Taran’s Journey – Tunbridge Wells

Taran Bassi’s story is one that is particular important to us, as he was the very first franchisee to join us at The Massage Company.

His centre in Tunbridge Wells opened in September 2018 and has been a resounding success. It has already exceeded our expectations in terms of sales and membership, and is the perfect example of how well our franchise model works.

For many years, Taran ran an IT consultancy firm in London but has spent the last several years looking for business opportunities in different sectors. He was already familiar with how well franchising worked, and had seen how much it had benefitted many of his friends and colleagues. Taran explained why the concept appealed to him so much: “The thing I really like about franchising is how it reduces a lot of the risk involved. You get a lot back for your investment. It’s a great way to move into a new area with a lot of the marketing and growth concepts already taken care of.”

Taran spent a great deal of time researching the many different franchise options out there, but nothing really grabbed his attention until he started looking at The Massage Company. He knew Charlie Thompson, our Operations Director, from university so a strong relationship of trust already existed between them. However, it was the success of the Camberley centre and the company’s proven business model that really drew his interest. As he tells us, “I started out just as an interested friend, but as their centre grew and grew, and its potential for growth became more obvious, I decided it was time to have a serious discussion about how I could get more involved.”

As part of his journey towards becoming our first franchisee, Taran spent a year working part-time at the Camberley centre learning all about the operations of the business from the inside. This was an experience he found to be extremely valuable and gave him everything he needed to take the next steps in his preparation and training.

“The team have been really great all the way through, right from the early days of looking at sites and working out what was needed, through to my own operations training and learning about the business. Their support is available all of the time. I particularly enjoyed the process of building my own team, developing our own culture and attitude towards the business.”

The team continued to support Taran in finding the right site, and advising him on researching his new market. He and his team put in an incredible amount of time and effort promoting the centre ahead of its opening by contacting their potential customer base and getting involved with a whole array of big local events. All the hard work really paid off, and more than 5 weeks of business was already booked and paid for before the centre even opened its doors.

When we asked Taran to sum up all his experiences, and if this is something he would recommend to others, he told us: “It’s a growing brand with a proven concept. Together, we are changing the whole market and improving all the time: improving ourselves, and improving the industry. One of the best things about running this business is that people come to us with a genuine need: an ache, a pain or stress and anxiety, and we can see how we are really making a difference for them. 100% of the time they are coming out with a fantastic experience, a memorable customer journey. It can be hard work, but you can really reap the rewards at the end of it. It’s a fantastic journey to be a part of.”