“I wanted you to feel like you’re a part of the experience so you can see the transparency and the ingredients,” says Magen Bynum, founder of Magnolia Soap & Bath.
Consumers express an ever-growing interest in knowing what’s in their products. For Magen Bynum, this information became more personal after the birth of her daughter.
“When she was born, she was super sensitive to smells,” Bynum said. “My mother could hold her with perfume on, and her little skin would welt from head to toe … so I had to find something for her.”
Bynum created diaper cream and lotion for her child, and was already playing around with recipes for body scrubs, butters, soaps and salts. In 2018 she founded natural lifestyle brand Magnolia Soap & Bath and opened its first retail store in New Albany, Mississippi. The brand’s plant-based products include shampoo bars, body soaps, scrubs, candles and laundry detergent. The company began franchising in 2020 and has 52 units.
What began as a single retail unit transitioned to experiential retail as Magnolia looked to expand. In line with the brand’s ingredient transparency-focused initiatives, customers can see staff making and pouring products.
Stores offer parties, where groups can make their own soaps, bath bombs and candles. Charitable efforts are also a focus through Magnolia’s Hope in Soap initiative, where each month it invites a charity to make a unique soap; that organization then receives a portion of the proceeds of the soap sales.
“I wanted you to feel like you’re a part of the experience so you can see the transparency and the ingredients,” Bynum said. “You can see exactly what we’re putting into every product that’s being made and also can participate in it.”
The natural body and home care segment has seen a rising interest in recent years. Internationally known Lush, which does not franchise, has close to 900 stores across 52 countries. Franchise Buff City Soap has nearly 300 units, and for a brief period before starting Magnolia, Bynum operated three Buff City shops in Mississippi.
That involvement led to an early legal hurdle as Buff City Soap sued Bynum and her company in 2020, alleging Magnolia took confidential information and improperly used Buff City’s intellectual property. The parties settled out of court in July 2022 and agreed to dismiss all claims. Magnolia’s franchise disclosure document lists the litigation and notes the company “accepted no liability but agreed to pay Buff City $50,000 and agreed to phase out certain product lines and cease using certain advertising claims.”
Bynum declined to comment on Buff City Soap and previous litigation.
Having crossed the 50-unit threshold, Magnolia has experienced wins in a booming segment. Bynum credited many of these to growing staff infrastructure from a three-person operation to a larger team led by brand president Dianne Davis.
Davis brings decades of franchise experience, including 18 years with clothing reseller Just Between Friends. “I don’t want to work at a company that detracts from people’s health; I want to work with one that improves people’s health,” Davis said. “The vision of where this company can go, while it’s still relatively small and under 100 … For me, it was a chance to move such a creative plan that I knew had much potential to grow and would make the world a little bit better.”
With growth comes growing pains. Bynum said franchise expansion has taught her a couple things, in particular the importance of finding the right partners.
“When you first start onboarding franchisees, you may or may not bring in the right people that are going to be there for the long haul, so I think that’s been a huge learning curve and transition for us” she said. “It’s figuring out if they are willing to grow with the company as we change and emerge.”
Bynum advised franchisors in a similar stage to trust their intuition, vet prospective staff and franchisees, and find a strong franchise attorney to guide the brand. As Magnolia continues growing, with plans to open approximately 20 units this year, franchisee success and satisfaction are at the core of its efforts.
“We really want to focus on making sure they are growing their unit economics and that we’re giving them the most support possible,” Bynum said. “That’s what we’re focused on as a leadership team, putting that franchisee-first mentality ahead of everything else. I feel like everything else will fall into place; with the right people in place, everything else will elevate.”