Hot Off The Stone
Hot Off The Stone is Hand & Stone’s monthly franchisee spotlight series. Each month we feature one of our franchisees, sharing the journey behind their ownership, their community and what drives them to show up every day for their teams and clients.
Our network is made up of some of the most diverse owners in franchising, from veterans and military operators to IT engineers, lawyers, architects, doctors and even massage therapists and estheticians who built a career in wellness and never looked back. What unites them is a commitment to bringing accessible luxury to the communities they serve. Behind every spa, there’s a story.
Saj and Sunny Rizvi Built a Childcare Legacy, and Now They’re Writing Their Next Chapter in Wellness
Meet Saj and Sunny Rizvi, the husband-and-wife team behind HS Spa Group Management and a growing Hand & Stone footprint across Chicagoland. The couple also owns Kiddie’s Playgroup Management, which operates Kiddie Academy schools in Chicago and across its western and northwest suburbs. After signing a six-unit agreement, they opened their first Hand & Stone spa in Park Ridge in 2024 and have now signed on to open their seventh location in Westchester, building on more than 18 years in franchising that began with a Kiddie Academy in 2008.
Saj spent years in hospitality before becoming a franchisee, and Sunny, who holds a master’s degree in education, oversees operations across their companies. Below, they talk about what drew them from childcare into wellness, why they keep reinvesting in Hand & Stone, and what it takes to grow their spa portfolio without losing the culture that made the first location excel.
H&S: You were franchisees before joining Hand & Stone. How did it all start?
Sunny: It started with our oldest daughter. Back in 2005 we were looking for an early education program for her and we just weren’t finding the quality we wanted. I have a master’s in education, so I knew what great education looked like, and Saj was working in hospitality as a vice president and general manager at Medieval Times, so he understood how to run a team and take care of guests. That’s when we started talking about owning a childcare franchise ourselves, and we landed on Kiddie Academy. We opened our first school in Streamwood in 2008 and grew one school at a time from there. Today our schools stretch across Chicago’s western and northwest suburbs, in communities like Naperville, Batavia and Oakbrook Terrace, and into the city with Lincoln Park and Lincoln Square.
H&S: What led you from childcare into wellness?
Saj: We love the childcare business and continue our work in that space. We were also searching for a second brand that fit the way we already operate, with recurring revenue, a strong system and a service that depends on long-term relationships. Both businesses are really all about people. In childcare you’re caring for children and their families, and in wellness you’re often caring for the parent who rarely has the time for themselves.
The category has grown in a way that indicated it was only going to continue to rise in popularity, so it was an easy industry to look at, and we’re really excited to keep building with the brand Entrepreneur ranks number one in the massage and spa services category.
H&S: What made Hand & Stone the right fit?
Sunny: The membership model was a big part of our decision to join the brand. A lot of our growth in childcare comes from families who stay with us for years and then enroll their younger kids too, and membership works in a similar fashion.
Someone comes in for a massage, becomes a member, and then they’re with you month after month and telling their friends about you. We understood that right away. I also liked that the brand keeps evolving. The treatments and the technology are always moving forward, which keeps things fresh for our guests and our team. Skincare is a big part of that. Hand & Stone is the largest provider of facials in the world, and esthetics makes up about a third of sales across the system, so every spa we open brings massage and skincare together in one place.
H&S: You just signed to add a seventh location. What keeps you reinvesting in the brand?
Saj: It’s all about the results in the communities we serve and plan to serve. We opened Park Ridge in 2024, and everything since then has reinforced the decision. When we first signed with Hand & Stone we committed to six locations, and now we’ve already signed to add a seventh, which probably tells you how we feel about this brand. As franchisees there are lots of opportunities across different industries, but we keep reinvesting in Hand & Stone because the model works, corporate continues to innovate and leadership is always there when you need them. That innovation shows up in our treatment rooms, with advanced services including LED therapy offered alongside massage. Each spa also has several revenue streams, from memberships and non-member services to retail and gift cards, which gives every location we add more than one way to grow.
Sunny: It’s also about people. When a team member grows into a leadership role, or a guest tells you their monthly massage is such an important hour, it makes you want to do more of it. Every new location will give our team more room to grow, and seeing the success of our teams, as well as the happiness of our clientele, is very important to us.
H&S: How do you know when you’re ready to take on the next location?
Saj: We learned that lesson in childcare. When we were adding schools, it was pretty much Sunny and me doing everything, and we knew we couldn’t grow past a few locations without help. As a result, we built an experienced corporate team with operations leadership, regional managers, a recruiter, accounting and someone overseeing construction. Once that was in place, growing became much smoother.
We brought the same thinking to Hand & Stone, and today our childcare company and our spa company run out of the same corporate office in Glendale Heights, so every new spa plugs into an accounting, recruiting and operations team that’s already there. Hand & Stone’s systems are built to support multi-unit owners, and with the brand’s assistance on site selection, training and marketing, we aren’t reinventing anything with each new spa. Just finding the right lease isn’t enough of a reason for us to open, and we only move forward when we know we have the people in place to run it well.
H&S: Sunny, you oversee operations. How do you keep the culture consistent across each spa?
Sunny: Culture doesn’t grow on its own as you add locations, so you must be intentional about it. Saj always says great service starts from the top, and he’s right. Our managers and team members need to see us showing up and investing in them. We spend a lot of time on recruiting and training, because the person delivering the massage or the facial is the person the guest remembers.
Every service at Hand & Stone is performed by a licensed massage therapist or esthetician, and the brand’s training and ongoing education give our team a process to keep building their skills. Our estheticians work with professional skincare lines and are trained on new treatments as the brand introduces them. We make sure every spa has leaders who share our values, and each new location opens a path for someone on our team to step into a bigger role. A guest in Westchester should have the same experience as a guest in Park Ridge. Consistency in franchising is absolutely critical.
H&S: Why Westchester, and what does your Chicagoland presence look like going forward?
Saj: Westchester is close to home for us and after almost two decades running schools in the Chicago suburbs we know this area well. Hand & Stone serves busy professionals and working parents, which is why convenient hours matter so much. Our Park Ridge spa is open seven days a week and until 9 p.m. on weekdays, because the people we serve can’t always get in at two in the afternoon on a Tuesday. Our spas offer services for women, men and teens, from sports and deep tissue massage to prenatal. Adding Westchester strengthens everything we’re building across Chicagoland, and we’ll keep looking for the right communities as long as we have the team ready to support them.
H&S: Sunny, as a mother of five, how does your own life shape the way you think about wellness?
Sunny: When you’re raising five kids and running a business, the first thing that disappears is time for yourself. Being a mother and a business owner made me realize that taking time for health and wellness is essential. That’s a big part of why Hand & Stone means so much to me. We get to give people, especially busy parents, a place where taking an hour for themselves feels normal and affordable, and a membership is one of the simplest ways for them to finally make that time.
H&S: What would you tell other Hand & Stone franchisees thinking about adding locations?
Sunny: Invest in your people before you invest in your next lease. Make sure your first spa is running well with strong leadership before you take on another one, because whatever problems you have at one location will follow you to the next. And, the processes and successes from that first spa can be replicated to drive performance in your other locations.
Saj: Also, build your infrastructure earlier than you think you need it. Bringing in an operations leader or a dedicated recruiter can feel like a big expense when you only have a couple of locations, but that’s what allowed us to keep growing. The brand gives you a proven system, and your job as an owner is to build a team that can run it well in every spa you open.
Ready to bring accessible luxury wellness to your community? Visit https://handandstone.com/franchise/ and begin your franchising journey today.
