Today, Justin Boutilier owns one of the fastest-growing med spas in the US. In fact, his supplier, Allergan, recently recognized LightTouch Med Spa as one of its 25 largest purchasers. This explosive growth occurred over three short years and was spurred by the economic crisis of COVID-19.
LightTouch Med Spa makes a move
When Justin Boutilier moved from Canada to Sunny Orlando, he brought 13 years of experience in the medical spa industry with him. “There wasn’t much room for expansion in Ontario,” he says. “On top of that, the weather made it tough for clients to attend the clinic and put a damper on sales for most of the year. I looked around and decided the grass really was greener on the other side of the fence.”
Dreaming of a better climate and emerging economy, Boutilier sold four successful spas in Canada. He researched Tampa, Jacksonville, Austin, and Dallas Fort Worth, but ultimately settled on a home in Orlando, an expansive city with gorgeous weather and room to grow in all directions.
With his pregnant wife, two-year-old, and cat, Boutilier drove over 19 hours to start a new life in April 2019. His family rented a home and opened a 1,500-square-foot med spa with two treatment rooms. A year later, his fledgling business was caught up in the unforeseeable whirlwind of Covid.
LightTouch Med Spa is touch-and-go, thanks to the global pandemic
Boutilier remembers those first weeks during Covid as a test of business resolve. The lockdown forced LightTouch Med Spa to shut down entirely. So, to keep his staff employed, Boutilier went digital. “My background is digital marketing and search engine optimization,” he explains. “I have social media experience as well. My knowledge of the ads by industry and digital marketing gave us a competitive edge. Not many SEO or digital marketing experts also have equal experience in the med spa sector.”
Unlike some parts of the country, Florida was only closed for a little over a month. “Obviously, many businesses couldn’t make it through,” recalls Boutilier. “We were fortunate that the beauty and healthcare industry was booming at the time because it allowed us to accelerate during a time that could have been devastating.”
That acceleration came with a leap of faith — rather than expanding slowly, Boutilier put all his chips on the table. “Any business that grows as quickly as ours has done can look back on some pivotal turning point,” he reflects. “For us, that moment was signing the lease on our new location with 5,000 square feet and 14 treatment rooms. Typically, when one spa location is doing well, the owner will open another location of a similar size. That model worked for us in Canada, but I felt there might be something better.”
Something bold and something new for LightTouch Med Spa
During the height of the pandemic, Boutilier’s landlord approached him with an opportunity to move into a larger space. “Things were still rough for businesses,” he remembers, “but we decided we could capitalize on affordable commercial rent if we were bold enough to make that leap.”
LightTouch Med Spa came out of the pandemic poised either to fail or flourish, but there was no room for a middle ground, so Boutilier reopened with a new facility and a new business model. “I took Walmart’s approach to volume, Louis Vuitton’s approach to high-end product, and Chick-Fil-A’s approach to customer service, and combined it in the med spa space,” he explains. “We use the highest quality and most clinically reviewed injectables and fillers, and because we purchase them in bulk, we can offer our customers amazing discounts. At LightTouch, you get the best price, the best product, and the best service.”
Currently, eight of LightTouch’s treatment rooms are in full-time operation, but in a year, Boutilier plans to schedule all of the rooms seven days a week. “Opening that larger location and powering up our digital marketing made all of this possible,” he says. “After that, all we had to do was assemble a top-notch team, offer the best products at good prices, and work incredibly hard.
Allergan recognizes Med Spa’s rapid growth
Allergan, a billion-dollar pharmaceutical company with over 17,000 accounts in its aesthetics line, recently recognized LightTouch Med Spa as one of its top 25 purchasers of Botox and fillers. That ranks this three-year-old startup among the largest med spas in the country.
Boutilier says his choice to buy exclusively from Allergan has been key to his growth. “Med spas usually offer a range of products,” he explains. “Lesser-known brands have the best margins, so spa owners typically push those products. In Canada, we carried premium and mid-tier brands, but buckling down on quality has been one of our best decisions. We knew Allergan’s product was premium quality; our only question was whether it could be profitable. With any vendor, if you purchase enough volume, you get discounts. When we went all in, we found we could maintain profitable margins and offer a premium product.”
In 2022, Allergan took note of LightTouch’s unprecedented growth when the new establishment ranked in the country’s top 250 purchasers. One year later, they were even more interested as Boutilier scaled his business to rank in the top 25.
“Allergan is eager to highlight our success and pass that on to other businesses,” Boutilier says. “To order that much product, we are serving approximately 65 patients a day with a client base of 11,000. The ranking gives us an idea of where we stand, but we’re not even close to being done yet.”
LightTouch Med Spa is rewriting the playbook for opening high-quality, successful med spas. “Above growth, our top priority is maintaining the highest quality experience for our clients,” Boutilier says. “We believe customers should come to a med spa expecting the best, and we’re proud to prove that spa owners can offer premium products without sacrificing service.”
