18/8 Eighteen Eight Fine Men’s Salons overstates the success of its franchises and understates its franchise failures, according to a franchise owner who provided this anonymous complaint. We invite others to validate or dispute this claim – and share their opinions of the Eighteen Eight Fine Men’s Salon franchise, the Griff’s Shave Bar franchise, and franchisor Ultimate Franchises Inc.
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Eighteen Eight Fine Men’s Salons – How Many Open / Closed / Rebranded? is an anonymously submitted guest post penned by a current or former 18/8 franchise owner.
The writer believes all information and numbers to be accurate, but invites readers to verify independently and draw their own conclusions.
Here’s the Guest Post:
Submitted by An 18/8 Franchise Owner.
In a recent Forbes interview (dated 6/13/18), franchise CEO (Chief Exaggerating Officer), Scott Griffiths severely overstates franchise success, open location count, and units in development of the 18/8 Fine Men’s Salon franchise chain.
Scott Griffiths is also the principal of Ultimate Franchises Inc. and the sub-brand Griff’s Shave Bar.
The premise of the article is how the financial crisis helped 18|8 Fine Men’s Salons grow faster through franchising than it would have organically.
While franchising has helped the 18|8 brand grow in store count in recent years, the rapid closing of locations throughout the country has led to many franchisees losing their life savings.
Griffiths states in the article, “Since franchising, 18|8 Fine Men’s Salons has grown to nearly 100 locations, with more than 150 in development.”
Eighteen Eight’s own website only lists 61 operating locations. Where are the other 39?
In a recent internal call with franchisees, Griffiths claims 75 open locations.
Did he mean “nearly” 75?
Where is the truth?
1. Irvine, CA (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salon-irvine-2)
2. Westlake Village, CA (https://www.yelp.com/biz/eighteen-eight-fine-mens-salon-westlake-village)
3. San Rafael, CA (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salon-san-rafael)
4. Walnut Creek, CA (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-walnut-creek-walnut-creek-2)
5. Culver City, CA (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-culver-city-culver-city-5)
6. La Jolla, CA (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-la-jolla-la-jolla-2)
7. Little Italy (San Diego), CA (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-broadstone-little-italy-san-diego)
8. Washington, DC (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-washington)
9. Coral Gables, FL (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salon-coral-gables)
10. Bethesda, MD (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-bethesda-bethesda)
11. Maple Lawn, MD (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-maple-lawn-fulton-2)
12. North Baltimore, MD (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-greenspring-baltimore-2)
13. St. Louis Park, MN (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-st-louis-park-st-louis-park-2)
14. Bedminster, NJ (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-bedminster)
15. Westwood, NJ (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-westwood)
16. Florham Park, NJ (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-florham-park-florham-park)
17. Edgewater, NJ (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-city-place-edgewater-edgewater)
18. Livingston, NJ (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-livingston-livingston)
19. Woodbury, NJ (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-woodbury-woodbury)
20. Beachwood, OH (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-beachwood-beachwood-2)
21. Avon Commons, OH (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-avon-commons-avon)
22. Lake Oswego, OR (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-lake-oswego-lake-oswego-4)
23. McKinney, TX (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-mckinney-mckinney)
24. Fort Worth, TX (https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-fort-worth-fort-worth)
1. Ocotillo, AZ
2. Waterfront, AZ
3. Newport Beach, CA
4. West Hollywood, CA
5. Dublin, CA
6. Brea, CA
7. Huntington Beach, CA
8. Campbell, CA
9. Roseville, CA
10. Mountain View, CA
11. Laguna Niguel, CA
12. Closter, NJ
13. Jersey City, NJ
14. Mamaroneck, NJ
15. Cool Springs, TN
16. Plano, TX
17. Flower Mound, TX
18. Richardson, TX
19. Bothell, WA
6 other former franchise locations have had operations taken over by 18|8 corporate;
1. Anaheim Hills, CA
2. Lake Forest, CA
3. Centennial, CO
4. Annapolis, MD
5. Princeton, NJ
6. Powell, OH
The franchise page of the eighteeneight.com franchise website states: “Total Investment Range is $291,851 – $513,639 for a single 18|8 Fine Men’s Salon.”
Considering all store closures, rebrands, and corporate takeovers, this equates to $14.3-$25.1 million in lost investor value. This total does not include resales that have netted the original owner negative value.
Scott Griffiths claims 150 units in development. In the first 6 months of 2018 alone, over 2 dozen locations have either closed or rebranded, while only 2 new locations have opened. In an amazing twist of irony; the recent Forbes article is titled “Growth Stories: How the Financial Crisis Caused This Business To Grow Ten Times Faster.”
Share your personal Growth Story with 18|8 Fine Men’s Salons in the comments.
[End of Guest Submitted Content]
See how many locations Ultimate Franchises, Inc. claims to have as of July, 2017. See Item 20 for location and sales information, and the exhibits for a list of current and former franchise owners:
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NOTE: We invite all parties discussed to share corrections, clarifications, explanations, rebuttals, and alternative points of views. Franchisors, franchisees, employees and others discussed here can leave comments below or submit rebuttals and clarifications via email to UnhappyFranchisee[at]Gmail.com.
Opinions and representations expressed are those of the parties alone; do your own research and make up your own mind. We are a discussion site and invite all opinions from all points of view which can be left as comments or submitted to UnhappyFranchisee[at]gmail.com for possible publication. Anonymous commenting is fine. Please consider supporting our effort with a contribution to Unhappy Franchisee.
ARE YOU AN 18/8 EIGHTEEN EIGHT FRANCHISE OWNER OR GRIFF’S SHAVE BAR FRANCHISEE? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE ULTIMATE FRANCHISES, INC. CONCEPTS AND SUPPORT?
