or obtained HQ-issued technical certificate.
Note 2: Above costs do not include fees and expenses for property acquisition/lease, interior & exterior work and cost for equipment.
- On-going costs
-
Royalty: 5%of aggregate monthly revenues (incl. consumption or equivalent taxes)(*3)
(*3) Minimum JPY50,000. Monthly. This will step down to 4% for second salon and to 3% for third salon and thereafter under the same ownership
Technical check and certificate fees:JPY 50,000.(excl. tax) per person (*4)
(*4) No training course attendance is mandatory for additional staff hired after the initial person, but technical check and certificate required for employees.
On-going HQ support
- Management & Operational Support
-
- Customer marketing
- Customer retention
- Salon operation
- Staff management
- Information sharing among ARV group members
- Technical support
- Business management
- Advertisement & Recruiting
-
- Brochures
- Salon amenities
(charging direct cost only for printing) - Recruiting support & outsourcing
- Employment agreement template
- Employment policies and procedures template
- Salon furnishment support
(standard specifications available: no mandate for specific contractors)
- Support for customer acquisitions
-
- Assistance for roadside property selection
- Regional research (population, traffic, etc.)
- Regional marketing
- New service products development
- SEO for salon WEB pages
- WEB design and maintenance for PC and mobile pages
06 Steps to become ARV franchisee
-
Step
Download ARV presentation material
-
Step
Explanatory meeting over phone or web meeting tool
-
Step
Schedule and meet in person at ARV headquarters
-
Step
Apply for membership and make a partial payment of the initial membership fee(*1)
-
Step
Create a business plan and initiate property search
-
Step
Execute the franchise agreement
-
Step
Initiate recruiting process and salon interior & exterior work
-
Step
Start training once first therapist candidate is hired
-
Step
Grand-Opening in approx. 3 months after execution of the franchise agreement
(*1)Which will be set off against the remaining balance of the membership fee upon final execution of the franchise agreement
Interested parties are welcome for initial discussion.
Please feel free to call or give
us your information by clicking black button below.
+81-823-69-8550(Main contact)
Persons in charge of franchise business development:
Yoshimasa Tani, Chief Executive
Officer / Ai Iwasaki, Chief Operating / Kanako Iki, Chief Technical Officer / Hitomi Matsushima / Ayumi
Tanabe / Nakamura / Hanaoka / Yoshinaga