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Issue link: http://beautystorebusiness.epubxp.com/i/103399
about 10 times. I studied Supercuts' model, was very intrigued and thought that if I could make my basic manicure service reasonably priced at $6—similar to what Supercuts did for haircutting— then I could open a lot of franchises such as it did. And, if I could open next door to them everywhere I went, eventually Supercuts would offer to buy me out because it's a complementary business. What was the turning point that made you switch from salons to store and salon supplier? I had three salons at the time, and gel was starting to become popular. There was a multilevel marketing company called Lume. I bought a couple of kits and tried it in the salon. The techs thought it was difficult and didn't want to do it. I told them that we needed to embrace the technology or we wouldn't make money. They complained that it was too hard to work with; so I talked with one of my chemist friends about combining powder and gel to make the product easier to use. It involved making the gel thinner so that it would absorb the powder, and putting it in a bottle so that it could be brushed on. We made a pink version for pink and white French tips too. It also needed to be in a bottle that was opaque so that it wasn't exposed to UV light. We tried it on some clients, and they loved it. We decided to take 25 kits to a trade show in 1994, and we sold out of them. That was our first invention: The Powder Gel Nail System. [It was] also when I decided to go into manufacturing. I started to see that there was more potential, more money to be made and fewer headaches on the manufacturing side. I sold my salons and started making [nailcare] products. What was the next product you brought to the market? At the time, we were competing with Toma. We both had mood polish. [Toma] came out with one that changed to three colors; then I invented one that changed to five colors. And then, the mood polish trend died. It looks like the mood polish trend is coming back, correct? Yes, we're the only company that I know of in the United States that makes mood gel polish. It will change colors depending on body temperature and the temperature of the environment. If you have a long nail bed, inside the nail bed will be one nail color and the outside will be another color because of the heat of your skin. What other new products are you excited about? We are making a [scented mood] nail polish that will launch in early spring 2013. The scent [is] formulated to associate with the changes of the colors. For example, the color is chocolate brown and changes to beige [and the scent will be Mocha Latte]. Or the color changes from purple to pink [and the scent will be] Berry Bubble Gum. I am very excited about this concept. It will take the nailpolish business to another level. We also are introducing a state-of-the-art compact UV lamp with low-voltage highefficiency LED bulbs—something that has not yet been seen in the nail industry. Look for it in BSB ads. What was the inspiration behind the name LeChat? My partners—two of my high school friends—and I were trying to think of a name for the company. We were all born in the year of the rabbit. In Vietnam, it was a cat. We thought, a cat has beautiful claws, and Americans love cats. So we said, let's name the company "The Cat"—but it sounded weird. Then we thought, why not be an American company with French influence—LeChat. Each letter in the company name also stands for something: Learning, Experiencing, Creating, Helping, Achieving and Teaching. It stands for the circle of how we learn and teach others. 54 February 2013 | beautystorebusiness.com What kind of challenges have you had in growing the business? Initially, the focus was on making the best and most innovative products that we could. Now that the products are more recognized in the market domestically and internationally, the challenge is growing distribution to the level of the major brands. We would like to share shelf space with well-established brands. We find that a lot of major distributors sometimes have space limitations. But we are very optimistic that with the right formulas, attitude, passion and work, someday we will have our products [distributed by] major [distributors] so that [they are conveniently available] for the LeChat customer—giving technicians and the public a greater selection of innovative products. We're working on this, and I see it as a temporary challenge.