Small business takeaway:
- SUGARED + BRONZED’s journey highlights key strategies for success: validate demand with minimal investment to reduce risk and build traction, prioritize steady, organic growth before seeking external funding, and diversify revenue streams with complementary services and retail products, ensuring sustainable growth while maintaining accessible pricing.
Just 23 and a year out of college, Courtney Claghorn lamented the high costs of spray tans in Los Angeles. Her then-boyfriend, now-husband, Sam Offit, suggested they start a business to fill a gap in the market.
“I said, ‘You’re crazy. I don’t know how to do that,’” Claghorn told CO—. “The idea of starting a business sounded tough, but we found that for $500 each we could buy [spray tanning] equipment to get it off the ground to see if people would come.”
From an initial $1,000 investment to more than $50 million in revenue today, the duo was clearly onto something. The company has grown to 48 locations across seven states, including Washington, D.C.
Humble beginnings in a dining room: Word of mouth proved to be a powerful growth engine
In 2010, Claghorn set up a side hustle in the dining room of her small Santa Monica apartment. In months, she had to turn down clients to be at her day job.
“That’s when I realized the business was growing faster than I expected.” Soon after, she left her corporate fintech job and, with Offit, secured their first commercial space in Santa Monica. It wasn’t glamorous, she said, but it served as the launching pad for SUGARED + BRONZED’s growth.
Without today’s social media advertising channels like Facebook, Claghorn marketed her business via Google Ads and Yelp. “We put in $100 the first month on a Google ad,” she recalled. “Sure enough it did work, [and] the referrals then and now continue to be a huge part of our business.”
Word of mouth proved to be a powerful growth engine, even attracting celebrities such as Hilary Duff, Victoria Beckham, and Erin and Sara Foster, who posted organic mentions of the brand.
A few years after launch, and based on requests from customers, Claghorn added sugaring to complement tanning services. Sugaring, a natural hair-removal technique that removes hair in the direction of growth, is designed to offer a gentler alternative to waxing and help reduce ingrown hairs. Clients who came in for spray tans were often visiting waxing salons beforehand, making the pairing an obvious opportunity. The business remains focused on those two services with a 50/50 split between tanning and sugaring.
For its first nine years, SUGARED + BRONZED operated without institutional funding. The company expanded steadily while remaining entirely bootstrapped. In late 2019, the founders took their first outside investment from Main Post Partners, with additional backing from Howard Schultz, the former CEO of Starbucks.
Since its investment round in 2019, the company has grown approximately fivefold.
[Read more: Less Is More: How Simplicity Is Reshaping—and Driving—Beauty Sales]
We put in $100 the first month on a Google ad. Sure enough it did work, [and] the referrals then and now continue to be a huge part of our business.Courtney Claghorn, Co-founder of SUGARED + BRONZED
Navigating challenges then ramping up expansion
Growth wasn’t always as easy, Claghorn admitted. “The plan in 2019 was to ramp up the cadence of growth like one [new location] every other month.” Then the pandemic hit. “We went from bootstrapping mode to pandemic mode.”
COVID forced the company—like much of the beauty services industry—to temporarily pause operations in major markets such as Los Angeles and New York.
Instead of shutting down completely, the team got creative. “We launched e-commerce much earlier than we planned. We added pop-ups, outdoor cabanas, and mobile access. We were doing Brazilians [hair removal] in parking lots.”
It was also time to reset the business and develop a blueprint to halt the sales drain during the pandemic. “We had 10 stores and two under construction when we got the investment, but things were largely paused. We put the pedal to the metal to get our investors a return,” she said.
In early 2022, SUGARED + BRONZED shifted back into expansion mode—this time at a much faster pace. Sales started flowing, producing 20% year-over-year growth.
The company began targeting one new studio opening per month, a cadence that continues today. The strategy involves opening three to five locations in new markets to help scale faster. The company’s next move is expanding into Chicago.
[Read more: 3 Beauty Brands Poised to Drive Growth Among Cost-Conscious Consumers]
Spreading its wings into retail products
SUGARED + BRONZED also developed a retail product line to boost its bottom line, including products designed to extend the results of its services such as sunless tanners, exfoliating scrubs, and ingrown hair removal.
Products are available in all studio locations, online, and through marketplaces like Amazon, with potential retail partnerships under exploration.
Despite rapid expansion, the Founders have remained focused on keeping pricing accessible.
A key part of that strategy is the company’s membership program, which allows clients to purchase monthly service packages—often at pricing similar to what the company charged more than a decade ago.
With dozens of locations already open and more planned across the United States, the next chapter for SUGARED + BRONZED is entry into new markets, growth of the retail product line, and international opportunities.
The goal, Claghorn said, is to maintain what she calls an “affordable luxury” positioning: a regular beauty routine that feels indulgent but remains within reach.
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