We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dana Bearinger a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dana, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Best friends since our children were very young Suanne Woo and myself, Dana Bearinger have had many adventures, including raising children, travel, friends, family and fun but, going into business together was the biggest and hardest decision we could have made. Neither of us are stylists, actually the opposite… Suanne has not washed her own hair in 10 years, a victim of blow out bars and expensive salons she became hooked on getting her hair done. I on the other hand struggled with unwanted grays or ‘party crashers’ as we refer to them and was needing touch ups every 2 weeks. It was inconvenient and pricy. It was at that point that we came up with the idea to start a unique and new concept, Taking what we had experienced from blowout bars and colorists and combining both to start Root Bar. It was a simple solution, offer quality, convenient and affordable hair color and blowouts in a comfortable high end salon environment. No scissors needed, we do not cut hair and we do not highlight or lift color. We both saw the need, we knew that woman and men would find value in being able to get there hair colored in a more accessible and convenient way!

The idea grew into a 50 page business plan and the concept of a Root Bar was born. We started the business just over 4 years ago with our husbands backing and support. Of course we have survived a pandemic and have continued to grow with an awesome team of stylists and a passion for creating a business with value. We concentrate on color and blowout training so every time a client walks in the door they will get a perfect match to their hair color and a ‘run-way’ ready blowout that will last for days. We are in the business of making our clients feel fabulous. .

It has been a crazy adventure. Neither of us have worked in a salon environment before however, we both had education in marketing and management so we used what skills we had and tackled the idea head on. With a quality product, highly trained and skilled staff, and a beautifully designed salon our concept became a reality. We are still the best of friends and look forward to out next challenge, expansion and a successful future. Has it been easy? Every day has been filled with stress and decision making, since the day before the shop opened and a huge pipe fell right through the bathroom ceiling destroying the floor and fixtures to the counters being installed as guests to the grand opening were arriving. Staffing has always been an issue but, the pandemic made it almost impossible to find and keep quality stylists. Thankful for a handful of amazing staff we got through. Suanne and I are now concentrating on expanding the business so this unique and amazing concept will be available all over the Valley.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Root Bar is a new and unique concept! We are a color and blowout bar, we do not cut hair or highlight. We concentrate on deposit color, including root touch ups, all over color, conditioning and rewind treatments. We also tone and do keratin treatments and because of our specialized services we are able to offer quick and convenient hair color at a very affordable price. Our staff specialize in color and fabulous blowouts. We use a high end color product to ensure a perfect color match with full coverage and long lasting results. Root Bar is unique in that we only do color. Suanne and I came up with the idea after years of trying to get root touch ups and finding it expensive and inconvenient. Our salon offers quick touch ups for those clients who have busy lives yet, our shop is stylish and relaxing for those who enjoy relaxing and enjoying a high end salon experience without the high price. Our concept was well received and appreciated and as a result we plan on expanding across the Valley over the next few years.

Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?

I think the pandemic was the most stressful part of our journey. We were a young business of only 2 years when we were forced to temporarily close our doors due to COVID. Making it through the pandemic proved very difficult because even when we reopened our doors we were faced with staffing problems and rising costs. Stylists were hard to find and payroll costs have increased considerably. In addition, general costs have also increased, utilities, product prices, rent, etc… There have been times that we needed to be very creative with scheduling and product due to shortages in both. Our salon is open 7 days a week for convenience and availability. However, we kept a core group of talented colorists and as a result we managed to make it through and we are now posed for expansion.

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Opening a salon was a huge step for Suanne and I since neither of us are stylists and we have never owned a business before. After coming up with the Root Bar concept we created a 50 page business plan and after researching every aspect of the beauty salon business we approached our husbands for support and investment money. After selling the concept we got to work on creating this unique salon. Both Suanne and I have business degrees and have managed staff previous to this adventure so we used what knowledge we possessed and have learned as we go.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.azrootbar.com
• Instagram: Rootbar
• Facebook: Rootbar Arcadia
• Yelp: Root Bar