There is a lot of action happening in the spa industry and this is providing enormous space to grow – Anurag Kedia

The scope of growth in a certain industry is what every entrepreneur looks up to when he/she steps into it. The wellness industry is a broad industry which keeps on providing new opportunities to the companies in it. In a conversation with, Mr Anurag Kedia, Co- Founder and Director, Four Mountains De-stress spas, Nu Ayurveda Clinic and Four Fountain Labs, we find out what he thinks of the spa industry and the competition he plans to beat.

What views do you have about the growth of the Indian Spa industry as we witness the birth of new wellness concepts?
I think the growth in the country will be driven more by the industry than the consumers because there is a lot of inherent demand in all parts of the country whether we talk about metros, semi- metros, tier 2 and 3 towns. There is a lot of demand and the growth is already high but it can be higher depending on what we decide to do as an industry. There is also some amount of government support which is now coming in which is great to have. For new concepts on wellness, there is always space as now there is so much action happening. If you are a new entrant, you should differentiate between what is already available in the market than what you are offering whether it is in the terms of the customer experience you are providing, the services, the way the products are positioned, the entire gamut of things which you do to entertain the customers.

Can you tell us about how The Four Fountain Spas are different from the other spas in the industry?
At the four fountain spas, we are priced in the mid segment. The market is growing in a big way, however, there are a lot of people entering for the first time or have been occasional users of the spa in the past. So, we are trying to make them habitual users to make them visit the spa at least once in a fortnight or even in a month. Hence, price and affordability become a big factor. This is backed with standardised training, so all our therapists are trained only at our training academy at Pune. We do not hire any laterals people who have been in the industry because they would find it harder to adapt to our SOPs. So, we take only freshers and train them completely in our SOPs. At our training academy, the products used are completely natural and aromatherapy based. These are some of the initiatives we take to service our guests.

What growth plans do you look up to in context to your company in the coming years?
We currently operate 28 spas and there is clearly a space to triple this number over the next 3-5 years. We also run some Ayurveda clinics under the brand name of Nu Ayurveda. We have 11 clinics right now and there is a huge scope to establish around 100 spas over the next few years. So, we do see over 200 outlets of Four Fountains spas over the next 5 years.