After opening her first Paralee Boyd Salon in Southfield in 2012, owner Dana White today announced a second location will open next month in Midtown Detroit. Paralee Boyd is a walk-in only salon that specializes in blow-dry treatments for women that have thick, curly hair, but don’t have hours to sit in a salon or time to book their appointments weeks or months in advance.
In addition to the Midtown expansion, White is looking to have at least 10 locations throughout the region and taking Paralee Boyd national as part of a franchise model. She has partnered with Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Business program, as well as Motor City Match, Invest Detroit, and JP Morgan Chase’s Entrepreneur of Color Fund.
White expects to open her next three salons in the Detroit simultaneously by the end of 2019 to prove scalability before focusing on the national expansion.
With the help of engineers from Ford Motor Co. and FCA US, White applied a lean manufacturing model generally used in the automotive industry to help Paralee Boyd reduce costs, run more smoothly, and save clients time. A metric-driven company, clients average a total time of 35 minutes for Paralee Boyd’s basic service, and up to an hour and 15 minutes for a basic service and a hair treatment.
“Since we’re not a full-service salon, we don’t cut or color, but we wash, blow dry, and style,” she says. “We also have our own standard operating procedure, so there’s a way we answer the phone, a way we greet you, a way we blow dry, and it’s all designed to cut down on time. All of it helps when we’re talking about a process-oriented experience.”
Paralee Boyd is in the process of becoming ISO-certified because the salon is committed to its process and flow, and is working to utilize artificial intelligence to manage the walk-in only model. They currently manually collect data regarding weather, holidays, community events, and past volume to more accurately address staffing needs as the business grows.
While some may miss the community atmosphere of a traditional full-service salon, White and her stylists work to maintain customer relation
“The modern day woman doesn’t have time to sit in a salon all day, they only have a couple of hours,” she adds. “My stylists are my people, and I’ve structured it in such a way that they’re taken care of. Based on the data that I’ve compiled over years in business, I know how to staff so they only see 10-15 people per shift, and they deliver great services without being shifts.”
If the salon has an unexpected influx of walk-in customers, White has stylists waiting on call to come in and relieve the pressure so that the average wait time to see a stylist rarely surpasses 10-15 minutes.
More information about Paralee Boyd can be found here.
