Brown Sugar
A year on from the first Covid lockdown, it’s Groundhog Day for shuttered hairdressing salons. Brown Sugar’s Mark O’Keeffe tells Siobhán O’Connell about operating a business in survival mode
The Dublin hairdressing chain has been prohibited from trading since mid-December. Owner Mark O’Keeffe explains how his business operates in survival mode
The pandemic has been cruel for hairdressing businesses and their employees. One year on from the first Covid lockdown announcement in midMarch 2020, salons are currently prohibited from trading. Since just before Christmas, they’ve been in their third and longest lockdown. Ministers have signalled that it will be May or June before people can officially treat themselves to a haircut, and possibly longer. The prohibition is daft as nixer hairdressers, who are now enjoying a boom trade, pose a far higher infection risk than partitioned salons.
Mark O’Keeffe (47), owner of the Brown Sugar chain, has faced challenges before. An operating company was wound up in March 2015 but he bounced back quickly. Prior to the pandemic, Brown Sugar operated seven hair and beauty salons in Dublin employing c.110 people, including a nail bar/beauty salon and Sugar Daddy barbers at the Frascati Centre in Blackrock, which opened in October 2019. One salon, Sugar Cubed, will not be trading from the same premises after the landlord declined to play ball over lease terms pre-pandemic.
Hairdressing is in the O’Keeffe genes. His father Frank was a director of Peter Mark, and son Mark joined that business straight from school. “I always wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps,” he says. “I saw myself staying in Peter Mark and becoming a director. I have a huge amount of respect for the Keaveneys. They have been in business since the 1960s and what they have done is second to none.”
A decade into his Peter Mark career, Mark O’Keeffe changed his mind. “At that point it wasn’t about being in control of my own destiny, not at all. But once the love changed, I started to look outside and see what other salons like Zoo and Toni & Guy were doing. That got me thinking, and when I turned 30 I decided to leave. I spent about two years getting my head around the USP for Brown Sugar, and opened my first salon on South William Street in 2005.”
O’Keeffe sourced the premises through a Peter Mark client. “She ran a quirky fashion shop and I was doing her hair one day when she mentioned that she was looking to do something else with her life. I asked could I come down and have a chat with her during the week. She introduced me to the guys who managed the property for the landlord, and they interviewed me and just took a punt on me.”
O’Keeffe’s strategy was to position Brown Sugar upmarket, and it worked. Nearly a decade ago a Brown Sugar operating company filing for 2012 disclosed €200,000 pay and pension remuneration for O’Keeffe and his partner as he approached his 40th birthday. Last year’s outcome is likely to have been considerably less, as was the case, and still is the case, for Brown Sugar staff and thousands of their peers in the sector.
Yet Brown Sugar is still standing, and raring to go once O’Keeffe gets the green light from chief medical officer Tony Holohan, whose need for a haircut may be a less urgent priority than for Mná na hÉireann. Still, O’Keeffe credits government supports for keeping his show on the road, as he explains in this chat which takes place in his deserted city-centre salon, where the water pipes have just burst upstairs.
How does your business function when you can’t serve your customers?
Our salons are closed but we are still open. The most important thing for us is to try and stay connected with staff and clients. In the first shutdown a year ago we were doing stuff on WhatsApp groups but not much else. We’ve taken it to a much better level now. There’s online training and constant connection between managers and their teams now. However, we’re not really trading. There’s a very small turnover from online shopping, but it’s not much.
What was your reaction when the first lockdown occurred in March 2020?
I remember the weeks leading up to the first lockdown and the fear factor was becoming much more intense in the salons. Staff were worried, and every day that went by was more intimidating. There was a sense of relief when we had to close, because as a salon owner you’re responsible for everybody. They are looking for advice and direction, and that was a lot of pressure to carry.
I had no idea the business closure was going to last as long as it did.
At first it was a little bit of a break, but after a few weeks we realised that our lockdown was going to drag on. Then it became a case of fight or flight, and you can’t run when the business is your life and you have five children. I have a lot of responsibility to them and the people that work for me, and I love my business and my brands. So you have to stand and fight.
Were all the staff laid off?
Everybody was laid off and put on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, including myself. Staff were rehired in June when our lockdown lifted, and we availed of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme from September. Most staff were pleased to be back on the books, because being on social welfare when you want to buy a car or a house affects your ability to borrow.
Using the EWSS, staff were retained in employment through last October and November. That decision came back to bite us at Christmas, when PUP recipients received a bonus and there was nothing extra for EWSS recipients. A lot of our team, myself included, felt we were hoodwinked. We were all still technically out of work even though we were availing of the EWSS and not claiming the PUP. We did what the government asked and kept the staff on the books. They all had friends and family who were still on the PUP and got their Christmas bonus.
