New Hand & Stone CEO Carrie Walsh on Franchisee Opportunities

Carrie Walsh spent her first weeks as the new CEO of Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa in the field. Since taking the helm in July, she has visited locations from California to Texas, meeting with franchisees and their teams and seeing firsthand how the brand’s service standards come to life at the spa level.

Walsh brings more than two decades of experience with Subway, Pizza Hut, PepsiCo and Michaels to a brand with significant momentum: more than 650 spas across 36 states and Canada, more than 20 consecutive years of growth and a $1.35 million average unit volume—the highest in spa franchising. In this conversation, she discusses what drew her to Hand & Stone, the opportunities ahead and the role franchisees will play in the brand’s next chapter.

You’ve said the spa visits and customer data were what made this opportunity resonate. What stood out when you walked into a Hand & Stone for the first time?

Walsh: Honestly, it was the feeling in the room. You could just sense the standard of care. I’ve spent my career in brands that rely on whether the promise in the marketing matches what happens at the point of service, and here it clearly does. Then I got into the customer data, and it backed up everything I’d felt walking the floor – there’s retention, a growing active membership, and franchisees executing with real excellence. That combination, a brand promise genuinely being delivered at scale across hundreds of independently owned businesses, is rare. It told me the foundation was already strong, and that this was about building on something exceptional. 

Across Subway, Pizza Hut, PepsiCo and Michaels, your work has centered on deepening the connection between a brand and its customers. Where do you see the biggest opportunities to apply that lens at Hand & Stone?

Walsh: Hand & Stone has something most brands spend years chasing – a genuine reason. It’s the idea of delivering someone’s best hour in an otherwise crazy, stressful week. The opportunity is making that promise even more visible and consistent in how people discover the brand, engage with it digitally, and how it shows up in their routine. Many people still think of us as a massage brand first, but we’re actually the world’s number one provider of facials, completing more than 1.6 million facial treatments last year alone, representing about a third of our systemwide sales. That’s a real opportunity to tell a different story about who we are.

What are franchisees saying, and how is that feedback shaping leadership priorities? 

Walsh: Listening and learning has been my top priority from day one. Learning from our franchisees, corporate team, and the day-to-day experience of running these spa businesses. I’ve already spent time in spas across California, NJ, Pennsylvania, Florida, Colorado and Texas, sitting with franchisees and their teams, and what comes through every time is how much this system depends on the great people who built it.

A franchise brand is only as strong as its franchisees, and Hand & Stone’s momentum exists because owners have worked hard, market by market, to build something real. I want franchisees to feel like true partners, not operators just executing, and that means corporate and franchisees working in lockstep. It also means protecting the local market insights that’s been core to owners’ success. I don’t want to lose that as we grow.

Membership is at an all-time high and systemwide sales are outpacing the industry. What’s next when it comes to ways to deepen the member relationship even further – to make Hand & Stone a bigger part of someone’s routine?

Walsh: For me, the growth story isn’t just about adding new spas – it’s about growing the member base at every single spa we already have. That means continuing to innovate on membership and loyalty in ways that make Hand & Stone easier to build into someone’s regular routine, not just an occasional treat.  We want people to feel like they’re getting a genuinely premium experience without it being something they can only afford occasionally. 

When you can deliver on the promise of being someone’s best hour in a hard week and do it reliably, so it becomes part of their routine, that’s powerful for the brand. It’s a big component of what energizes me most about bringing Hand & Stone into more people’s lives.

Beyond membership growth, what levers are you focused on to strengthen profitability at the spa level?

Walsh: Profitability at the spa level is our focus. A big part of that is strengthening unit-level economics with real discipline, finding ways to drive cost efficiency that flow through to franchisee margin. I’ve led cost-saving initiatives before that protected and improved franchisee profitability while the brand kept growing, and I want to bring that same focus here – staying clearly focused on strengthening unit-level economics and meaningful profitability and continuing to identify new ways to drive that. Hand & Stone is built because motivated, skilled franchisees work incredibly hard to build their businesses, so I take that responsibility very seriously.

Staffing licensed therapists and estheticians is the industry’s biggest challenge. How is Hand & Stone approaching that?

Walsh: You can have the best brand promise in the world, but you can’t deliver it without great therapists and estheticians in the spas. It’s an industry-wide challenge, not unique to us, but I think there’s real opportunity for Hand & Stone to differentiate here because of the strength of our franchisee network and the scale we operate at. 

We’ve already built real infrastructure around this, from our National School Program that connects franchisees with local massage schools for training, tuition support and sponsorships, to our newer partnership with Beauty Changes Lives, opening up scholarship pathways into the industry. I also love that this is a brand where people can build an actual career, not just take a job. Some of our most senior leaders today started as licensed estheticians and regional operations managers. I want to understand what’s working best across our system and help scale it. 

Hand & Stone has been No. 1 in its category with Entrepreneur five times and is at 650-plus locations across 36 states and Canada. What’s the growth story ahead, and what kind of owner do you want building it?

Walsh: The growth story ahead is about growing membership and performance at every existing spa in North America, not just scaling unit count, while continuing to expand thoughtfully into new markets. We’re already sitting on a spa franchise-leading $1.35 million average unit volume, built on 20+ years of consecutive growth, and that’s the kind of foundation you build on. 

I believe Hand & Stone will become the undisputed leader in the spa category, and getting there depends on the same thing that got us this far – that’s motivated, skilled franchisees who are genuinely invested in building their businesses and growing with us. The owner I want building this next chapter with us leads with excellence in execution, sees us as a true partner rather than just a franchisor, and brings real entrepreneurial energy to their market.

We want to leverage the scale and resources of a 650-plus unit system without ever losing that entrepreneurial spirit. 

Anything else you would like franchisees and prospective franchisees to know about the opportunity ahead?

Walsh: I don’t take lightly the trust our franchisees, corporate team and members have put in this brand. I’ve spent more than 20 years working across leading consumer and franchise brands, and I chose Hand & Stone because it had a strong foundation that executes with excellence and real momentum to build on. That’s a rare combination. On a personal note, I did my MBA at Wharton, so Philadelphia already feels a bit like home to me, which has made this transition even more special. I’m married 28 years, we have three kids, including twins, and three dogs keeping things lively at home. I definitely understand the importance of finding some relaxation and getting an hour – or more – to yourself. That’s exactly what this brand delivers for people, and I’m energized to help bring it to even more of them, alongside our amazing franchise partners.

Discover your path to franchise ownership with Hand & Stone today. Visit, handandstone.com/franchise.

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Hand & Stone
Delivering accessible and personalized skincare and massage services, Hand & Stone has over 650+ locations in the US with 1000+ available trade areas to grow in. After 20 years of consecutive growth, we have an average unit volume of $1.35 million! Learn More