Vince Crisafulli, St. Croix Tan

Since coming into St. Croix Tan, a salon originally owned by his father Frank Crisafulli, Vince Crisafulli has channeled his business savvy into strategic growth. With six locations and a solid business plan, Vince and his team maintain an exceptional reputation in the community and set the bar for success.

Q: How have your past positions influenced your ownership of St. Croix Tan?

A: Having a background in corporate finances gives you the keen sense that numbers are king. You judge your success by results and numbers, which places an important focus on monitoring your metrics. You can’t say you’re doing well if the numbers say otherwise. You are judged by banks and provided financing based on your numbers, so it’s the best way to judge your performance.

In tanning I incorporate that with some experience from working in transportation, where it’s important to keep clients happy and keep things running smoothly. It’s all about managing expectaitons.

Q: How does St. Croix Tan stand out from the competition?

A: When St. Croix Tan opened in 2001, many tanning salons were still characterized by white walls, grey carpeting, and a cheeky tiki theme. St. Croix’s concept was to be an upscale tanning salon, which meant being a little more forward-thinking about the aesthetics.

All of our locations feature hardwood floors and a real attention to detail from the lighting fixtures to the counters, which we chose to be reminiscent of Starbucks.  And since people come into this business and take off their clothes, there’s also an attention to cleanliness. It can take our quality assurance technicians a week or more to learn how we like the salon cleaned.

Q: How do you create opportunities for expansion?

A: It’s all about patience. Some acquisitions take time. Over the span of four years we might negotiate on and off, get a deal going, something blows up, the deal is off, and they call you back down the road. You just try again. That’s how it works in every industry including Fortune 500 companies. You stop and go, you find new partners – that’s just the nature of business. You have to be able to put the time in and build relationships.