MASAJ: Scaling a wellness company in the city

Scarlet Amies had spotted a big business opportunity in 2018, but she didn’t want to go it alone.

Amies had left a career in book publishing to train up as a massage therapist. She could see that the wellness sector was starting to take off, with huge, pent-up demand. Her hunch was that a well-organised massage business organised like a chain could meet customer needs better than an army of solo practitioners like herself.

In answer, Amies posted an advert in a publication called Escape the City, looking for a co-founder. It felt a bit like an aspiring pop group searching for a drummer or guitarist, she tells me.

“I wanted to try and find someone who had a good start-up background, but who hadn't done a traditional path,” recalls Amies, “someone who understood bodywork and alternative therapies.”

“I met up with a lot of people and they were all predominantly male,” she remembers. Initial meetings came to nothing. She wasn’t specifically looking for a female founder, but something clicked when she met Alice Vaughan. Vaughan had been running community operations for a global tech firm. After beginning to feel burned out, she wanted a change of pace.

“When I met Alice, it was almost kind of instant,” recalls Amies. “I think the fact that she was female obviously massively helped.”

How Masaj is repositioning traditional massage

Demand for the wellbeing sector has arguably never been higher – and Masaj is reaping the benefits. The business recently opened its third venue in Islington and has annual revenues of £2m, employing around 100 people. It also completed its second round of fundraising in July this year, raising £1.5m at a £6.5m pre-money valuation.

However, while health and wellbeing is a booming sector, we are also still in a cost-of-living crisis. Both founders have had to think carefully about how they position their brand.

“If you Google image search ‘person getting a massage’,” says Amies, “then 90 per cent of the images you will get are of candle-lit rooms with flowers and predominantly white, young, female clients on the table. It’s billed as a treat. You know, there are often associations with hen-dos, spas, glasses of Prosecco. It's all about the pampering, the one-off.”

Masaj is trying to reposition massage, which it prefers to call ‘bodywork’, as something more like an essential experience for your physical and mental health.

“What we're trying to do is really ritualise this as a moment of stillness for you in your busy lifestyle,” says Vaughan. “If you give people a more tailored experience, then it’s easier to think of as a non-negotiable.”

There’s a 60-40 gender split in their customers, favouring women, though they’ve found that men, in fact, are more likely to commit to becoming long-term, repeat customers.

How Masaj treats its staff

While most business opportunities focus on bringing new products to market, Amies and Vaughan also spotted an opportunity in staff benefits.

“The flip side of what our offering is for our consumers is the offering for body workers,” says Amies. “You know, there's a reason why the industry is known for solo practitioners. It's because historically people don't treat wellness workers particularly well.”

The average life cycle of a massage therapist in the UK (as she herself was) is six years from the moment that they start training, says Amies.

“And given that it takes between 9 and 18 months to train to become a good massage therapist, that feels absolutely wild to us,” she reveals. “People get burnt out.”

Bodyworkers qualify at a separate institute before joining Masaj, then take another course with the company to understand its approach and philosophy.

Many workers will qualify in specialities like massage for pregnant people, or oncological massage tailored to people with cancer – widening their customer base.

Masaj team members are also employed on a freelance basis, but this will be for a whole day, rather than being booked for single appointments if you are a solo practitioner. They are also encouraged to skill swap with colleagues during the day at Masaj centres.

Staff retention is now a key metric for the business. “We have already people who have been with our business for longer than that six-year average life of the typical worker,” says Vaughan.

“It's very lonely being a solo practitioner,” adds Amies, “and you take on a huge amount, [even] absorbing things from your clients.”

How Masaj is making ‘facework’ treatments a thing

As well as expanding their footprint across London, the co-founders are also looking for new ways to grow the business with different services.

Here again, there is benefit in scale, as the large team of bodyworkers can feed back customer requests, channelling them to the leadership team.

New ‘facework’ massages, taking in the head and neck area, are now being rolled out at Masaj, following customer feedback. This demand is born from people spending long periods craning to look at mobile phones or computer screens at work.

“The wellness industry is growing at a massive rate,” says Amies, “and innovation is on every corner. We’d be foolish not to keep a close eye on what other businesses are doing, not just in London but around the world.”