Grimm buys Massage Envy franchises in Reno, Sparks

Klaus Grimm purchased the Massage Envy franchise location on Ridgeview Drive in January of 2013 after selling a successful promotions company.

He started off 2014 by completing purchase of two additional Massage Envy locations on South Virginia Street and Disc Drive in Sparks.

Grimm says he originally found Massage Envy while looking for a new business opportunity that had a stable membership-based revenue stream. He’d been pursuing ownership of the other two franchise locations for about a year.

Grimm also purchased the franchise rights for the Fresno, Calif., region and is in the process of opening three more locations in that area.

The three Truckee Meadows franchises employ about 110, including more than 70 massage therapists.

Grimm says that the Massage Envy blueprint is easy to follow and he doesn’t expect to encounter too many growing pains. But his workday definitely will change.

“Any business, you can wing it a lot of times, especially a business like ours where you do exactly the same thing. But once you have three, you are dealing with 100-plus employees, and large-company growing pains such as purchasing, accounting, and systems have to be set up for a multi-unit franchise system. There are more leases, suppliers, and vendors and phone systems need to be upgraded.”

Mike Murdock, senior vice president and commercial lending manager at First Independent Bank, helped Grimm securing funding the for acquisitions.

Grimm expects the extensive tenant improvements on one commercial property in Fresno to be completed in February, and he just signed a lease for a second location and will begin buildout of that property soon. He’s using personal financing to open the Massage Envy franchises in northern California and will manage those stores from Reno.

“Not having a flight is the biggest challenge,” he says. “But we will hire management staff in Fresno, and the distance is manageable. We have systems in place, we just will need to be sure those systems are being followed.”

Grace Cooper, Massage Envy chief operating officer for the South Virginia Street location, along with General Manager Johanna Grantham will help train staff in northern California. Grimm expects to take monthly and quarterly trips to Fresno to oversee operations. He plans on adding up to 10 Massage Envy franchises to his portfolio.

“It is a growing industry,” he says.