Woven Generates Glowing Results for Glow Brands' Multi-Unit Operations
Removing common issues that prevent operational excellence changes the game for this franchisee and franchisor.
The Numbers
197 Store Locations
More Than 2,400 Employees
Saved $1,000,000 Annually
Glow Brands strives to deliver top-tier customer service at every shop, club, and salon it operates, including Buff City Soap (franchisee), Kueber Fitness (a Planet Fitness franchisee), and Sun Tan City (franchisor). With nearly 200 locations and 2,400 employees under those three brands, managing communication, people, and operations across these multi-unit businesses presents many challenges. Glow Brands sought to boost its operational efficiency to improve customer experience.
Thanks to Woven’s comprehensive and customizable management solution, Glow Brands has reallocated more than $1 million of annual managerial time from manual and redundant tasks to growth-focused initiatives.
"We really bought into Woven because of its capability to fulfill so many of our needs. They were an incredible partner and designed a custom solution to address our specific pain points," said Megan Reese, Director of Operations for Buff City Soap.
Challenges
Buff City Soap, Planet Fitness, and Sun Tan City operators shared many of the same challenges, including:
- Managing shift scheduling and labor costs.
- Uniformly and efficiently delivering communications to staff at locations across the country.
- Consolidating information for reporting and audits.
- Organizing incident and maintenance reports.
- Eliminating time wasted by switching between multiple platforms.
Glow Brands enlisted Woven to address these frontline operational challenges.
“We really bought into Woven because of its capability to fulfill so many of our needs,” said Reese.
Auditing and Reporting Functionalities Get Results
Glow Brands’ operational managers praise the auditing and reporting features for their ease of use and ability to drive results. With the single dashboard, corporate leaders have all the relevant data at their fingertips to identify challenges, areas of improvement, compliance needs and successful practices.
"Woven's audit functionality is a wonderful tool to help us improve customer service," said Susie Butler, Sun Tan City Sr. Vice President for Operations.
“Problems can be immediately addressed, resulting in better service for our members,” said Jeremy Smith, Kueber Fitness Vice President of Operations.
The Solution
In 2018, Glow Brands’ Planet Fitness clubs became the first to implement Woven. Woven provided a customized solution combining many operational functions into a single platform. The locations experienced streamlined communication, simplified compliance workflows, and faster repairs. Managers completed audits and reports more efficiently because all information was in Woven.
The rollout was so successful that Glow Brands began implementing Woven in its other brands. As the Sun Tan City franchisor, Glow Brands adopted the platform for loss prevention reporting at its 92 corporate-operated salons, but Woven’s use quickly expanded to other areas, including communication, knowledge management, compliance and reporting. Sun Tan City is now in the processes of implementing Woven across all 256 brand locations. Woven will become a requirement for all locations towards the end of the 2023.
"We love Woven because it really is a one-stop shop for our staff and managers," said Susie Butler, Sun Tan City Sr. Vice President of Operations.
Buff City Soap stores especially appreciate Woven’s scheduling function. Previous solutions left many needs unfilled. With Woven’s capabilities, franchisees can see their staffing hours allotment and employee availability in the same location, and employees can view the schedule and communicate about shifts. Glow Brands’ Planet Fitness clubs are implementing scheduling as well.
“Thanks to Woven, Glow Brands has gained numerous efficiencies and improved managerial effectiveness, creating an outsized return on our investment.” — John Piwetz, CFO and Executive Vice President of Glow Brands
Executive Overview
Industry: Health and Fitness, Personal Care, Beauty, Retail
Locations: 197 corporate-operated locations
Employees: ~2,400
Use Cases: Communication, knowledge management, policy management, executive reporting, location audits, work orders, incident reporting, scheduling, compliance.
Products Used: Woven
Key Results:
- Saved Glow Brands $1,000,000 in annual managerial time across all brands using Woven.
- Improved policy management and compliance processes.
- Streamlined reporting and location auditing for more informed business decisions.
- Enabled faster policy implementation and action to address issues.
- Facilitated more efficient and standardized communication.
- Simplified and improved shift scheduling.
Key Discoveries:
- Woven eliminates the need for multiple systems and logins and creates operational function access in a single platform.
- Store, regional and district managers save multiple hours a week on manual administrative tasks, translating to significant cost savings.
- With fewer platforms to navigate and simpler processes, employees can spend more time on customer-related functions.
- Messages and policies are delivered in one step to improve communication and compliance.
- Private and team chats provide a professional communication channel and encourage a teamwork-oriented environment.
- Improved location auditing helps quickly resolve issues and identify areas for improvement.