Rascals’ Owner and Founder, Sam Bentham, has just been announced as the newest Fresha Ambassador. The #1 Salon Software for booking, analytics, payments and more, has supported Sam through his journey from barber apprentice, to barbershop owner and entrepreneur. Sam spoke to BarberEVO about why he is Fresha’s #1 fan.
“I mean, I’ve been using Fresha before it was called Fresha,” chuckled Sam Bentham. “It just feels pretty full circle to be a Fresha Ambassador now.”
Sam is the owner and founder of the Newcastle barbershops Rascals, haircare line of the same name – and the newly announced Fresha Ambassador. Sam set up his urban city-scape style barbershop in Newcastle in 2018 and Rascals’ second location at the end of 2023 – Sam feels like his career has catapulted. Whilst this type of constant career evolution would bring some people a certain degree of stress, Sam told us he “loves it.”
Smiling, Sam said: “It’s funny, Fresha has been with me throughout my career. When I was just starting out, I got involved with Fresha because it was free, at the time. I’ve stuck with it for the entire time I’ve owned Rascals because it’s just so user-friendly. For me, it’s the perfect application – having two locations; with any other service, I would have to have two subscriptions. With Fresha, I’m able to integrate both stores into the one app. Having access to information about everything going on in my barbershops – from my stock levels to my staff’s commission – on one app, it’s made everything go so much smoother.”
The barber and entrepreneur, who is originally from North Tyneside in Newcastle, spoke to us whilst in the middle of a move to Manchester. While telling us about his plans to leave his barbershops in a managerial capacity, to set up a studio in the Rainy City and focus on creating digital barbering content, he noted that this is where Fresha comes in handy.
He said: “I have an amazing team at both Rascals stores, but I know that because they are such busy stores, the load will sometimes get overwhelming. It’s great to know that even if I’ll be away from the stores, I’ll be able to take on some of that weight. One of my favourite features on Fresha, is the add-on called Team Pay. I’m able to monitor the attendance and hours worked with the clocking in and out time sheets. I can track their commission, wages and tips – and pay it out. All from the app – wherever I am. Before Team Pay was developed, I used to have to sit on a Saturday afternoon and work everything out myself. So, it’s really allowed me to maximise my time and focus on different branches of my career.”
“I mean, there’s a greater benefit to it too, for owners. Before this feature came out, I used to have all of this money paid into my business account and send it out from there, which meant I was taxed on it all. With Fresha, because it’s all paid out via them and the business wallet feature, I’ve ended up saving nearly half my VAT bill, which I can then reinvest into my business,” Sam said.
The young creative, whilst “always having a business mindset,” didn’t always have the barbering bug – but it seemed there was always something trying to reel him in. When he was a child, Sam’s mum worked in a hairdresser – where Sam admittedly “loved the sound of the hair being cut.” After leaving high school, Sam studied Aerospace Engineering at college. Only lasting a year, he dropped out with no clear plan. With more free time on his hands, Sam began modelling hairstyles for his friend, who was undertaking a hairdresser apprenticeship. Fascinated by the colors and styles, Sam decided to make the move into the barbering world.
Sam said: “As soon as I figured out that I was going to give barbering a go, I knew I wanted to have my own shop. I’m someone who likes to do it my own way. When I was working for other barbers, I would always observe their space and visualise what I’d do with it. It’s the same with Rascals hair products. I’d be styling people’s hair and thinking about what ingredient could enhance the formula – even how I could make the packaging look better. So, I knew I had to start it up.”
The entrepreneur notes that launching the Rascals range in the summer of 2023 is one of two “real career highlights,” which reminds him of “just how far” he has come. Opening his second location of Rascals soon after the launch of his product line also gave the budding businessman a huge boost.
“It was so exciting opening the second Rascals. It lets me know I’m doing something right,” Sam nodded, before continuing. “I’m trying to do something different at Rascals. I’m trying to create something that is in between a barbershop and a salon. So, I use a lot of scissor work with a super in-depth consultation. I don’t want it to be your typical barbershop.”
Sam acknowledges that for some clients, this new-wave style of barbershop can feel intimidating. At Rascals, he makes it a priority to have his clients feel comfortable from the get-go.
“It’s about being greeted with a smile,” he said. “It’s about making the effort to give your client that good quality advice, to ensure your client feels listened to. I believe that’s one of the reasons we have such great customer retention rates. We’re able to focus on the service and really engage – a lot of that is because we have Fresha to deal with those important, but honestly, time-consuming tasks. We’re able to create that service that keeps our customers coming back.”
