--- title: "From Papa John’s Pizza to Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa: How Eric Danver Became A Successful Multi-Unit Franchisee with Two National Brands" url: https://burnaze.com/article/b14edae4-b4c3-4761-8fa6-d6e9eb3477d0 source: "1851 Franchise" original_url: https://1851franchise.com/from-papa-johns-pizza-to-hand-stone-massage-and-facial-spa-how-eric-danver-became-a-successful-multi-unit-franchisee-with-two-national-brands-2712675 category: "Franchise Industry" industry: "Franchise Industry" topics: ["Development & multi-unit"] published: 2020-11-09T19:14:42.000Z modified: 2026-11-01T02:27:34.694Z image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/02275ff0838544a8427769d8299e97275903.jpg --- # From Papa John’s Pizza to Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa: How Eric Danver Became A Successful Multi-Unit Franchisee with Two National Brands **TL;DR:** Eric Danver, a multi-unit franchisee, has developed and operated 53 Papa John's locations and is now the largest franchisee of Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa with 15 locations. Danver was introduced to Hand & Stone after visiting a location and was impressed with the brand's leadership team and consumer offering. *originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2020-11-09. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/from-papa-johns-pizza-to-hand-stone-massage-and-facial-spa-how-eric-danver-became-a-successful-multi-unit-franchisee-with-two-national-brands-2712675).* ## Story **Multi-unit, multi-brand franchise owner Eric Danver has come a long way since he got into the franchise industry at 25 years old.** **Danver first entered the franchising world after getting a job as an assistant manager of a Domino’s Pizza in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. After quickly being promoted to Corporate Operations Director, Danver had an opportunity to leave the company in order to pursue a** different **side of the pizza industry—developing and operating a Papa John’s Pizza franchise in New Jersey.** **Thanks to putting in years of hard work and hustle, Danver was able to develop and operate a total of 53 Papa John’s locations through Delaware, Philadelphia and New Jersey. Danver’s Papa John’s franchise company—PJPA, LLC—was even awarded Papa John’s National Large Franchisee of the Year Award, a recognition given to a Papa John’s franchisee with 11 or more locations for exemplifying Papa John’s commitment to serving a superior-quality pizza, world-class customer service and outstanding community involvement.** ## Diversifying portfolio **After eventually decreasing his number of Papa John’s franchises from 53 to 18, Danver decided it was time to diversify his portfolio and delve into another industry. Danver was introduced to Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa after visiting the brand’s Marlton, New Jersey location. “I was given an introductory customer offer from Hand & Stone to visit a location and try out their services,” he said. “After visiting and conducting some research on the brand, I was intrigued and wanted to speak with other members and entrepreneurs who had invested. After much due diligence, I met with the Hand & Stone team and was very impressed with their leadership team—I convinced my partners to invest.” **Regarding the specific aspects of** **Hand & Stone** **that captured his attention, Danver noted that he was extremely impressed with the consumer offering, the leadership team and the opportunities available to employees.** **“My partners and I were very impressed by the Hand & Stone concept and equally impressed by the leadership team,” he said. “We then set out to learn more about the industry and study the competition. It quickly became clear that Hand & Stone was going to be the big winner in the national massage and facial spa industry. There were a lot of variables that went into making the decision to invest, but the biggest variable was the quality of the guest experience along with the value of services.”** **“We realized that a lot of other competitors’ customer experience felt almost clinical, whereas Hand & Stone felt like a high-end spa with a great value approach,” Danver added.** **In addition, Danver also took into consideration the opportunities** **Hand & Stone** **provides to its employees to further their education. “Throughout my career, my mission has always been to promote within our organization, because the biggest blessing in my life was someone giving me an opportunity to prove I can accomplish anything,” Danver said. “I want to provide each and every one of my staff members with those same kinds of opportunities, and the Hand & Stone accreditation program that provides credit hours to its estheticians and massage therapists would allow me to pay it forward to my team.”** **In October of 2014, Danver, with the help of two of his daughters, Danielle and Katie, opened their very first Hand & Stone franchise in Chantilly, Virginia. Fast-forward six years later and Danver is the brand’s largest franchisee after opening his 15th location in November 2019 in Newark, Delaware.** **Since the beginning of his journey with Hand & Stone, Danver’s family has been involved in the day-to-day operations; his daughter Katie oversees six Hand & Stone spas in Pennsylvania and Delaware and his son Zach is a store manager.** **Hand & Stone’s Director of Franchise Development Nicole Alburger praises Danver and his achievements with the brand. “When we first met Eric Danver we knew he was going to bring something special to the Hand & Stone brand,” Alburger said. “He has accomplished so many great things with Papa John’s that we were confident he was going to accomplish great things for our brand, too. Eric exemplifies everything we want in a multi-unit franchisee and we are proud to be working with him.”** **Hand & Stone is a nearly 500-unit spa franchise with a mission to bring massage and facial services to the masses. Launched in 2004 by passionate physical therapist John Marco and now led by franchise veteran Todd Leff, Hand & Stone now has locations in 30 states and Canada. The brand is actively looking for franchisees in markets across the country, including Las Vegas, Nevada; New Orleans, Louisiana; Buffalo, New York and Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information on Hand & Stone’s franchising opportunities, visit** ** ## Entities - 1851 Franchise (publication) - Franchise Industry (sector) - Domino's (company) - Papa Johns (company) - multi-unit franchisee (topic) - Hand & Stone (company) - spa industry (topic) - Todd Leff (person) - John Marco (person) - Eric Danver (person) - franchise portfolio diversification (topic) --- Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/from-papa-johns-pizza-to-hand-stone-massage-and-facial-spa-how-eric-danver-became-a-successful-multi-unit-franchisee-with-two-national-brands-2712675). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/b14edae4-b4c3-4761-8fa6-d6e9eb3477d0).