How the Elements Massage Brand’s COVID-19 Task Force Offers Franchisees Reopening Support

Since before the COVID-19 crisis, the Elements Massage® brand’s parent company WellBiz Brands Inc. has been providing industry-leading support for franchisees in over 600 units across three different concepts in the health and wellness space. Thanks to the support of WellBiz Brands, Elements Massage franchisees benefit from elevated marketing efforts, recruitment support and more. Over the past few months, the Elements Massage Support Center has been responding to the unprecedented needs of franchisees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When the crisis first hit, we built a complete resource center — the COVID Task Force — and the first piece to that was creating communication around preserving staff, teams and membership bases,” said Lauren Wanamaker, senior director of development of WellBiz Brands. “As a franchisor, it’s always been one of our biggest responsibilities to help create a network that allows franchisees to communicate and support each other. Franchisees have been sharing what they’ve done in studios to preserve memberships, apply for relief funds and more.”

Now, as states across the country slowly start to open their doors again, the Elements Massage COVID Task Force has largely shifted its focus to providing support for franchisees navigating the complex reopening process. “We’ve been working to adapt the Elements Massage operational model for a post-COVID world, including an easier check-in process, socially distancing within the studios to the fullest extent possible, client and team member temperature checks, scheduling procedures, increased sanitation and more,” said Wanamaker.

Reopening support

The Elements Massage brand is also prioritizing the long-term financial health of franchisees through the guidance of the utilization of funds received through relief efforts in order to help owners get back to where they were or position them for greater success. “We are helping franchisees prepare for a pent-up consumer demand and a large influx of new members,” said Wanamaker. “When it comes to reactivation, the brand is also looking for ways to make established members feel valued and reward those who stuck with their local studio.”

The Elements Massage brand is implementing several new initiatives to continue serving clients with premium, therapeutic massage services, especially as wellness becomes more important than ever.

“The Support Center has been terrific during this time,” said Colleen O’Connor, an Elements Massage franchisee in Richmond Heights, Missouri. “They have been incredibly resourceful in ensuring that we are positioned to support the member base moving forward. Customers are allowed to do what they want with their memberships at this time — they can opt to suspend their membership without any notice or penalty, save their massage sessions for a later time or opt to combine them into longer sessions in the future.”

Recruitment efforts

In addition to a pent-up consumer demand, Elements Massage studios are preparing for a larger pool of potential employees seeking new employment due to the pandemic. As individual massage businesses may be closing their doors for good, many of these private massage therapists may be looking for the support and reliable backing of larger organizations. The Elements Massage brand has the tools and resources in place to support franchisees in their recruitment and training efforts.

O’Connor is still thrilled to be part of the Elements Massage system and is eager to employ new massage therapists. “Part of the reason I joined the brand in the first place was that it was founded by a massage therapist **and the team understands that massage therapists are the lifeblood of our business,” she said. “This is a great place for a massage therapist to build a career and nothing gives me more joy than mentoring them.

If we invest time in our massage therapists,** they will invest time in the clients**, which is why the Elements Massage brand has built such a great following.”

In addition to assisting studios recruitment of dedicated local massage therapists who bring years of experience to their practice, the Elements Massage brand also provides massage therapists with training guides in The Elements Way®****, a client-therapist relationship-building process that prioritizes meeting guest’s expectations every step of the way.

Growth and investment

The Elements Massage brand has maintained its status as a strong investment opportunity and continued its expansion nationwide. For new franchisees interested in joining the network, the leadership team is continuing to provide the onboarding support needed to open strong despite the current crisis.

“The Elements Massage business coaches provide franchisees with all of the documents and checklists they need, which is especially helpful if they are opening a brick-and-mortar studio for the first time,” O’Connor said. “It helps make the onboarding process painless. It sounds cliché, but our business coaches truly are rock stars. They talk to franchise owners every single day, gather best practices and share information as needed. This makes us better as individual studios and as a brand.”

Thanks to the industry-leading support of WellBiz Brands and the Elements Massage’s COVID Task Force, both new and established franchisees can be positioned to emerge from this crisis stronger than ever.

With a single-unit investment range between $251,950 - 491,350, the Elements Massage® franchise was* recently named one of the Top 10 Best Franchises to Buy in the medium investment category by Forbes® Magazine. To learn more, visit ***

***This information is not intended as an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, a franchise. It is for information purposes only. Currently, the following states regulate the offer and sale of franchises: California, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

If you are a resident of one of these states, we will not offer you a franchise unless and until we have complied with applicable pre-sale registration and disclosure requirements in your jurisdiction. MN File No. F-5517.

SUCH REGISTRATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE APPROVAL, RECOMMENDATION OR ENDORSEMENT BY THE COMMISSIONER OF CORPORATIONS NOR A FINDING BY THE COMMISSIONER THAT THE INFORMATION PROVIDED HEREIN IS TRUE, COMPLETE AND NOT MISLEADING.Such filing does not constitute approval by the Department of Law. Each Elements Massage® studio is independently owned and operated.

Elements Massage®, Elements Massage + design and The Elements Way® are registered trademarks of Elements Therapeutic Massage, LLC.