Bord Gáis Energy Interview: Shane Keaveney, Peter Mark

/ 8th March 2019 /

In this series, Bord Gáis Energy is sharing details on some of its SME customers and their business success. This month we feature Shane Keaveney (pictured), director, Peter Mark

Founded in 1961 by brothers Peter and Mark Keaveney, when they opened a salon on Grafton Street in Dublin, Peter Mark has grown to become Ireland’s leading hairdressing group. The company now has 71 salons across the island of Ireland and employs 1,700 staff.

What has been the driving force behind Peter Mark’s success?

Our passion for delivering a great client experience is what sets us apart from our competition and is at the heart of our success. Our objective is to ensure that Peter Mark is a place where clients can relax and unwind while availing of the top-class services we offer.

Over the past 58 years, we have accumulated a huge amount of experience and expertise in the hairdressing industry. When combined with our high standard of client service, this has allowed us to become Ireland’s leading hairdressing group.

How does Peter Mark maintain a high standard of client service?

One of the most important steps is the investment we make in employee training. We have a college on South William Street in Dublin, as well as two training academies, one located on North Earl Street in Dublin and another in Belfast. Between these three locations we have 400 apprentices in training and welcome 100 new apprentices each year for our three-year training programme.

We also take steps to guarantee the quality of the towels we use and operate our own laundry facility at a site in Ballymount that services all our salons.

Why is lighting important for Peter Mark?

We are always interested in the latest developments in LED lighting, not just for reductions in energy usage, but also because these lights match daylight conditions. Ensuring that the lighting in our stores mimics daylight as closely as possible is important for us to deliver the best results for our clients.

When a client is having colour put in their hair, the lighting in the salon needs to accurately represent and reflect the colour being used. This means we have to carefully select the lights we use.

How has Bord Gáis Energy helped you with your business?

Energy is a significant cost for us and is often the most variable cost we experience as a business. With the salons needing constant hot water, heating, air-conditioning and lighting, we use a significant amount of energy every day.

Bord Gáis Energy has been really helpful in advising how to manage these costs, allowing us to choose the timing of our contracts in advance, which means we can set our energy rates at a time that will deliver the best value for us.

The expertise Bord Gáis Energy has in the energy sector is something that really appealed to us. This expertise, combined with its advice on energy, lighting and heating, has been really beneficial for our business.

What does the future hold for Peter Mark?

Over the past number of decades, new retail developments have afforded us the opportunity to enter new parts of the country and have helped to establish Peter Mark as the market leader in Ireland. Our college and training academies have and continue to be a great resource to Peter Mark, allowing us to attract and grow the very best talent, as well as continuously upskilling our current creative teams.

In the future, we hope to continue the growth of our salon network across Ireland and to deliver an exceptional experience for our clients.