Stylists and the salon community have always been at the heart of Moroccanoil. It was a stylist who first introduced our co-founder, Carmen Tal, to the transformative powers of argan oil. When we were just getting started, it was stylists who helped get the word out by championing Moroccanoil Treatment to their clients. To this day, it is stylists that guide us as we work to create new products (and our network of salons that helps people find their own favorites). To say we are grateful for this community is an absolute understatement. Given our immense appreciation for the passion, creativity, and expertise stylists bring to their work every day, we thought it was only fitting to profile a few of the salons who are integral parts of the Moroccanoil family. Today, we’re talking to Alan Kossof of Teddie Kossof Salon Spa in Northfield, IL. Alan quite literally grew up with the salon—his father, Teddie, founded it before he was born. Read on to find out more about his perspective on beauty, service, and what’s kept multiple generations of the same families coming back for decades.
Tell us about Teddie Kossof. When was it founded? How has it evolved? How would you describe the energy there?
My father, Teddie Kossof, founded the Salon in 1975. His vision was to create a destination for beauty on Chicago’s North Shore. A world of beauty all under one roof. The salon is 17,000 square feet, but its design is unique, as there are many smaller private spaces, which make our guest feel very comfortable. The blend of talent and their backgrounds, ethnicity and the range of services we offer create a special energy throughout the salon.
Teddie in 2002, styling a model for the Rush University Medical Center Fashion Show.
What is your role in/connection to the salon? Tell us about your personal history there.
The salon will be celebrating 48 years in February 2022, I just turned 45. I was a frequent visitor to the salon at a very young age, I believe I was 7 years old when my father would bring me to work with him on Saturdays. Sweeping hair from the floors and polishing mirrors was my specialty back then! Over the years my role expanded, in my high school and college years, helping with shampooing hair and assisting guests with customer service. After college, I decided to join full time and began my study of the business, and what it took to run a world-class salon. I had a great teacher guiding me, my father is very hands on himself, with an exclusive clientele. He prides himself on getting in touch with new guests through his exclusive consultation services and placed clients in the chairs of the stylist he felt would be best suited for the work to be performed. It is a very successful formula for us.
What does a typical day at Teddie Kossof look like?
In the beauty business, what we know is that each day brings its challenges, as no two days are alike! Our dedicated customer service team answers calls, checking in guests, our talented team working their magic on the clients they serve, the amazing energy that gets generated through this process, it’s a special thing to watch in action, we are blessed with many great clients who support our salon.
Team members celebrating the holidays with an ugly Christmas sweater day in December 2021.
What elements have been most crucial to the salon’s success over the years?
Years ago, my father stated clearly to his team, you can’t focus on the dollars you generate as a stylist. You must always place your primary focus on service. If you provide the service, the clients will come back then will refer their family and friends, and alas the dollars will be there to support your business. Additionally, our commitment to community service. We pride our selves on our ability, to support our local charitable organizations, we never say no to a donation request.
You have extremely loyal clients—to the point that you have multiple generations of the same families coming in! Tell us more about that. What do you think keeps clients coming back?
We never lost sight of our roots. We are in our business every day, hands-on. Clients see that we are committed, and they love it, so much that they feel comfortable introducing us to their family and friends. Our team is consistent with their work, our prices are reasonable, and you are treated well, the formula is simple, just about being consistent.
Tell us how your culture and practices have changed throughout the pandemic.
The pandemic was a challenge for us all in the world. Who wasn’t affected by it? For us, being in the beauty business, with no access to provide services, I have to say, it didn’t set in completely until the day we had to suspend services. During the shutdown, we didn’t change our routines, my father and I came in every day and tried to get something done that would help the salon and the team it supports to be ready for the day we would reopen. I think that the big take away for me was, learning how to be a positive force. As we reopened and as we have now been operating post shutdown, it’s a fresh start for everyone, its been a challenge operating in an environment where you must make people feel safe. But feeling safe is one thing, we took it to a higher level and built a system to manage our client traffic, temperature checks and sanitation processes, our efforts paid off.
"It's a fresh start for everyone," Alan says of pandemic operations.
What do you think people might be most surprised to know about owning, managing, or working at a salon? What is the most rewarding part?
Running a successful salon is more than just about being a good hairdresser or building a great team. There are so many behind the scene moving parts that play a vital role in the formula that is required to run a successful salon business. What brings me the most joy is seeing the success stores that we’ve been a part of over the years. We have loyal team that we are a part of, we never see ourselves as owners, we are partners. I believe our team sees that in us and that drives us to always do better in how we continue to evolve our salon.
Philanthropy is a cornerstone of Teddie Kossof. Tell us about some of the causes you support and why you chose them.
We are truly committed to giving back to the community that supports our business. It is a one of the reasons why we have been so blessed with a successful business over the years. When others say they can’t, we find a way to say, we can. There are so many different causes we have been a part of over the years, but the ones that are closest to our hearts are the opportunities to support causes and events that benefit helping children in any way.
Do you have any advice for anyone who in interested in starting their own salon or small business?
Sometimes people think that being an owner easy, mostly because the real work is often performed behind the scenes, where the rest of the team does not see what goes on to make everything connect and tick like clockwork. For those looking to open their own business, my advice is that you need to be prepared to give up a lot. Your family and personal time may be limited. Prepare to work long hours, be first in, last out, learn about other skill sets that you may not master, like marketing, human resources and facilitates management and there’s homework every night!
