Saturday's Interviews - Baked & Wired

From left to right: Alex, Yasmin, Carla

On our route to Baked & Wired to meet a scheduled interview, Lexie and I attempted to chat with girls coming out of the Sport & Health gym and failed.  Then we attempted some random girls on the street and failed again.  Upon multiple failures, we decided to head to Baked & Wired early, because we knew we would have a better chance to interview people who were sitting, vice on the go.  Upon walking in, Lexie’s eagle eyes spotted a group of three mid-20’s y/o women.  We went in for the catch.  The three young women, Alex, Yasmin, and Calra were very welcoming; so we sat down and joined their brunch.  Here is a summary of our conversation…

Alex

Age: 24

Occupation: IT consultant

Alex works full time.  On her days off she enjoys getting up early, 7am, and going for a run.  She always tries to stay active.  She gets coffee, lunch with her friends, goes shopping, and visits her parents on occasion since they live nearby.  In the evenings, she enjoys going out for cocktails but not staying out too late.  It doesn’t take her a long time to get ready.  She usually quickly fixes her hair on Friday because it takes forever to do and it stays good until Saturday night.  She does not enjoy getting ready in a group. 

She has been a bridesmaid in a wedding.  It was during her exam time; she flew to the wedding very close to the wedding day but still participated in some wedding preparations.  She went to a salon to get her hair done and to a separate place to get her make-up done.  In another wedding she did her own makeup.  In order to make the experience better for her, she would have preferred the stylists to not be spread out. 

Additionally, we inquired about any additional beauty routines, and she confirmed that she goes and gets her nails done, once every two months and usually goes with her mom.  Considering Alex’s age, we then inquired about prom.  As Alex reminisces, she tells us about the pre-prom party with a catered dinner that she attended.  We got her back on track though and learned that she did get her hair done and did her makeup herself. 

Alex has attended other events that require some preparation, such as charity functions her mother has brought her to.  Once we revealed our concept, she confirmed would take advantage of a Beauty Bar for such events as a Gala.  She has never been to DryBar and maybe only gets her haircut four times a year. 

When asked about paying for a Beauty Bar hair and nail package, she stated she wouldn’t pay more than $65 and that if the price was lower, she would actually go more regularly.  She doesn’t think she would go by herself ever and would expect the place to be trendy.

Yasmin

Age: 25

Occupation: Business Developer

**Today was a special day, her birthday!

Yasmin enjoys working out in the morning as well.  She enjoys going out on the weekends in DC.  Her preparations for going out include meeting at a friend’s house or her girlfriends coming to her house and getting ready together.  She does her own nails but will get them done at salon for special occasions or with friends occasionally.

For her prom she had her makeup and nails done in the same day.  She had her makeup done at the MAC store and her hair done at a local nail business.  She did her own hair.  A group of her friends and she rented a limo and went to prom together.

She has had her hair blown out for special occasions.  And today was a special occasion, her birthday.  Today, the girls plan to go to DryBar after brunch.  They like DryBar because it has a few simple styles.  They bring you drinks.  Yasmin had a bad experience once, when the women didn’t blow out her hair as it is usually done.  They used a curling iron, and they don’t usually use one for the style she likes.  So, her style was too frizzy and she had to ask them to do it again.    Unpromted she then added “it would be nice if they did nails too!”

Yasmin would pay up to $115 for all three services; hair, makeup and nails.  She would go for special occasions, such as, special girls night.  She also things the Beauty Bar concept would be good for young girl parties.  Lastly, she suggests light healthy snacks for the customers.  

Carla

Age: 25

Occupation: Student/Social Worker Coop

Carla currently lives in NYC and goes to NYU part time for graduate school.  She works part time at as part of her graduate program.  She tries to go to the gym as much as possible.  Most week days she studies in the evenings.  On the weekends she typically goes out until 4am when the bars close.  She lives close to the night life scene, and her friends will come to her place before going out.  They will cook dinner and get ready together.

Carla was part of the bridal party for her sister’s wedding.  They all got ready in the bridal suite where artists did their makeup and hair.  They all did their nails themselves.  But she will get her nails done for special occasions or when she needs it to last because she is traveling.  For her prom she got ready alone and joined her friends for dinner. 

She likes the Beauty Bar concept and can see herself using it for special events.  She mentioned the process she went through for her sorority 100 year anniversary party. 

As for DryBar, she just started going recently and really loves it.  She goes for special occasions, such as birthdays.  She had a bad experience once when a stylist was rude and interjecting their thoughts about a personal issue.  However, she still goes to DryBar because of its convenience. 

Carla stated she would up upwards as much as $180 for all three services when prepping for special occasions. 

This pretty much explains our class.

What did we learn?  First that we have a new or greater found love for Baked & Wired.  Second, that this was a great set of interviews, because we has a small group that have used DryBar or know about it and were our prime demographics.  We had three different price points.  However, if you divide the services into each, it would be about $33 per item.  This is when we started considering subscription services and package deals.