Pigtails & Crewcuts is a kid’s haircut franchise that offers a memorable, stress-free haircutting experience for the entire family. And for many of our franchisees, their family extends into their communities.
Being a part of the local community is important to us, and we encourage our owners to get involved. We also encourage philanthropy, either locally or nationally, as a way to contribute and make a positive impact in the lives of others.
By giving back to your community as a business owner, your community is more inclined to be there for you and support your success as a member of the local economy. Countless Pigtails & Crewcuts franchisees have found – and continue to find – ways to get involved and give back to the community.
In this eBook, you’ll find the stories of three franchise owners who have found ways to invest in giving back through their businesses.
North Carolina-based Pigtails & Crewcuts franchisee Angel Putnam grew up living in several different foster homes, which meant she had to grow up quickly.
Now, as a kid’s haircut franchise owner, she uses her businesses as a vehicle to support organizations that assist children, particularly those in the foster care system.
Before becoming a Pigtails & Crewcuts franchisee, Angel worked in retail as a district manager, which required her to travel on a regular basis – it was not a family-friendly career. She then became a stay-at-home mom looking after her three children.
However, once all her children started elementary school, Angel reevaluated what she wanted to do with her life. Angel knew she wanted to work with kids. She began researching children-focused business concepts, found Pigtails & Crewcuts and fell in love with the brand.
How Angel Gives Back through her Business
Angel’s experience with the foster care system is the reason she places so much importance on making a difference in children’s lives, as well as why she holds sacred the innocence of childhood.
What many people don’t realize is that children in foster care have a limited number of items they can bring when they to go to a new foster home. Their favorite teddy bear or blanket oftentimes does not make it to the new home.
With that in mind, Angel works with foster care agencies in the Piedmont Triad, including BackPack Beginnings – a nonprofit organization dedicated to delivering services to feed, comfort and clothing to children in need.
Angel’s Pigtails & Crewcuts location is a permanent drop-off site for the organization, and she collects non-perishable food goods, gently used clothing and shoes, and a variety of other items.
Using the donated items, BackPack Beginnings fills backpacks with blankets, teddy bears, crayons, notebooks and other personal items that kids can truly call their own.
Through the organization, many volunteers help deliver backpacks with non-perishable goods to kids in the local school system who may be going hungry on the weekends.
In addition to BackPack Beginnings, Angel sets up a booth at the annual St. Baldrick’s event in her community, helping to raise money for childhood cancer research.
Recently, Angel began sponsoring the kid’s club of the Greensboro Swarm, a local basketball team. Through this program, kids are able to come and watch the games, meet the players, participate in various activities, and even shoot hoops with the team.
When you give back to your community, they take care of you,” Angel affirms.
Maura Parks owns the Pigtails & Crewcuts salon in Germantown, Tennessee, alongside her husband Adam. As a mother of three elementary schoolaged children, Maura is heavily involved in the school system.
However, Maura’s reasons for opening a kid’s haircut franchise hit closer to home. Maura’s son has a sensory processing disorder, which meant taking him to get a haircut was a significant challenge. She and her husband were adamant about needing a hair salon in their community that caters to all children and their specific needs.
They searched online and found Pigtails & Crewcuts, a concept that’s positioned as a service and experience, not simply a haircut. More importantly, it’s a family-oriented business, as opposed to a cold, corporate structure.
How Maura Gives Back through her Business
Maura is also a board member of the Parent Teacher Organization. Through the PTO and other organizations, she sponsors any event that someone approaches her to support, without hesitation.
And it’s this connection to the school system, parents and kids that has led Maura to support her community through her kid’s hair salon.
At the beginning of the 2018 school year, Maura responded to the call from teachers for school supplies. She ran a contest asking all of the followers of her Pigtails & Crewcuts Facebook page to nominate a local teacher to receive $100 worth of school supplies purchased from their Amazon Wish List.
She ended up choosing three teachers from the local community as prize recipients. They weren’t previous customers – but they are now. Maura does a lot of cross-marketing to build connections with families in an atypical way.
