MEDIA RELEASE
25 March 2020
For immediate release
Plea for immediate Government action
Just Cuts Founder and CEO Denis McFadden is pleading with Government to follow the UK and NZ precedent and close hairdressing salons to protect the health of stylists and clients until COVID-19 is under control.
The Government must also move to ensure a rent freeze on corporate leases and wage subsidies.
There are 2500 fully qualified stylists in the Just Cuts Australian network, predominantly in shopping centres, and 3500 globally. Just Cuts has 190 salons across all states and territories of Australia, 28 salons in NZ and 6 in the UK. The UK Government moved on 22 March to close salons with NZ following on 23 March. The Australian Government overnight excluded hairdressing from the list of non-essential services that needed to close and which included beauty salons.
Quotes attributable to Just Cuts Founder and CEO Denis McFadden
The health of Just Cuts’ Teams and Clients is and has always been at the core of everything we do. In fact, we have set the standard for salon hygiene practices throughout our 30 years of operation. But the reality is that the nature of hairdressing means that our stylists have to work in close proximity with their clients and are constantly touching them.
Hairdressing is not an essential service and the Government’s refusal to include hairdressing on its COVID-19 shut down list puts our stylists and clients in the firing line and their businesses more exposed than they need to be. At the moment, our franchise owners who are primarily Mums and Dads, are hamstrung. Without hairdressing being on the shut-down list, it is incredibly difficult for our franchise owners to take the heartbreaking but necessary steps to stand down workers or call for breathing space on leases.
Given the steps taken in the UK and NZ to close salons along with other non-essential businesses and given everything the medical experts are saying, we simply cannot justify the health or financial risk to our franchise owners, stylists and clients.
Australian National and State Governments, we are pleading with you. We understand that you’re trying to juggle protecting livelihoods and saving lives but this decision puts both at risk for our people and clients. Please act now.
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LJ Loch
0488 038 555 or ljloch@alphaconsulting.global
More about Just Cuts
Just Cuts is an Australian hairdressing franchise that bridges the gap between a barber and a high end hair salon. With salons in every state of Australia, on both the North and South islands New Zealand and the United Kingdom, it is the largest hairdressing company in the Southern Hemisphere. Based on a fixed price, no appointment system, Just Cuts offers clients affordable haircuts from fully qualified hairdressers and performs over 100,000 Style Cut cuts per week across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Celebrating 30 years in 2020, Just Cuts was the brainchild of Denis McFadden, who turned a simple idea into a business concept that would change the hairdressing industry forever. McFadden ran his first ever “no appointment, $6 Style Cut” promotion at his humble Sydney salon, receiving an outstanding response from clients. It was on this basic fixed price initiative that the idea of Just Cuts was born. The following year, the inaugural Just Cuts salon opened its door to the public. And in 1990, the first Just Cuts franchise opened in the suburb of Engadine, in the south of Sydney, New South Wales. Our brand has continued to expand ever since, with over 220 locations across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
In 2013, Just Cuts launched JUSTICE Professional – a range of salon quality haircare and styling products available exclusively in all our salons at a competitive, affordable price. The JUSTICE Professional line has something for everyone, including everyday shampoos and conditioners, anti-dandruff and dry scalp treatments, toning products, nourishing leave-in treatments and a range of hair styling waxes and sprays.