With this third lockdown, everyone was given a choice – go on the PUP or
stay on the books with the EWSS. Most of them went for the PUP because they are worried that if there are further lockdowns they could miss out on the Christmas bonus again, and they don’t want to make the same mistake twice.
The PUP bonus issue apart, what’s your view on state supports for your sector?
I think the government has done a really good job supporting our industry. I know our colleagues in the UK haven’t had the same level of support, and a lot of salons in the UK have closed because they ran out of cash. In the grand scheme of things, I’m incredibly grateful for the support that the government has provided to small to medium enterprises like ours.
You’re on the executive committee of the Irish Hairdressers Federation – did you have any success influencing government policy?
For hairdressing salons, the first lockdown was originally scheduled to lift towards the end of July 2020. Government wouldn’t engage with the Federation, as they were busy on other fronts, and I totally respect that. We developed our own protocols in relation to PPE, perspex dividers, disposable towels, and lots of other things to make our salons safe. Eventually we got the protocols in front of the Department of Enterprise and NPHET, and as a result we were allowed to open a few weeks earlier.
Was there much staff slippage when the first lockdown was lifted last summer?
It was a mixed bag. Some people just couldn’t wait to return to work. They missed the buzz and the craic, and they wanted to be on the floor doing hair. A small number of part-timers decided that they’d be better off staying on the PUP and doing nixers.
There were other people who were, naturally enough, really nervous about catching Covid. Wearing masks, and all these other new protocols that they had to follow, made their world very different and more challenging. I had a little wobble on my own on the first day back. I’ve never suffered from anxiety, but I had spent weeks and weeks preparing to re-open the business. All of a sudden I felt sick. My knees were shaking like when you’re nervous. It was the fear of the unknown, a build-up of all this pressure.
There is a gorgeous young girl in our salon who suffers from anxiety, and I have helped her over the years with different things. She took me aside and talked to me for a few minutes. You can do this, she told me, everything will be fine. I’ll never forget how she helped me. That’s how we work here. It’s a really good team environment and people help and support each other.
Your second lockdown concluded in early December 2020. How was trade that month?
Absolutely everybody came back to work. Because of social distancing protocols, you’re looking at 50% fewer customers every week. However, our turnover didn’t decline by half, which is what we were concerned about. All our dockets were big dockets. Everyone was coming in for a cut and colour, the whole works. Nobody was coming in for just a blow dry or a fringe trim. We were still down consistently 30% compared to the previous year but the government subsidies helped to compensate. That support is massive.
How has reduced customer numbers and turnover affected operations?
Our ability to train people is really weakened because you need to be trading pretty much every moment you can to maximise your turnover to be able to provide the training. When you have to cut costs, the training spend suffers, and you can’t afford extra courses for your senior staff. All of that has had to be cut back.
The most important thing for us is that we still want Brown Sugar to be the best experience despite the challenges of Covid. We still want our
clients to enjoy coming to Brown Sugar, so there are things you can’t afford to cut back on either. Initially when we re-opened last June, we weren’t providing any teas, coffees or drinks. We brought that back after lockdown two.
What was your feeling when the third and current lockdown was announced?
I think that most people expected a spike in Covid case numbers in January, but what we didn’t expect was for numbers to skyrocket due to the new Covid strain. I was initially hoping the lockdown would be lifted after Easter but I have a feeling they are going to push it out for longer. I don’t really know what this means for my business. I believe that we will be okay because of the supports that are in place. I also believe that when we re-open, the loyalty will be there and our clients will come back.
I still haven’t achieved what I set out to do when I opened my first salon in 2005. I thought I would have ten salons in ten years. I’m back to six now but I still want to get to ten. That’s still the magic number but don’t ask me why. Opening a new salon isn’t that hard – any fool can spend money on a lease and fitting out the premises. The hard bit is assembling and motivating a really good team, and keeping everyone focused on your business model. That takes longevity. Maybe when I get to ten salons I can start to relax a little bit.
Have you secured any leeway from your landlords?
Our landlords have been decent and are working with us. They are in business too and they have their own challenges, so it’s just about trying to find a level playing field. There have been some months rent free and pushing some payments to the end of the lease. Because of the government supports, we are able to make partial payments each month while we are closed. The problem is going to be how long this goes on for, and will the government well run dry.
Have you experienced any dark moments of the soul since last March, thinking maybe that ‘I didn’t sign up for this, this is just too much’?
I train every morning for an hour and a half, and that helps with physical and mental strength. I’m incredibly grateful for what this business has given me and my family. It runs through my veins and I love it. I just can’t wait to get back on the horse.
This time will pass. How long it’s going to take to pass, I have absolutely no idea, but I think we are heading towards the light again. Spring is in the air and I am very optimistic. The great thing about our industry is that you cannot have your hair done online. Women know they need to go to a good hairdresser, with great stylists and colourists, and that’s always going to take place in a salon like ours. I have no doubt that we will be back and stronger than ever. I just can’t wait for all this to be gone.