What started as a way to pay dead rent on three shuttered Sylvan Learning locations has turned into a new opportunity for Jonathan and Sarah Ellis as they look to grow their eyelash extension and brow care brand via franchising.
“It was dire there for a minute, I’ll be honest,” said Jonathan Ellis as he detailed how, after buying 15 Sylvan Learning centers in the North Dallas and Austin, Texas, markets he was just starting to make money when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Forced to close for three months, he said he still had to cover payroll, rent and other expenses, and when virtual classes “never really took off from a financial standpoint,” hard decisions had to be made.
Able to sell 12 of 15 units to neighboring franchisees—“Basically it was a fire sale,” he said—he was left with three locations in the Austin area and what eventually became Honest Lash was born.
Ellis was a third generation McDonald’s operator before getting into the Sylvan system. (For a time, he also had Venture X, a coworking franchise, and Signarama units.) His grandfather, Rodgers Ellis, opened in 1969 what was just the fourth McDonald’s restaurant in Texas, and Ellis was helping his dad run their 19 locations until 2018 when the family sold its stores.
Honest Lash founders Jonathan and Sarah Ellis, pictured here with their children, created their lash extension and brow care brand as a way to repurpose empty retail space from another concept.
In coming up with Honest Lash, Ellis was looking for a cost-efficient way to give new life to his remaining retail space. The eyelash extension business model, which had stuck with him since reading about it years prior, made sense and he was able to first convert his space in Bastrop, part of the Greater Austin metro, for around $15,000. What was Lash Goddess became Honest Lash in 2021 as he prepared to franchise the concept, and the brand recently signed its first franchisees, Jonathan Ambiz and Holly Johnson, who will bring Honest Lash to El Paso.
Honest Lash offers lash extension, tinting and lift services along with brow lamination, tinting and waxing. Ellis and his wife, who is chief operating officer and also a pediatric nurse practitioner, want to build a “super strong regional brand” in Texas, where “there’s plenty of market share” even with the presence of Amazing Lash Studio, The Lash Lounge and others.
“There’s not a city that’s not exploding,” said the lifelong Texan of population and business growth across the state.
Having learned from successful McDonald’s franchisees in his father and grandfather, and after working his way up the ranks in that business, Ellis said he’s been able to build solid infrastructure at Honest Lash with a model aimed at owner-operators. He’s developed proprietary systems to get locations open quickly while keeping expenses down.
“Our differentiator is low cost of entry. If you take my franchise fee out, you can open one of these for less than $25,000,” he said. “Throw in that fee, and you’re talking $40,000, $50,000.”
Heidi Stein, who has more than a decade of experience in the spa industry and was herself a lash stylist, joined the company last fall as director of franchise sales. The company, said Ellis, wants to bring in franchisees who are determined to build a successful business, won’t shy away from challenges and maybe have a “COVID story” of their own.
“We’re going to find the people out there who want to roll up their sleeves and grind it out. And who won’t roll over when those hard times come,” he said as he recalled the mentality of the businessman behind McDonald’s. “Ray Kroc always called it ‘grinding it out.’”
Now as the franchisor, Ellis said he has a “family first, family business mentality” and believes in working closely with owners who share his vision for creating a brand with staying power.
“Honest Lash is very much a life’s work of, this is who we are, this is what we believe in, this is where we’re going and do you want to come along.”