Carrie Walsh spent her first weeks as the new CEO of Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa in the field. Since taking the helm in July, she has visited locations from California to Texas, meeting with franchisees and their teams and seeing firsthand how the brand\u2019s service standards come to life at the spa level.<\/p>\n
Walsh brings more than two decades of experience with Subway, Pizza Hut, PepsiCo and Michaels to a brand with significant momentum: more than 650 spas across 36 states and Canada, more than 20 consecutive years of growth and a $1.35 million average unit volume\u2014the highest in spa franchising. In this conversation, she discusses what drew her to Hand & Stone, the opportunities ahead and the role franchisees will play in the brand\u2019s next chapter.<\/p>\n
Walsh<\/strong>: Honestly, it was the feeling in the room. You could just sense the standard of care. I\u2019ve spent my career in brands that rely on whether the promise in the marketing matches what happens at the point of service, and here it clearly does. Then I got into the customer data, and it backed up everything I\u2019d felt walking the floor \u2013 there\u2019s retention, a growing active membership, and franchisees executing with real excellence. That combination, a brand promise genuinely being delivered at scale across hundreds of independently owned businesses, is rare. It told me the foundation was already strong, and that this was about building on something exceptional.<\/p>\n Walsh<\/strong>: Hand & Stone has something most brands spend years chasing \u2013 a genuine reason. It\u2019s the idea of delivering someone\u2019s best hour in an otherwise crazy, stressful week. The opportunity is making that promise even more visible and consistent in how people discover the brand, engage with it digitally, and how it shows up in their routine. Many people still think of us as a massage brand first, but we\u2019re actually the world\u2019s number one provider of facials, completing more than 1.6 million facial treatments last year alone, representing about a third of our systemwide sales. That\u2019s a real opportunity to tell a different story about who we are.<\/p>\nAcross Subway, Pizza Hut, PepsiCo and Michaels, your work has centered on deepening the connection between a brand and its customers. Where do you see the biggest opportunities to apply that lens at Hand & Stone?<\/strong><\/h3>\n