18/8 Eighteen Eight Fine Men’s Salons Franchise Warning

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• The comments above barely scratch the surface of how deeply misrepresented this concept was / is and how destructive Griffiths' behaviors (and frankly those of his herd of toadies) are. Whether or not the Love family was complicit remains a matter for arbitrators and the courts to decide.

  I have a service business background and freely admit I was scammed. The concept is admirable, but the business model is built on misrepresentation and doesn't have a chance of working. Many of those who pulled the plug have lost $700k+, and those who remain or have rebranded in an attempt to not incur further losses in the form of personal guarantees are unlikely to ever recover their initial losses, much less get close to market return on their money.

  Instead of trying to improve the shambles that's left, team Griffiths pursues petty vendettas against the people who simply tried to climb out from the pit of despair, and actively uses threats to "keep" those who didn't have the resources to escape.

  If the public information on Mana (and his / his toadies' continued use of the now defunct Mana name on CA business licenses and registrations as late as 2017) is any indication, this isn't isolated or accidental behavior. I just can't understand how the State of CA lets these people get away with this sort of stuff!

• I evaluated 18/8 and Griff's Ace Barbers & Shave Bar as a potential investor. I decided to pass after meeting Scott Griffiths. How do i say this nicely? He seemed like he was full of hot air. This article seems to confirm my gut reaction. Relieved after reading this that I didn't go into business with him. I am sorry to everyone who did and suffered financial losses as a result.

• I agree with Duped Franchisee. Anyone looking to go into business with Scott Griffiths should search legal cases involving Mana Concepts. I guess a quick switch of legal entities allowed them to leave this critical information out of the 18/8 FDD. Seems like the same legal slight of hand is happening with Griff's Ace Barbers to obscure the failures of Eighteen Eight.

• The Internet disclosed that "pyramid schemes — also referred to as franchise fraud or chain referral schemes — are marketing and investment frauds in which an individual is offered a distributorship or franchise to market a particular product/service. The real profit is earned, not by the sale of the product/service, but by the sale of new distributorships. Emphasis on selling franchises rather than the product/service eventually leads to a point where the supply of potential investors is exhausted and the pyramid collapses.”

  You better believe it, that is what we have here!!!! The entire concept is nothing more then a fraudulent scheme designed to fleece franchisees of their hard earned money. The masterminds behind the scheme include Scott Griffiths, Ron Love, Brigitte Love, and more (aka “scam artists”), Etc. The scheme involved hiring a seller/broker agency in Saint Gregory Group (”SG”) that represented false material facts and failed to provide adequate disclosures on behalf of 18|8 (“franchisor”) to the franchisees. Prospective franchisees were identified through a network of different brokers that maintained relationships with SG. At one point with over 90 franchisees in the system, the scam artists through SG raised over 10,000,000 from sales involving development agreements utilizing illegal high-pressure sales techniques. 18|8, the collective group of brokers and the SG group touted the franchisor with false guarantees through their respective monthly dog and pony shows. Additionally, SG provided franchisees with a FDD that was completely fabricated by the scam artists with false financials amongst other material relevant facts not disclosed to the educated sophisticated investor. SG owned by Lance Freeman was heavily compensated in acting as a finder for finding 18|8 franchisees through its use of a network of brokers in communicating material misrepresentations.

  Over $10,000,000 in capital raised coupled with the monthly franchisee/marketing fees collected by 18|8 all would eventually disappear with none of the capital put back into the business to help the franchisees succeed as initially promised. One has to ask, where has all the capital gone? As the rebrands and the closing in the above posts indicate, clearly not into the system but rather into their own respective greedy pockets. The scam artists have misappropriated the money to purchase million dollar homes, new cars, and boats, etc… You have to ask, what else?? How about taking the money offshore to destinations for purpose of asset protection from lawsuits. A well thought out fraud engineered with the help of savvy attorneys!!!!

  In short, the business model here had one initiative- raising capital utilizing a business concept that was not setup to succeed which was fraudulently misrepresented to the franchisee community. It should be noted that this is not their first rodeo in operating such a scheme. Prior lawsuits and judgments filed against these individuals disclosed similar fraudulent acts. However, conveniently these disclosures were not made in the FDD as many invested on not only false promises but with individuals that had a prior history of theft.

  Currently, 18|8 faces numerous lawsuits of which several are eventually settled where material facts are not disclosed due to gag orders. Given the ongoing lawsuits coupled with many failing 18|8 salons a bankruptcy filing is imminent in the near future. The scam artists are planning an exit strategy which will enable them to further the fraud under what appears at the moment to plan a move certain assets to Griffs Ace Barbers and Shave Bar which would enable these scam artists to continue the fraud once they file bankruptcy. So how do we stop and bring justice!!!!

  Not easy!!!! Moreover, given the lack of regulation in the industry providing justice is best done through the help of this website and other social media to bring awareness to these scam artists. More so, because the scam artists pressure franchisees leaving the franchise system to sign a non-disclosure agreement, confidentiality agreement or a gag order. The gag order has allowed continued franchise misrepresentation by preventing prospective new franchisees learning important details about the churning franchise.

  We can only hope justice is brought to all involved in what is nothing than FRAUD.

