Artful Owners

Owners: Kermie and Algy Irvin
Location: The Woodlands and Kingwood, Texas
Number of full-time employees: 8 contracted artists
Founded: 2009
What it does: Lifestyle franchise that provides fun,
instructional art classes
2010 Revenues: $218,836
2011 Revenues: $272,253
2012 Projections: $327,600 (The Woodlands); $230,000 (Kingwood)
How They Made It: Strong community ties, aggressive marketing plan, and commercial clients that send groups of employees to Painting With a Twist to participate in team-building activities.

Kermie and Algy Irvin Jr. own two Painting With a Twist enterprises in the Greater Houston area. Their businesses are part of a trend toward “lifestyle franchises,” a segment in which both franchised and independent ventures cover leisure pursuits such as jewelry-making and beer brewing. The husband-and-wife team have found their niche by helping people unwind with a paintbrush in one hand and a glass of wine or a soft drink in the other.

The company was founded as Corks N Canvas in 2007 and began franchising as Painting With a Twist in 2009. It currently has 66 franchise locations nationwide. The concept pairs instructional art with friends, drinks, snacks, and a lively instructor to produce individual works of art. Customers such as Jennifer Martinez pay $35 for a two-hour class or $45 for a three-hour stint at the easel, surrounded by fellow art lovers. “It’s the most fun you can have with a group of friends and walk away with a great piece of artwork,” says Martinez, who takes part on a monthly basis, most recently with a group of 36 friends assembled using Facebook. “It’s so much better than going out to a bar.”

The Irvins purchased their first Painting with a Twist franchise in December 2009 in The Woodlands, Texas, and their second this past January in Kingwood. Lifestyle franchises took a hit during the economic downturn because people didn’t have the money to spend, says Max Jones, a business coach with The Entrepreneur’s Source, a franchising resource. “As people are feeling more comfortable about their financial future, they’re starting to come back,” he says. “Lifestyle is a big issue. People want to go out and enjoy themselves. That’s what these offer.”

There’s nothing quite like a natural disaster to make you rethink your life and work. In 2005, Kermie, 40,

worked as an engineer in the maritime industry, and Algy, 41, worked in the oil industry and as a commercial photographer. The Irvins lived in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina ripped through the city.

That was a turning point for the couple, who relocated to Houston the following year. As part of their rebirth they decided to become business owners and invested $80,000 of their own funds to open their first Painting With a Twist location. Their initial cash outlay covered the building lease and franchise fees, the latter of which included all equipment, supplies, artist training, studio setup, and “a few months of buffer until the studio was self-supporting,” says Kermie, who still works as a maritime engineer.

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Purchasing the franchise when most of the country was just beginning to recover from the recession, the couple faced immediate challenges. Many questioned the move– friends, family, even shopkeepers in the strip malls where they were scouting for locations. “Some of our friends asked us if we needed medication or counseling,” recalls Algy. “They also didn’t understand why anyone would go somewhere to paint and drink.”

In spite of the naysayers, the Irvins started marketing the idea to anyone who would listen. “We believed in the concept and we knew that once we educated people about it and they understood it, it would catch on,” says Algy.

But during the first six months of their inaugural year, the store struggled. “We were taking in maybe $1,000 a month, but spending between $4,000 and $5, 000,” says Algy.
Part of the couple’s marketing efforts involved fundraising activities with local schools, running silent art auctions, and providing support services for two of the area’s largest art festivals. The Irvins’ community involvement led them to lucrative corporate deals. In 2010, for example, clients like ExxonMobil and Marriott’s Woodlands Waterway Hotel and Convention Center began sending groups of employees to Painting With a Twist to participate in team-building activities. “Business began to turn around when local businesses started to send their employees to us,” says Algy. “That was one of the unexpected ways that the business community rallied around us and gave us word-of-mouth advertising.”

Revenues progressively increased. The Irvins generated about $218,000 in sales in 2010 and $272,000 in 2011. This year they’re looking to increase that number by 20%, thanks to strong community ties, new commercial clients, and a more aggressive marketing plan that includes social media.

In 2011, the Irvins’ store was named one of the top five locations for the Painting With a Twist chain. Franchisees in the top one-third of the company earn about $300,000 in gross annual revenue; those in the middle two-thirds gross some $175,000 annually.
Jones of The Entrepreneur’s Source says the lifestyle concept is sustainable as long as franchisees follow the system provided; however, in order to make money, they must open multiple locations.

The Irvins say that they still have a lot of market penetrating to do. They’ve started attending more Chamber of Commerce events and talking to members about the Painting With a Twist concept and how it ties into corporate team-building. “We had a great idea that few had heard of,” says Kermie, “so we hit the streets and started talking to everyone about it.”

The couple plans to use social media and Internet radio to promote the business and increase consumer awareness.