Beauty business pioneer

 In late 1969, Ricky Reyes, the quick-learning apprentice at a small parlor in Quezon City, decided he was ready to go on his own.

With P1,000 saved from tips, he bought one shampoo bowl, one hair dryer, and two salon chairs with mirrors, leasing one wall of Sanitary Steam Laundry near the San Juan public market. He hired two manicurists and opened shop in 1970, doing the hair styling and make-up jobs himself.

Today, putting up one Ricky Reyes salon would cost at least P3 million. With 42 salons under his name, all owned by Ricky Reyes Holdings Company, Reyes says he will continue to expand his reach in the same way he did in the 1970s – by reinvesting his profits into the business, and by remaining debt-free.

“I don’t franchise my name. I personally train the beauticians who are placed in the salons. That is how much I value the trust of my clients. I must protect the integrity of my name. I must ensure that all the processes in the salon are reflective of the quality built in the Ricky Reyes brand. This is why all my salons are company-owned,” says Reyes.

Friends tried to dissuade him from branching out by himself.

“They felt my resources would be stretched, and the economy wasn’t always too good. I did not have any formal training in business so I now believe my acumen is natural. I wasn’t even conscious of my entrepreneurial skills until I actually succeeded in what I wanted to do,” he says.

Since 1997, he has also been providing all salons with Ricky Reyes beauty products — mostly nature-based hair and cosmetic formulations. “Our Ricky Reyes product line adds value to our salons. You cannot find these products anywhere else. We sell something like 9,000 bottles of shampoo per week. That is how much our customers trust our products. They depend on our products for their home use, not only for salon use,” he explains.

To formalize the training of personnel for his salons, as well as to facilitate livelihood programs for the youth, he established the Ricky Reyes Learning Institute (RRLI) in 1995.

“If the beauty salon is the source of our bread and butter, then the learning institute is the heart and soul of the business. This is my personal advocacy toward education. I want to help the youth become self-reliant and responsible for their future. I was a breadwinner, too, and I was expected to help my mother support my brothers and sisters since I was a teenager. Young adults should have the chance to avail of inexpensive quality education,” he says.

The institute offers courses in beauty care, dressmaking and tailoring, hotel and restaurant services, and bartending in three locations: Cubao, Quezon City; Alabang, Muntinlupa; and Quiapo, Manila.

The courses are modular and designed to be completed in three months at an average cost of P10,000 each.

“What is good about our course design is that in three months, the graduate is qualified to work already. Of course, if the graduate wants to learn more skills, he can enroll in another course. We purposely do not offer HRM (hotel and restaurant management). Rather, we teach the auxiliary services like housekeeping, bartending, food service. There’s only one manager per hotel, but he needs plenty of auxiliary people to run his operations. That is our focus,” says Reyes.

Over 39,000 students have completed RRLI courses. “I went into partnership with a manpower group to handle the placement needs of all our graduates. Tourism and hospitality is in expansion all over the world and there is a great demand for our graduates. One hotel group in Macau alone is asking us for 100,000 people,” Reyes discloses.

Reyes says is not even bothered when his students put up their own salons to compete with his.

“My challenge always is to outdo myself regardless of what the others are doing. When I see my students or former employees making it big in the industry, I am very proud of them. It means I have succeeded in sharing not only my knowledge, but also my values of hard work and innovation,” he says.

Reyes will open more company-owned salons, with two branches set for the first quarter of 2008. After pioneering rebonding, reborn, spa, fresh milk rebond, and detox hair treatments, the Ricky Reyes Salon will introduce this February permanent hair color using fresh milk.

“We have 10 colors available, and with fresh milk, there is no ammonia and no peroxide for this permanent hair color treatment. We will again be the first salon to offer this and this is what I mean by outdoing myself,” says Reyes.