Phorest & Vish at the heart of the salon

Tuckwell & Co Use Vish & Phorest to Boost Cost Efficiency

Learn how Simon Tuckwell and his team in Tuckwell & Co use Phorest & Vish to save money, increase operational efficiency, and grow staff engagement across their two salons.

I'm sure as salon owners we can all agree that we face the same problems. We've had client issues, staffing issues, and I feel having Vish and Phorest to support me has really helped alleviate some of those problems.

Simon Tuckwell

Owner & Stylist, Tuckwell & Co

Without negatively impacting client experience, by using Phorest & Vish, Tuckwell & Co are…

Saving one tube of wasted colour per client

Using 300-400 fewer tubes of colour per week

Backing up price increases with data

The Challenges Facing Tuckwell & Co: Colour Efficiency & Team Buy-In

Simon Tuckwell, owner of Tuckwell & Co has had a whirlwind few years. Since opening in January 2019, his business has grown from a team of 3 to a team of 48, and now operates from two successful locations in the UK.

Having grown so quickly, Simon recognised there were two areas he needed to address to ensure the long-term success of his business: his understanding of detailed colour usage and his teams’ understanding of coloured usage.

Getting a Granular Understanding of Colour Usage

While Simon could track his stock in Phorest, he struggled to get a granular understanding of exactly how much colour was being wasted at the end of a service. It was also difficult to track colour being used for re-dos, touch-ups, or staff services. He had a feeling his stock could be used more efficiently, but he didn’t have the numbers to get a true understanding.

Ensuring the Team Understand The Importance of Colour Efficiency

While struggling with these issues himself, he lacked the tools to communicate to his team about how crucial colour efficiency is to the bottom line of the business. “I’d see them at the colour bar, squeezing out colour, mixing up a whole tube for a toner. I was having a meltdown as a salon owner because I’m paying the bill at the end of the week.”

The Solution: Uncovering the Benefits of a Phorest & Vish Integration

Integrating directly with their Phorest system, Tuckwell & Co began using Vish – a powerful colour management software and digital scales designed to help salons reduce inventory costs and set prices accurately.

“The integration was seamless, and I’m not just saying that for this interview!” laughs Simon. “It was so easy.” By using both systems in tandem, the Tuckwell & Co team has been able to:

Save time and money on colour treatments
Streamline inventory management and stock ordering
Conduct services using more accurate colour measurements
Adjust service prices to ensure fairer prices for clients, and fairer profits for the salon
Improve communication with and underatanding among the team on the importance of colour management.

Empowering The Team With Accurate Product Tracking

After implementing Vish, Simon explains that he didn’t ask his colourists to work any differently. Initially, he wanted them to mix colour as usual, and used the Vish system to track their average colour use. After some months of tracking, it was unveiled that the team used approximately 150-200 grams of colour per application. With this in mind, the team then switched to using Vish to track exactly how much colour clients required during their services. By doing this, the team realised that they could use 80-100 grams of colour product per service and achieve the same results.

“We are doing 300-400 clients a week. Now if I’m saving on average a tube of color per client, that is huge! And the clients are still getting the same service, the same amount of color, but there’s no color being wasted down the sink. Everybody’s got a win win,” Simon said.

Hairdresser hand in black gloves paints the woman's hair in a pink color.

Knowing How & When to Tweak Prices

As well as that, knowing exactly how much colour is needed for specific services means that the team can now price their services more accurately; “we’ve noticed very quickly how to make sure our budget is stuck to… my budget has really come down.”

Rather than conducting blanket pricing increases across all treatments, the Tuckwell & Co team now understand exactly where they need to increase and/or decrease prices, and act accordingly. This leads to more profits for the business and less impact on clients.

Bottles of styling products in a hair salon

Creating a Responsible & Happy Team

While the money-saving benefits were what initially drew the Tuckwell & Co team to Vish, Simon says the software has helped his team better understand the value of colour product and has given them more autonomy in their roles;

“It’s almost made me have 48 little salon owners… they want to make sure the salon isn’t losing money, the clients aren’t losing money… it’s helped problems I didn’t think about, like recruitment. We’re really consistent, and our team are really happy.”

Result: Using The Money Saved to Better The Business

With all that time and money saved, Simon explains what life is like now for the Tuckwell & Co team; “I now have the resources and the budget to put elsewhere. I can take the team out, and I can focus on changing certain areas of the salon because I now have a very clear, concise budget and understanding of what is being used in my salon… I kick myself that I didn’t have [Phorest & Vish] in [the salon] from day one, because it’s been invaluable… it is incredible as a salon owner.”