• The Internet disclosed that "pyramid schemes — also referred to as franchise fraud or chain referral schemes — are marketing and investment frauds in which an individual is offered a distributorship or franchise to market a particular product/service. The real profit is earned, not by the sale of the product/service, but by the sale of new distributorships. Emphasis on selling franchises rather than the product/service eventually leads to a point where the supply of potential investors is exhausted and the pyramid collapses.”

  You better believe it, that is what we have here!!!! The entire concept is nothing more then a Ponzi scheme designed to fleece franchisees of their hard earned money. The masterminds behind the scheme include Scott Griffiths, Ron Love, Brigitte Love, and more (aka “scam artists”), Etc. The scheme involved hiring a seller/broker agency in Saint Gregory Group (”SG”) that represented false material facts and failed to provide adequate disclosures on behalf of 18|8 (“franchisor”) to the franchisees. Prospective franchisees were identified through a network of different brokers that maintained relationships with SG. At one point with over 90 franchisees in the system, the scam artists through SG raised over 10,000,000 from sales involving development agreements utilizing illegal high-pressure sales techniques. 18|8, the collective group of brokers and the SG group touted the franchisor with false guarantees through their respective monthly dog and pony shows. Additionally, SG provided franchisees with a FDD that was completely fabricated by the scam artists with false financials amongst other material relevant facts not disclosed to the educated sophisticated investor. SG owned by Lance Freeman was heavily compensated in acting as a finder for finding 18|8 franchisees through its use of a network of brokers in communicating material misrepresentations.

  Over $10,000,000 in capital raised coupled with the monthly franchisee/marketing fees collected by 18|8 all would eventually disappear with none of the capital put back into the business to help the franchisees succeed as initially promised. One has to ask, where has all the capital gone? As the rebrands and the closing in the above posts indicate, clearly not into the system but rather into their own respective greedy pockets. The scam artists have misappropriated the money to purchase million dollar homes, new cars, and boats, etc… You have to ask, what else?? How about taking the money offshore to destinations for purpose of asset protection from lawsuits. A well thought out fraud engineered with the help of savvy attorneys!!!!

  In short, the business model here had one initiative- raising capital utilizing a business concept that was not setup to succeed which was fraudulently misrepresented to the franchisee community. It should be noted that this is not their first rodeo in operating such a scheme. Prior lawsuits and judgments filed against these individuals disclosed similar fraudulent acts. However, conveniently these disclosures were not made in the FDD as many invested on not only false promises but with individuals that had a prior history of theft.

  Currently, 18|8 faces numerous lawsuits of which several are eventually settled where material facts are not disclosed due to gag orders. Given the ongoing lawsuits coupled with many failing 18|8 salons a bankruptcy filing is imminent in the near future. The scam artists are planning an exit strategy which will enable them to further the fraud under what appears at the moment to plan a move certain assets to Griffs Ace Barbers and Shave Bar which would enable these scam artists to continue the fraud once they file bankruptcy. So how do we stop and bring justice!!!!

  Not easy!!!! Moreover, given the lack of regulation in the industry providing justice is best done through the help of this website and other social media to bring awareness to these scam artists. More so, because the scam artists pressure franchisees leaving the franchise system to sign a non-disclosure agreement, confidentiality agreement or a gag order. The gag order has allowed continued franchise misrepresentation by preventing prospective new franchisees learning important details about the churning franchise.

  We can only hope justice is brought to all involved in what is nothing than FRAUD.

  Keith

• It's interesting that in the FDD, they only list the .eighteeneight emails for existing franchisees. I know that those emails are actively monitored by the franchisor. Seems like they are trying very hard to control information going to those in the sales pipeline. Hopefully they find this site and the truth.

• Commenters:

  Thanks for your participation in this important discussion.

  You don't need to use your real name, but please just use one posting name/identity & your real email address (not publicly visible).

  I've changed a few screen names that were posted from the same IP address to keep from exaggerating the number of commenters.

  Once again, those who dispute or disagree with the post or the opinions stated here are invited to provide corrections, clarifications and rebuttals either here or via email to UnhappyFranchisee[at]gmail.com.

  The company and its principals have been invited to comment, but we have received no response.

• Scott and Loretta Griffiths (husband and wife) and Ron and Brigitte (Thewes) Love (father and daughter) have all actively participated in all of the above "allegations." The Loves were not hoodwinked by Scott Griffiths. Ron was a co-founder of Mana Concepts, Inc. and went right along with Scott Griffiths when it came time to forming another entity. All four parties are also still involved with the current entity, and are equal opportunity assholes doing what they can to ruin current and former franchisees' lives.

  It would not be surprising if one or more disgruntled franchisees with a chip on their shoulder goes POSTAL on one or all four of these grifters. If or when it happens it will be well deserved. All four should be sleeping with one eye open.

• Looks like Ron Love still has an unpaid balance on his Discover Card;

  https://unicourt.com/case/urc-gAAAAABaTaictADlbi8FtH1kCAw0tzDiPVZKI853urFpgqI5W83QxEZkusvJz2eW0IGVftS3nnGGH78Pu52t6GfLUqoDxqItUw==#/dockets

  I'm not surprised.

• Another interesting tidbit. The 18/8 Franchise registration was cancelled in August 2017 -
  https://www.cards.commerce.state.mn.us/CARDS/security/search.do?documentId=%7BD3008D8F-18E7-4410-9326-D04A6286064E%7D