Just Cuts: Hair, there, and everywhere

International franchise expansion can look and sound glamorous from a distance. Particularly if you’re in the hair and beauty game. 

New markets, new customers, new opportunities. New hairstyles even. All very exciting. But the real work is less about the Salon experience and chats about vacations, and everything to do with those pesky business fundamentals. 

It is compliance, recruitment, local relationships, and making sure the operating playbook survives contact with a different country.

For David Mathie, Global Chief Operating Officer of Just Cuts Franchising and Justice Professional Haircare, the Canada expansion is not about reinventing the business, but about proving that its franchise model can travel, while keeping the core of the brand intact.

“Canada has the fundamentals we look for –  a large, under-served value-haircare segment, strong mall and strip-retail infrastructure, and a consumer used to franchised services,”

The assessment lead him to decide on Canada as the next major international move for Australia-based Just Cuts.

“It’s also culturally close enough to Australia that we could adapt quickly, while being a genuinely new territory to prove the model travels beyond ANZ,” he adds. 

“Our first Salon location opened at Stone Road Mall in Guelph, Ontario, giving us a manageable first market to get the operating rhythm right before scaling into bigger metros.”

The launch at Stone Road Mall has already provided an encouraging indication of the appetite for the Just Cuts proposition in Canada. On Grand Opening day, the Salon recorded 84 transactions and welcomed 72 clients, with more than 36 free Style Cuts delivered. More than 40 people were already in line when the doors opened, creating an impressive first-day result for the brand.

With new Salon locations confirmed to open later this year at Masonville, Dufferin and Lime Ridge, Mathie is now looking to build on the momentum generated at Stone Road Mall and carry those learnings into each upcoming Grand Opening.

Why the franchise model travels

The interesting thing is not only that Just Cuts has entered a new market, plenty of franchise brands do that, the more interesting part of the story is why the business believed its model would work in a completely different environment.

Mathie’s belief in moving to into what is virgin territory for the company stems from the simplicity of the proposition.

“The model isn’t really Southern Hemisphere-specific. It’s built on fast, affordable, no-appointment haircuts, which is a universal need.”

It was apparent that the real challenge was operational rather than conceptual.

“What we tested for was whether Canadian consumers would respond to the same value proposition, and whether local franchisees could run it with the same systems –  POS, scheduling, staffing structure. Guelph confirmed both. The behaviours changed at the edges, not the core.”

It encapsulates the challenge of international franchising in that the fundamentals must remain the same, but certain other details do matter enormously.

The lessons from Guelph

The first Canadian location became less a proof of concept than a learning laboratory. The discoveries were not dramatic, but they were valuable.

“Compliance and licensing take longer in Canada than Australia, building that into the timeline from day one, not discovering it mid-fit-out.

“Local trades and design partners need more hand-holding early on until they understand our spec.”

Perhaps the most immediate operational lesson came from staffing.

“We learned to start recruitment earlier and run structured, back-to-back interview days rather than trickle hiring. All three are now baked into the playbook for Masonville, Dufferin and Lime Ridge.”

Same DNA, different plumbing

One of the biggest temptations in international expansion is a tendency to over-adapt, but Mathie’s approach has been almost the opposite.

“The core service model, pricing philosophy, and franchisee support structure are unchanged.”

Where adaptation has been necessary, it has tended to focus on regulation and local operating requirements.

“Where we’ve adapted: payroll and tipping compliance (Canada’s rules around controlled vs. direct tips are different and needed real research), regulatory paperwork like exhaust duct exemptions, and working with local design and construction partners rather than our usual ANZ suppliers. It’s the same DNA, different plumbing.”

Growth begins before growth

It’s not the first time he has expanded internationally, and Mathie’s previous international experience reinforced a principle that many franchise businesses sometimes learn the hard way.

“Get the legal and compliance groundwork right before you get excited about growth it’s cheaper to slow down at the start than fix it after opening. 

“And build local relationships early: a good local collaborator who understands regulation, trades and culture is worth more than any amount of remote planning. That’s proven true in India as much as Canada.”

What franchisees actually buy

For Mathie, support for his franchise operators is not simply about providing a brand and an operations manual. The offering is a lot more holistic and ongoing.

“We manage the whole journey for a franchisee site selection, fit-out, licensing, hiring, systems, and grand opening rather than handing over a manual and stepping back. 

“Our head office team stays hands-on well past opening day. That level of operational involvement is unusual in the sector and it’s what gets franchisees profitable faster.”

It serves as a reminder that successful franchise systems are often built on execution rather than just marketing.

A second revenue line

Another key strand of the strategy is diversification from a purely service-based offering, by adding the opportunity for retail sales to the operation through its Justice hair care brand. 

“It matters a lot, both for franchisee economics and brand strength.”

Mathie sees the retail opportunity as more than an add-on.

“Justice Professional Haircare gives franchisees a retail margin on top of service revenue and gives the brand a product identity that travels independently of the Salon network which is exactly what we’re doing in India right now. A single revenue line makes a franchise fragile; a second one makes it resilient.”

Protecting the brand

As the network grows, the quality of franchisee selection becomes increasingly important to its future success.

“We want people who are hands-on operators,” says Mathie, “not passive investors franchisees who’ll be in the Salon, know their staff, and care about the customer experience day to day.”

There is room within the Just Cuts system for entrepreneurial ambition, but not for changing the fundamentals of the business.

“Entrepreneurial drive is welcome in how they grow their business and engage their community; it’s not welcome in changing the service model or pricing structure. The brand consistency is non-negotiable, everything else is theirs to run.”

Creating a strong culture is part of that and also vital for Mathie, who believes it should be transmitted directly from the top down.

“It comes down to who we put in the room early.  The first franchisees and the first team members set the tone for everyone who follows.”

That is why he remains closely involved in new market launches.

“I’m involved personally in hiring, training and every grand opening in a new market, because culture doesn’t transfer through a manual, it transfers through people. Once the first store is running the right way, it becomes the reference point for the next one.”

Building a North American network

Innovation is key in any business, but in Mathie’s opinion, it must never mean changing the customer proposition in any significant way. It’s more about improving the existing systems.

“Innovation for us is mostly operational better POS and scheduling tools, smarter staffing models, faster site turnarounds rather than reinventing the service. 

“Every change has to show up in a franchisee’s numbers – less admin time, better rostering, more retail sales. If it doesn’t make a tangible difference to their day or their P&L, we don’t roll it out network-wide.”

The ambition for North America is not confined to a scattering of franchises across Canada, and clearly the size of the territory involved holds no fear for someone who has already been successful in Australia.

“Success is a genuine multi-market Canadian network Ontario, then further west proving out density the way we have in Australia, alongside credible momentum in the US.”

Maybe it can even outpace and outgrow the original Aussie business. 

“Longer term, North America has the potential to become one of our largest markets globally, sitting alongside Australia, New Zealand and India as a core pillar of the business rather than an experiment.”

With Australia’s signature contribution to hair fashion, the mullet, having a comeback moment, surely nothing should be ruled out.