Starting out

By Widget Finn (Filed: 28/01/2006)


Writing on the wall for unwanted tattoos

When businessman Richard Simpson-Birks attended an annual tattoo convention in Derby dressed in T-shirt and jeans he says "I stuck out like a sore thumb. I was the only person without any tattoos."

He was there to do some market research after his wife Barbara, a beauty therapist, had received emails from a German tattooist offering a franchise to use his patented chemical method of removing tattoos.


Mr Simpson-Birks says: "One in eight people in the UK have tattoos and the number is increasing rapidly.

"Like all fashions it's bound to wane, and I saw tattoo removal as an interesting business opportunity."

The German tattooist spent 20 years developing his method that, unlike the conventional approach, didn't involve lasers - and he wanted €1.3m for the UK master franchise. "I went to see the procedure in Switzerland and persuaded him that his price was nonsense because of the amount and investment required to get it off the ground. Eventually we agreed a very small selling price plus a profit share on the basis that he had no involvement with the commercial side."

Mr Simpson-Birks discovered that the whole area of tattoo removal is currently unregulated, though the EU is planning to move in. "I decided that it was an opportunity to redesign the tattoo industry. Any legislation would affect me so if I could influence it this would benefit my business. I got on to a consultancy which advises the government in this area."

A key step was to establish through the environmental health department that tattooing and its removal is a cosmetic rather than a medical procedure, so that it can be carried out by qualified beauty therapists and medical clinics. Mr Simpson-Birk says: "I also had to redesign the tattoo gun, since hygiene would be a major issue.

"A Swiss company developed the single-use gun for me while a UK electronics company produced a recordable controller to stop unauthorised people from carrying out the procedure. I invented my own standards which would influence others in the industry."

The Simpson-Birks started using the procedure in Barbara's Derby beauty salon to test the market. After an article in the local paper asking for volunteers to have their tattoos removed the switchboard was jammed.

But Mr Simpson-Birks knew that franchising was the way forward. He says: "I contacted the British Franchise Organisation for advice then we engaged a franchise lawyer to ensure that we offered a watertight agreement."

Coverage in the beauty press brought in more inquiries. "Initially I thought I could sell franchises to anyone, then I realised that the image must be clinical and that we should target established salons and clinics."

They were about to sell the first franchises when the Simpson-Birks were invited to appear on the BBC programme Dragons' Den. "It was the most stressful situation I've experienced. I had a full business plan, forecasts and cash flows, but these were ignored and we were grilled for over two hours without any paperwork. We'd asked for £250,000 and one 'Dragon' offered half, but I didn't take it because I couldn't work with someone looking over my shoulder." The first three five-year franchises were sold for £15,000 each, "a giveaway, for it's the royalty on each removal session which brings in the turnover".

Mr Simpson-Birks is currently negotiating franchises in three branches of Selfridges - with a tattoo company. "I said that I wouldn't sell the process to the opposition but these people share the same standards, and the chance to get into Selfridges is irresistible."

The cost of removing a small tattoo starts at £500, and with all those fashion victims who change their mind, that's an awful lot of royalties for Tattoo Erase.


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