Small-time barbers may lose big to elite saloon franchises in Chennai

Stand-alone saloon shop owners in the city fear that maintaining social distancing norms and changing wrap sheets for each customer would not be difficult for high-end saloon chains but for them, it would reduce their income.

“My shop is in a very small room with two chairs, and I have no waiting area apart from a bench. For me, maintaining social distancing norms would be difficult. As we can see the increase in the number of corona cases in the city, I think I wouldn’t be able to open my shop for another month,” said Madhavan, who runs a saloon in Anna Nagar.

But high-end saloon franchise like Green Trends has been preparing to reopen the shops for the past month with standard operating safety protocol (SOSP). “We have researched by reaching out to our customers to understand their mindset and expectations while visiting the saloon post lockdown. We got a good response from the customers, and only 20 per cent of the people said that they are not sure. Our saloons are ready to operate, and we would have bar codes so that people can scan, view the price and menu,” said Deepak Praveen, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Green Trends.

After getting the customers input and government guidelines, Green Trends has conducted extensive training sessions to their employees to follow SOSP and refreshment, the COO added.

Apart from that, Green Trends would operate strictly based on appointments only, and their staff’s temperature would be checked before they enter the shop, which is also applicable to customers. “If our shop has five chairs, only three would be functioning and the waiting area would be for two people. After every service, we would dispose of the wrap sheet, sanitise the machines and staff are trained enough to handle the procedures. Already, our SOSP is in trial basis in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, and we would be modifying the protocols, according to the place and need,” said Deepak.

Another barber in Anna Nagar noted that in times of crisis, only small-time players like him are affected and bigger franchise are benefiting from it.