Leading up to the time when classes resume in nearby schools, many parents encounter mixed emotions – from the heartache of less time spent with their kids, to the excitement of having more “me time” back in their schedules.
Targeting those parents looking forward to a little more freedom, Maura has partnered with other local business owners, including two spas, a cupcake shop, and a clothing retailer among others to create a back-to-school celebration kit for moms and dads. Parents can enter to win at each participating business, all of which cross-promote the others. In the end, the parents are the true beneficiaries of the initiative.
Maura also partners with the local children’s museum. She attends different special events throughout the year, setting up a station and adding fun colors and glitter to children’s hair. She also takes the opportunity to distribute coupons. All of these practices and initiatives to give back help build brand recognition and help form new relationships.
We establish true relationships with kids and their families,” said Maura. “So, my proudest moment as an entrepreneur is that I’ve been able to establish real, human connections with my customers.”
Jessica Fullwood was a stay-at-home mom who taught dance a couple of nights per week but primarily dedicated her time to raising her four – now five – children.
At one point, she and her husband had to come to terms with the growing financial burden of raising their five kids, four of whom are teenagers now. Jessica started seeking out business opportunities that would still allow her kids to be involved.
When she found Pigtails & Crewcuts, it was like a light bulb went off.
“The whole business model is kid-friendly and had a feel to it that wasn’t like a cookie-cutter franchise – it was more like a local store,” said Jessica.
She’s now the owner of two Pigtails & Crewcuts in the Norfolk, VA area, the first of which opened in 2007 and the other opened in 2015.
How Jessica Gives Back through her Business
Jessica is a big believer in donating to causes that are near and dear to her heart.
For instance, she fundraised for Autism Speaks, a national organization that focuses on helping individuals with autism and their families, by taking a percentage of the revenue of a haircut and donating it to the cause.
However, it’s the issue of childhood homelessness, a widespread problem in the Norfolk, Virginia area, that’s been a major source of inspiration for Jessica. In the summer of 2018, Jessica worked with a local homeless shelter called For Kids to hold a competition for homeless teens to design and build birdhouses at her Pigtails & Crewcuts location.
The kids decorated the birdhouses how they imagined a home should be. Some were decorated with seashells while others were very colorful. Each birdhouse also included a story about the child’s life.
People would donate a dollar to vote for a specific birdhouse. In that way, the kids also felt like they were able to actively take part in fundraising efforts.
“Learning about what homelessness is and seeing the faces of homelessness is very enlightening,” Jessica emphasized.
The birdhouses now decorate the For Kids homeless shelter.
Most recently, one of Jessica’s stylists went to the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk to work with the nursing staff and provide them with hair care products and brushes. She also educated the staff on caring for kids’ hair, showing them the best ways to painlessly de-tangle knots, and how to resolve other common hair care problems.
As a result, the children don’t have to deal with these types of issues when they’re at the hospital dealing with more important medical concerns. Jessica’s team also drops off hair bows and other items to help keep the kids happy.
I really stand by the idea that it takes a village to raise your children, and it takes that village to help out a community,” said Jessica. “If we all got back to helping out the communities where we live, our whole society would be better.”
Pigtails & Crewcuts Franchise Opportunities
At Pigtails & Crewcuts, we’re here for our franchise owners no matter what. We’re here to help you achieve success from the moment you sign your franchise agreement. In addition to the wealth of knowledge our leadership team has to offer, we have also built a system where seasoned owners are eager to share their experience with the newest members of our franchise family. You’ll always have someone to turn to when you need advice or suggestions, as well as people ready to celebrate all the wonderful moments ahead.
Franchising is a great opportunity to apply past work experience while enjoying the freedom of running your own business. While a background in business is helpful, we do not require experience specific to the hair industry.
Our financial requirements are $150,000 liquidity and a net worth of $250,000. We are awarding single-unit and multi-unit franchises across the U.S.
Get started learning how to bring Pigtails & Crewcuts to your community today!
Get in Touch
Michelle Holliman, Vice President of Franchise Development
mholliman@pigtailsandcrewcuts.com
877.752.6800
