Conference rooms are being invaded by the newest in-office perk to hit the Bay Area. Meet Manicube, a two and a half year old quick manicure service that picked S.F. for its fourth market (Boston, NY, Chicago are the other three). We caught up with co-founders Katina Mountanos and Liz Whitman, who flew in from their NY home base for the recent launch celebration at The Battery (snapped here at the penthouse). The company has done 100,000 manicures to date, signing on 200 companies. They link up with HR departments and schedule weekly recurring times that nail technicians come in. Employees can book online, so it's all cashless.
The duo were working long hours in Manhattan and realized carving out an hour of the day to go get manicures was not ideal. Why S.F. as the newest market? Katina sees this city as the market that invented the in-office perk, with the tech world paving the way for implementing unique retention strategies. This couldn't have existed five or 10 years ago because it wouldn't have been broadly accepted, she says. The standard 15-minute manicure costs $15, and there are higher tiers of service. Even men are on board; about 5% to 8% of its client base are men, who can get a quick clip, clean and buff. (Hey, guy brokers need to look good too.)
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