BUSINESS

Chandler hair salon duo aim to be a cut above

BY KEN SAIN

Arizonan Staff Writer

The key to being a business leader during a pandemic is to put people first.

So say two Chandler men who run 41 Sport Clips franchises in three states – Arizona, Oregon and Washington.

Val Hill and Jared Lee met during business school at Brigham Young University. They were both working for Intel when they decided in 2005 to put their education to work and start their own business.

“Going through the pandemic was certainly a difficult thing,” Lee said. “We didn’t know what the status of our business was going to be. “I would say one of the key aspects that helped us, is that we didn’t lay anyone off,” Hill said. “We continued to pay all of our people, and this was before PPP loan or any of that. We made the determination that our people are our biggest asset and we need to take care of our people.”

That meant paying them both their salaries and what they usually received in tips during the time the businesses were shut down, which was six weeks in Arizona and three months in the Pacific Northwest, without some of the help the federal government offered small businesses later.

The partners say they were able to do that because of how they managed their business before the pandemic: Jared Lee, left, and Val Hill, visiting the Sport Clips location on 54th Street in Chandler, own 39 Sport Clips locations in three states, including Arizona and recently won an in-

house award for their work, (David Minton/Staff Photographer)

they were conservative and had enough money in reserves to be able to weather rocky times.

“I think what that helped us do, is that helped us get us reopen quickly,” Hill said. “Once we were allowed to reopen, … we didn’t have to go try and find people that we laid off.”

For those efforts, the two men were named Sport Clips Business Leaders of the Year for 2020. It is the second time they’ve won that award – and they looked at it as yet another recognition that leaving the corporate world to start their own business was the right call.

But choosing which business to go into was not easy.

“We looked at Subway, and Quiznos, and other franchises,” Lee said. “We looked at buying some land, and doing development, and building houses. We were generally in the market and looking around.”

It was Hill who suggested they look at Sport Clips. He said the fact that there was nothing else like it – a haircut chain that focused on men - is what appealed to him. He just had to convince his partner.

“What’s that, like video things for kids?” Lee recalled saying. He said his initial reaction was two dudes in the haircut business was not the right fit. Hill suggested they go get a haircut at the Gilbert location to check it out. After enjoying that experience, and doing more research, they bought their first three franchises. They also now own that Gilbert location they checked out 16 years ago. For the first five years they poured any money they made back into the business, getting more franchises. That’s how they reached the 41 they operate today.

They say the reason they can operate so many locations in three different states is because of the people they hired, and the entrust to run each location.

“The key to it all is you have to have good people that you work with,” Lee said. “We have an amazing group of area managers and store managers.” Hill agreed.

“We empower our people to … run things,” he said. “The store manager views that store as her store. They’re empowered to hire and fire, spend money to buy what they need. We don’t constrain them much.” Putting their people first has paid off, even during a pandemic.

Downtown cinema owner ‘looks’ to sudsy future

BY KEN SAIN Staff Writer

Look Dine-In Cinemas has big plans as the company continues to open theaters across the nation.

And the location that owner Brian Schultz opened in downtown Chandler on Oct. 14 is giving him a chance to try something new: This is the first Look Dine-In Cinema that comes with a microbrewery.

Schultz says he hopes to have 20 locations open by next year – Chandler is his seventh. “We’re opening one every three weeks,” Schultz said. “It’s keeping me busy.”

So why Chandler?

“As I look around the country, there’s theaters that really matter, that are a center point of the community,” Schultz said. “Those are the ones that we’re selecting to stand back up. It was closed and it’s a shame that the community of Chandler doesn’t have a central gathering place that’s a high-quality theater.”

The theater, at the corner of Arizona Avenue and Chandler Boulevard, previously housed Flix Brewhouse, which did not survive the pandemic.

Don’t go looking for any custom-made brews just yet. Look is still in the process of getting the proper license to brew its own suds. Until then, they will offer traditional beer and other alcoholic beverages. “We’ve been talking about doing a lot of custom blends, and we can’t wait to get that back up and started,” Schultz said. seeCINEMA page 21

To run his first microbrewery, Schultz hired the woman who did that job for Flix. “The bonus I have is I know this system,” Marisa Bernal said. “I built this system, so once we fire up, everything should be OK.”

Bernal said she often gets her inspiration for a new beer flavor from the new movies being released.

“As a cinema brewery, we actually do all of our beers are going to be pushed out with big movie releases,” she said.

She talked about her process by using the upcoming release of a new Spider-Man film in December. She said she could adjust the recipe dozens of times before finding the right flavor.

Schultz is hoping it will be more than beer that brings people to his theater. He said former Flix patrons should notice some big changes.

First, Schultz said they should notice is the sound system. He says they invested in a much better sound system. Then there is the menu itself. Schultz said they will offer everything from sushi to peanut butter and jelly sliders.

But there’s something else that patrons should notice first. Left: City dignitaries and community leaders lined up for the ribbon cutting Oct. 14 at the new Look Dine-In Cinema in downtown Chandler. Right: Look Dine-In Cinema owner Brian Schultz said the Chandler location, his seventh, is the first with its own brewery.

(David Minton/Staff Photographer)

“One of the pillars of Look Cinemas is the non-distracting movie-going experience,” Schultz said. “We come in and we do all of the service before the main feature begins, so we don’t do service during.”

He said people can still order from their phones during the movie.

“When we are in the auditorium during the movie, we have ninja servers who are all in black. We have to be really careful. Dine-in movies are so great, but sometimes they can be a distraction.”

Each seat in the seven theaters has its own unique QR code that will bring up the menu when you aim your phone at it.

And maybe by January after they get a license, they’ll also be able to bring a custom-made brew.

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