With backgrounds in hospitality and retail, Deepak Diwan and Haylee Tallarida signed a 10-unit agreement to bring the skincare brand to the Greater Boston area.
For husband-and-wife entrepreneur team Deepak Diwan and Haylee Tallarida, the love affair with skincare franchise Heyday was sparked quickly and grew substantially. Today, the couple is preparing to open the first store in a 10-unit agreement they signed with the brand that is aiming to disrupt the beauty and wellness industries.
Tallarida, who has owned and operated her own fine jewelry store for eight years, was in New York City on business when she first popped into a Heyday for a quick facial.
“I walked in and immediately thought, ‘This brand is packaged flawlessly,’” Tallarida said. “I got a facial in between two buying appointments and I was absolutely blown away. It was so efficient. I walked away with a ton of different products, booked my next appointment on the spot and scheduled my shopping appointments around it. I thought it was such a fantastic idea that I started calling because I was like, ‘I want to open a Heyday!’”
Tallarida’s entrepreneurial background is in retail, and Diwan’s is in hospitality management. He’s spent the last eight years in the hospitality and service industry, owning and operating food service establishments in the Metro Boston area. He spent the previous 10 years as an analyst, accountant, and auditor with restaurants and corporate hotels.
“I just really enjoy the hospitality industry,” Diwan said. “The idea of service and creating an experience for guests — whether that's in food, or it's a monthly facial service experience — it’s all very much in my wheelhouse.”
Diwan joked that when he first met Heyday founders Adam Ross and Michael Pollak during the brand’s discovery day, known as Field Day, he told them they’d probably received 15+ voicemails over the previous couple of years from him, asking when he could open a Heyday in Boston.
That time has come, as the Providence, Rhode Island-based husband-and-wife entrepreneur team has signed a 10-unit deal to bring Heyday to the Greater Boston area.
“I bought in because I believe in the concept,” Diwan said. “There's a disruption to this, which makes it appealing to consumers. There's simplification. There's education. So even though it’s a little bit out of our wheelhouse in terms of what we do on a day-to-day basis, the hospitality component combined with the product and e-commerce allows enough commonality where it does actually feel like a natural next step for us.”
With his hospitality background, Diwan was also drawn to Heyday because the brand prides itself on its customer experience. With its inviting spaces and a vibe built for convenience and conversation, it offers a welcoming, inclusive and educational environment where its trained professionals make sense of skincare with personalized facials, coveted products and expert guidance. And franchisees are taking notice. In just its first 12 months of franchising, the brand reached goals that are on par with those of a five-year franchisor, having signed 115 franchise agreements for new locations across the country with countless more on the way in 2022. It’s come a long way since opening its early shops in New York and Los Angeles in 2015 and 2018, respectively.
“It’s a proven concept in two of the biggest markets in the country — and, to me, in the world,” Diwan said. “To prove themselves at that level, and to have done it pre-, during and post-pandemic says a lot.”
With the momentum Heyday has built in Year One, its goal is to award 232 total units before the end of 2022 and open at least 300 locations by 2026. As Americans continue to prioritize skincare as wellness and self-care, Diwan and Tallarida are bullish on the brand. When asked if they had plans for future growth after the initial 10 units, Tallarida didn’t hesitate. “Hell yeah,” she said, adding that they chose Boston due to the market opportunity, but the ability to expand toward their hometown of Providence is an intriguing prospect.
“There's a handful of sites that have been selected,” Diwan said. “And as the brand matures, there's going to be more and more need.”
With over 500 defined prime territories across the country, Heyday’s opportunity for growth is vast. The brand is currently targeting expansion in 54 major metropolitan areas from San Diego to Seattle, Austin, Nashville and more. And with new franchisees already poised to bring Heyday to Phoenix and now Boston, for consumers, the prospect of a local Heyday in their market seems to be a question of when, not if.
Heyday’s startup costs range between $768,300 to $1,012,300, depending on which market the store is located. Other factors like design, configuration and labor costs will also impact the total investment. Click here to see the full cost breakdown.
