83. Prema Love- A modern salon.

Meet Francesco Ruggerino as we talk about his salon Prema, the Australian Hairdresser's Council and what a modern salon should be.

This article was publish first at Style Street.

First of all congratulations on being nominated “best new salon design 2010”, could you tell me a little bit about the thoughts behind the design?

Unfortunately we did not win it, but we were finalists. Prema Salon was built to house all of our Education and Creative work. We have a large salon at Bondi and the new Surry hills salon is designed to facilitate the career path growth of our people through Education, Photographic and Management. The salon is a full working salon, Education space and Photographic studio. All our Website, Communications and Production are done in house through this salon.

I have noticed the use of raw and recycled material in the salon, how important is sustainability to Prema Salon?

We use raw materials to promote not only environmental sustainability but also our career and business sustainability. Everything we do is centred on sustainability and how we can continue to make thing work successfully time and time again over a long period of time.

Francesco, your not a hairstylist, how did you get involved in the hairdressing business?

I met a hairdresser and bought a salon with him. Over time we went our own separate ways but I learnt that my strength was in bringing hairdressers together successfully and contributing organisational skills to creatives and helping them with numbers, figures and money.

What advice would you give people who are about to open a salon of their own? What advice would you give to those who are opening their second salon?

First Salon – open somewhere where you can build a clientele quickly, make the salon look hot so people notice you and give people extraordinary service.

Second salon – Know exactly why you are opening the salon and remember why when things get tough, promote your good staff and get rid of any problem staff before moving onto salon number 2.

A salon in today’s market needs to be more than just functional and a place where you can buy shampoo. What is your opinion are the key ingredients to a modern salon?

You have to offer a point of difference in the way it looks and feels and the way that you perform hair, the service needs to better than anyone else’s and you need to do extra for people so as to give them a reason to come back to you. Also, you need to look after your people so that they want to be there, this will give your salon the edge it needs.

You run two salons, how do you keep and motivate staff? What do you look for when recruiting new staff members?

Keep staff by creating a warm and friendly environment and culture, focus on their career growth and help them to become better at what they do.

When recruiting new people I look for people who love hairdressing and people who no matter how good they are they still want to be better. I also look for people who not only talk the talk but also walk the walk. I like humble people that are really good at what they do.

You’re a member of the Australian Hairdressers Council, could you tells us a little about that and what your involvement within the council is?

I spoke to Anthony Wynn-Hollscher, the founder and chairman of the A.H.C about 3 years ago re the A.H.C Immediately I was inspired by the concept of bringing us together and creating a more successful industry. I have been incredibly lucky to be able to work alongside some of the most admirable people in our industry whose dedication and commitment is contagious. I currently sit on the board as the Vice Chairman and together with other members of the working committee we are now rolling out the AHC pilot programme.

What do you feel are the problems facing the hairdressing industry right now?

We are not attracting enough good young kids to the industry. This is the main thing we need to address. If we can attract more people that have a strong desire to do hair then we can excel as an industry.

Your web page, Facebook, twitter, how has the Internet helped your business?

It has helped by creating a more widespread awareness of what we do and also it has helped attract great staff and clients.

Prema

Bondi Junction p 9389 8080

Surry Hills p 9360 8080