A recent New York Times investigation painted a troubling picture of the nail salon business but WBUR profiles of a Newton company that seems to be taking a different approach.
Newton may have a lot of nail salons but at least one is getting rave reviews
by Village 14 | May 18, 2015 | Newton | 5 comments
“MiniLuxe prides itself on paying employees at or above minimum wage, plus they keep 100 percent of their tips.”
{sarcasm} Wow, that’s mighty generous of them! {/sarcasm}
And as for their “emphasis on cleanliness,” I’m not sure which NYT article these guys were reading, but the health problems came mostly from the chemicals, not the bacteria.
Anyway, I’m sure that the venture capitalists, seeking to nurture their $23 million investment, are very happy to see this fawning media coverage that basically costs them only $2 or $3 per hour per employee.
Or maybe there are additional costs for this level of coverage. The other day I was in Clover Food Lab and I noticed that Gatehouse Media had accidentally left behind a sample puff-piece story about Clover’s new Central Square location, with a business card from some guy in “Media Solutions” or something similar.
Can anybody shed light on the new pay-to-play “journalism” model?
I’m pretty sure the NY Times article WBUR was reading was the one linked to above (and here). And MGWA is right, the Times reported that employees often aren’t allowed to keep their tips. I heard a follow-up discussion on WGBH suggested the not keeping tips practice was common in greater Boston as well.
I don’t know anything about GateHouse’s “media solutions” product but have confidence in the integrity of WBUR’s news reporting.
@Michael – I’m not for or against MiniLuxe, but your selective quoting is rather unfair. The full quote is:
In other words, they’re paying their employees several dollars/hour above what’s required by law for tipped employees and they’re also giving benefits that hourly workers at most salons don’t get.
Any employer that’s not allowing their employees to keep their tip money is violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Any employer with more than 50 full-time employees that doesn’t offer health benefits is violating the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
At the end of the day, we’re talking nine bucks an hour, plus a share of pooled tips that probably average five bucks per manicure, plus unlimited exposure to chemicals that cause respiratory problems, skin and nerve damage, miscarriages, and cancer. Great deal.
Until the health issues can be fully addressed (cloth or paper masks have no effect), this is an industry that should not exist.
And in the meantime it’s pretty clear that the media coverage for this particular outfit is part of a prepackaged business-school PR strategy that was hatched by some venture cap fellow who “gave his guys a challenge. He wanted them to find a fragmented industry they could transform into ‘the next Starbucks’.” Gotta love the passion. The passion for profit, that is.
PS Greg, I did read the NYT series, and was appalled. My point was that the issue of chemical exposure was not addressed by any of the people quoted in the WBUR article, even though it was one of the NYT series’ primary concerns.