Today we’d like to introduce you to Alissa Bayer.
Hi Alissa, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I never thought of myself as a typical entrepreneur. I studied philosophy and literature as an undergraduate, then went to business school at UT Austin, where I wrote the business plan for milk + honey as an independent study in my final semester. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to make a living by contributing to people’s lives in a positive way — not only our guests, but also our team.
I opened the first milk + honey spa in downtown Austin in 2006. Within our first year, we had nearly outgrown the space, so we signed a lease for a second location. I bootstrapped the business for the first 14 years and took careful, calculated risks as we grew. Along the way, we launched our own line of clean bath, body, and skin care products, which I developed with the estheticians and massage therapists in our spas. Today we have 10 spas across Austin, Houston, Fort Worth, Chicago, and Los Angeles, but what I am most proud of is the amazing community of guests and team members that makes milk + honey so special.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When I started, I did not have any spa or salon experience. That made for a steep learning curve, and it made it harder to secure bank loans and convince landlords to take a chance on me. I learned very quickly not to take “no” at face value. If one door closed, I kept going until every possible avenue was exhausted.
For years, when someone asked me about the single biggest threat to my business, I would answer something like bird flu or swine flu, depending on what was in the news. In 2020, the biggest risk I could imagine became real. In early 2020, I had just signed three leases, and we were well on our way to designing and permitting our first locations outside of Texas. Instead of a season full of exciting challenges and expansion, it became the hardest chapter we have ever faced. We had to close our spas and then reopen slowly with an entirely different way of operating. That meant health screenings at arrival, reduced capacity, and pausing some of the services and amenities our guests loved most. As a business owner and a mother, I felt the weight of keeping our team and our guests safe while we found our footing again.
Thankfully, we made it through and kept the business alive, but we are still feeling the impact in how our team thinks about work and in how our guests behave. Through all of it, I continue to believe that if we take great care of our team, they will take great care of our guests.
We’ve been impressed with milk + honey , but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
milk + honey is a collection of spas and salons with 10 locations in Austin, Houston, Fort Worth, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Guests can book massage, body treatments, facials, advanced aesthetics, hair, and nails under one roof. We also make our own line of clean bath, body, and skin care products, developed with the estheticians and massage therapists in our spas and tested in our treatment rooms.
We are a female-founded and female-owned business. None of our spas are franchises, and while I took some outside investment in 2019, I still hold majority ownership and control of the business. That independence shows in the care we put into the people and the places behind every treatment. I believe that if you take care of your team, they will take care of your guests. I measure our success in broader terms than profit for shareholders. To me, a successful business is one where everyone wins — our team members, our vendors, and the communities where we operate. I will never be satisfied with the status quo, and I am always looking for ways to keep improving how we work.
Our spaces are designed with the same care. Each location has its own personality, so they feel like siblings rather than identical twins. We invite guests to write gratitude notes in our spa lounges, and we embed those notes, along with crystals, into the walls of each new spa we build. When you are in one of our spas, you are quite literally surrounded by gratitude and good energy.
What I am proudest of is the community that has grown around milk + honey, including the ways we have been able to give back. For your readers, I would want them to know that taking care of yourself is not indulgent. One hour with us or a full day, we want you to leave feeling more grounded and more like yourself.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I have never thought of myself as a natural risk-taker. I see myself as someone who works hard on something I care about and takes carefully calculated risks along the way. People often associate big decisions with a lot of risk, but taking a chance on myself and on something I deeply believe in does not feel like gambling to me. Risk feels much more manageable when it is backed by a clear plan, thorough preparation, and a strong network of people who support you.
There have still been some real leaps. Opening milk + honey with no spa or salon experience was the first. Signing a lease for our second location within our first year was another. Expanding beyond Texas was a big one too. Our first spa outside the state opened in Brentwood in Los Angeles, and we planned it while we were still navigating the pandemic.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://milkandhoney.com
- Instagram: @milkandhoneyspa