IS SCOTT GRIFFITHS EXAGGERATING THE SUCCESS & UNDERSTATING THE RISK OF HIS FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES?
SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.
TAGS: 18/8 Fine Men’s Salons, 18/8 Fine Men’s Salons franchise, 18/8 Salon franchise opportunity, 18/8 Fine Men’s Salons franchise complaints, Eighteen Eight Salon franchise, Eighteen Eight Salon franchise, Griff’s Shave Bar franchise, Ultimate Franchises Inc., franchise complaints, Scott Griffiths, W. Scott Griffiths, Ron Love, Loretta Hwong Griffiths, , Brigitte Love Thewes, Mark Elson, unhappy franchisee
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View Comments
Speaking of Mark Weingast, there are only 2 in the entire greater NYC area stores still open, both are not making money and are listed for sale. 2 for 12 Scott Griffiths stores still hanging on! Scott, you must be proud. That is quite a testament. Are you still doing interviews about being such a successful franchisor? Scott, you used to always blame the franchisees (and NEVER thought a store should close) though you have closed plenty since and had already closed a store described by Ron Love in Yelp that in essence was an 18|8 though never disclosed. Do you still blame the franchisees for 10 of those 12 stores finding they could no longer survive as an 18|8? Do you blame the 2 current franchisees barely hanging on for not making money at this point? Are they also not following the system as preach on the BHC for such a long time? I know they also are living with huge regret for believing your statements Discovery Day and made in FDD statements or, for not discovering your ommissions in the FDD?
(Obviously selling stores on the BizBuySell website translates to pennies on the dollar compared to the accumulated investment, even if they can sell to get out from under personal guarantees. So, in reality, Scott Griffith's you are batting zero in the greater NYC area!)
Here were the opening store counts from what I gather for greater NYC:
-----
Bunce-1
Case-1
Kinnally-1
Patel-2
Shanklin-1 *
Stearns-1 *
Tessitore-1
Vinci-3
Weingast-1
------
* - still open, listed for sell on BizBuySell
Regarding prison for W. Scott, et. al... Is anyone aware of any ongoing criminal investigations? To the best of my knowledge government organizations (i.e., the SBA via the Office of Inspector General, states via their corporations divisions, etc.) do not normally pursue criminal prosecutions against a crooked franchisor. Instead, these organizations tend to "slap the wrists" of the W. Scotts of the world by baring them from future franchisee loan approvals, franchise registrations, etc. It's a real shame, but a sign of how laws and regulations are drafted in favor of the banks, big business, etc. The little guy always gets hosed. Unfortunately, W. Scott et. al have been able to take advantage of these big business protections to date. Perhaps it's time for another course of action.
18/8 Honolulu has also recently closed;
https://www.yelp.com/biz/18-8-fine-mens-salons-honolulu-honolulu-2
Good luck trying to drive a truck down there to ransack the place like you tried to do when the stores in San Diego closed, scumbag Griffiths.
Looks like they are still trying to lure suckers in with low quality youtube commercials.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUl44wDiG9I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0diyZpa0s2s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZDnoUT7U8Q
The Andrew Hulse one is especially hilarious! INTEGRITY
Those videos are unbelievable. Andrew standing in front of a white curtain with bad lighting and sound, rubbing his nose at the end. And the first video highlights three salons: WeHo (debranded), Newport Beach (debranded) and La Jolla (closed).
LoL at Chris Brown's self correction on store count from his Zenoti interview just a year ago from 100 to 'about' 60. He has basically turned into a mini Scott that mumbles when he's making shit up.
Also good effort trying to make Griff's sound like a success when there is one store open and the franchisee had set out to build 10 by the end of last year. I talked to the Griff's owner last month and he said it was the biggest mistake he has ever made.
Former Franchisee, I dropped a question onto the Griff's Roanoke Yelp page asking where the other nine stores are located since they were supposed to have ten open by now. JG's answer was the other cities on the website are planned future locations. You'd think since Chris said Roanoke was profitable in 60 days, he'd be jumping at the chance to develop his territory fully.
When approximately 95% of all franchisees without a conflict of interest, inclusive of those who paid the upfront amount but didn't build a store, regret their investment, you have to think Chris and Andrew are putting themselves into a problematic position with investors, present or future, who have consulted with them and invested.
Chris and Andrew know full well the overwhelming experience that franchisees have. An interesting question to Chris and Andrew would be for someone considering to invest would, "Why didn't you build all the stores you paid to develop in the time period of your development agreement? Why haven't you already built 15 stores"?
As far as that concerns, a question Scott might be along the same lines. As well as, "Why is your busiest store in the original FDD no longer open?"
Andrew Hulse, a former naval officer from Elk River, Minnesota, is listed as a Vice President / VP at 18|8 Eighteen Eight Fine Men's Salons. Andrew Hulse owns two 18|8 Fine Men's Salons, one in Maple Grove, Minnesota and the second in Wayzata, Minnesota. Chris Brown, a former Brand Manager for Procter and Gamble from the Greater Cincinnati, Ohio area and an associate of Andrew Hulse, is the Vice President of Marketing and Brand Management at 18|8 Eighteen Eight Fine Men's Salons. Shame of both Andrew Hulse, an associate of Chris Brown, and Chris Brown, and associate of Andrew Hulse. Both Andrew Hulse and Chris Brown know the truth about 18|8 Eighteen Eight Fine Men's Salons franchises, as well as the fraud committed by the founders of 18|8 Eighteen Eight Fine Men's Salons. Andrew Hulse and Chris Brown are doing bad, bad things that will catch up to them in the end. Shame on you Andrew Hulse and Chris Brown!
Chris Brown has told me straight up that he's not interested in building any more stores. But he's telling others that they should? What a dick.