Forbes Daily Cover: Buff City Balloons To 260 Stores

Original Article: Forbes - August 29, 2023

Buff City Soap, the bakery-style retailer known for whipping up soaps, bath bombs and laundry detergent in-store, grew at lightning speed during the pandemic. Management’s next priority centers around allowing the soap bubbles to fully saturate the scene without bursting.

As recently profiled in Forbes Magazine, the brand grew from just 30 stores in 2019 to an impressive 260 locations today. Most locations are run by franchisees, and the brand is on track for a big year, projecting over $150 million in systemwide sales—a double-digit jump from last year’s numbers.

With backing from General Atlantic to drive expansion, Buff City Soap is aiming for an ultimate footprint of up to 1,000 stores. Launching a soap empire such as this does not come without its growing pains. From the struggle to keep up with production, to sharing the retail space with birthday parties, occasionally clean-up on aisle seven is required.

But we don’t want to burst your soap bubble – check out the original Forbes article to learn more about the challenges that accompanied this remarkable growth trajectory.